Bored yet? I’m not.
We had several days of very mild weather – warm enough even to go out without a jacket! I found one yellow flower struggling through the grass in the backyard, and took the above photo.
The next day it snowed.
Such is life in Western New York.
During the warm period, however, I did manage to clean all the downstairs windows. Such a joy having new windows with panes that slant in for cleaning. I think the entire downstairs took me all of an hour to clean.
Meanwhile, since hubby is also now on leave from work, he’s keeping busy with all those little home improvement jobs he hasn’t been able to get to in the nearly three years we’ve been in this house.
Remember the horrid neon yellow, nicotine-stained kitchen when we first moved in? With the ancient metal cabinet? And the green contact-paper backsplash? If not, here it is:
Awful, wasn’t it?
It was only slightly better after the plumber installed the new [unpainted] lower cabinet, countertop and sink:
We lived with that horror for too long, although it was slightly less hideous once hubby managed to put the white base coat on that cabinet and on those walls. But then he got too busy and the kitchen stayed in the primer stage for more than a year.
Come 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone has to stay home. Those, like hubby, who simply can’t sit still for any length of time, must find ways to fill their days. Unlike me, hubby must be productive!
And so, here is our newly painted, updated kitchen:
The light is a little bad in this photo, but I wanted to show that the ceiling was also painted to get rid of the nicotine-stained brown color; the following two pictures are truer:
Hubby does nice work, doesn’t he? (I think he now deserves a delicious, home-baked cake, don’t you?)
We can’t do much about the floor at this point, but at least the paint complements it. And fresh paint smells so much better than 70-year-old nicotine.
I still need to find window toppers; I’m thinking 12- to 14-inch white valances. Something not overly frilly and maybe with just a bit of an edge cutout (probably diamond-shaped to go with the backsplash). I’ll be spending a lot of my current free time perusing the internet for just the right look.
We also need to find new hinges for the cabinets because the ones we bought to match the knobs didn’t fit. That will have to wait until the pandemic ends and we are comfortable going to the hardware store. We actually thought about going anyway, but decided a few new hinges were not urgent enough to risk exposure to the virus.
Hope all is well with you this Good Friday. May the nasty COVID-19 stay away from your house.
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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio
Cordelia's Mom, Still 
Your kitchen is looking marvelous dear….
I love the backsplash! It really makes the kitchen pop and gives it an upscale look.
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Yes, the kitchen definitely looks more modern. Still tiny, but modern.
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It’s always good to be productive. I find physical labor to actually be relaxing. He does do nice work!
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Maybe it’s a guy thing. Personally, I content just sitting around playing videogames all day. Yes, he did good – and he’s getting a nice apple cake for his hard work.
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It looks MUCH better. I wish I could do something with ours, but our money — lack thereof — is pre-spent on things like a boiler and some windows and the deck which is not in good shape. But if ever life gives us some money we can afford to spend, my kitchen is A#1 on my list!
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The thing is, Marilyn, the cost was extremely low. The plumber put that new cabinet/counter/sink in for only $1500, and we did everything else. Backsplash was Home Depot basic, as were the knobs, and paint is not costly. All in all, I think my new kitchen cost me about 10% of what a professionally done kitchen would have. I had figured on doing the kitchen several years down the road, but when the pipes went and the plumber said he could do that whole cabinet/sink/counter, that made my decision easy.
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Reminds me of the Monty Python character Smoke Too Much.
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The house was built in 1939, and we purchased from the original family in 2017. It appears that everyone in that family was a very heavy smoker. The house absolutely reeked when we moved in, and the walls were coated with nicotine. It’s been a real challenge, to say the least.
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The surgeon general warning apparently had no effect.
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Great work, hubby! Your kitchen looks fab, CM.
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It does look great. Now I don’t have to be embarrassed to have company over – whenever that may come to pass again.
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We will get through this if we stick to the rules, CM.
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Excellent! Admittedly that’s my opinion of any reno job I don’t have to do. :p
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I hear you, I always want to hire a professional, but hubby likes to do the work himself when he can – and he generally does pretty well.
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