Martha Kitchen 1

OHH!  Look what I found...a Martha blog.  I know she is not a role model by any stretch of the imagination, this based on all the things that you hear about her in court, and such.  But this lady sure knows style!  I love her colors and this kitchen hits all the marks for me...except the countertop.  I want black, but I guess since I am painting it, I can just change my mind if I want!  I may change it each season!

the martha blog















I like the light grey cabinets, and lighter grey walls...but may look somewhat monotonous.  Like the idea on the fridge...wood panels painted to match....liquidnails?  And the corbels...gotta have those.  And I love the dark metal door knobs....would match my black countertop?
I believe the Eddie Bauer paint color travertine eb36-4 is the paint color match for these cabinets.

Back to the beginning - kitchens

And back to where this all started - kitchen ideas.  Our now kitchen is very, very bad.  I won't bore you with the details and photos now, but just know it is bad.  And I spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  That is where I feel most connected with my inner Martha.  And since we are doing the cheap thing, we do not eat out.  I mean nevah!  Unless Mom and Dad take us out, or we get gift cards, we don't go out.  So I cook a lot.  And I look at this bad kitchen - a lot.  DH wants to gut it down to the studs and rewire, replumb, reconfigure - you get the idea.  Man demolition.  And my 3 boys are eager to help.  They loved whacking away at the hall bathroom walls with hammers. 
While I appreciate that he wants it all new and shiny and pretty, I also want to make sure we don't jump back into the big black hole of debt.  We have promised the boys that when this is over we would go to Disney, and our finances do not afford both a new kitchen and a trip to see Mickey.  So I am thinking that we could just paint the entire room and buy us some time to redo the kitchen.  And I mean paint the ENTIRE thing.  Yep, the cabinets, the walls, the countertop?, the fridge!  Oh my!
Now I have 3 boys, a very slobbery boxer dog, and a very hungry DH so I know that white will not work for me.  But I love how they look, so clean and pretty.  When we redo the room, I will get nice wood cabinets and cupboards, so I know that now is my chance to experiment with some color.  Here are some of my favs...with links!


Isn't that pretty..and I love that no fingerprints will show!  Also love the farmhouse sink.
And another pretty grey kitchen...



Or this one from a blogger who is good at redesigning old ranch houses.  This was her advice to one  of her design clients.  Beautiful.  from Young House Love.
grey kitchen younghouselove



But Ithink the lighter grey is nicer, especially with black countertops.  Love black countertops.
grey kitchen calfinder.com



I like this grey color, not too dark, not too light...and it tells you the paint color
Providence News Grey Kitchen



Look at this pretty light green grey kitchen...Martha of course...
grey kitchen martha via decorpad




I guess that is enough for now...but I really think grey needs a punch of color, how about turquoise!

Here we are

Like I said a while back, we are almost out of debt.  By the end of this month, most of the squeeze will be over and we will have a little bit of breathing room.  Mind you, we still intend to finish our financial plan by this time next year.  But things will be better, my DH promised!  And that is why I am doing this blog.  I want to remember how bad it was, and how great it feels to finally be nearing the end of a very long, hard struggle.
Since we are so close, I am giddy (sometimes, I am not a giddy person) with all the possibilities.  And I feel safer cruising blogland hoping to pick up some ideas.   I want to keep up with all the wonderful ideas other people, other wiser and more design minded people, have come up with!  Sorry to say that I didn't give credit to others in some of the posts below...I wish I had.  But I vow to do better. 
Whew!  I feel like I have unloaded all my troubles and am ready to finally make this house our home.

And so it goes...progress

About that time I discovered the wonderful world of blogging, and thought I had found a gold mine. All of these ladies making their houses their homes while on a budget. I was inspired! I searched ideas for hours at a time - but eventually found they made me more depressed about our situation. So they only spent $45 to slipcover their couch, I didn't have $45 to do anything! All our money was going to groceries and this debt.  So I started limiting my time on the computer, and started sewing from our home for others.  We have a commercial embroidery machine, and DH digitizes part time for other businesses.  And I got more and more depressed.  Finally went to see a Dr thinking it must be my thyroid or something, but nope!  Just plain old, in your face clinical depression.  Started on some different meds, and finally found something that works.  And viola!  I found the energy to try to make a few changes to get us ready for some big changes when our debt was done.  We are ripping out carpet from one room at a time.  Good Bye nasty peach/beige carpet.  Hello equally battered hardwood floors.  There are paint stains, water stains, nail stains, you get the idea.  But at least it is easier to clean than the carpets, and it is progress.  I guess that is what I was missing all along, a sense of progress.  That we are actually gaining ground on this big monster called debt.  I didn't have money to add nice pretty things to our house but, like our debt, I could get rid of the bad things.  Since then we have gutted our hall bath, everything down to the studs, including the floor.  Nothing stayed except the bathtub (it is so small, they don't make them anymore, special order, and we don't have $ for special order) and the ceiling.  DH upgraded plumbing, wiring, walls and more.  Granted, it isn't worthy of some glamour magazine, but I am proud of the new tile that we installed all by ourselves and the poorly mudded walls that we hung ourselves.  Like our struggle with debt, we slowly rebuilt that bathroom from the bones out.  I guess that is what it is all about, just keep going.  And like DH says, it will get better.

I'm back!

Okay, so I am back.  The last few years have been pretty depressing (well, except for my kids...they are pretty cool).  We have been on a tear to get out of debt.  We have paid off over $45K in 4 years.  Of course that meant selling the home we had made (my first mothers day gift, the home all my boys learned to walk in, the home where we brought two of them home from the hospital, I could go on and on), moved to another city (which I hated because it wasn't where I had been), and have been without (a lot!).  We are down to the last 6 or 7K and feel like we can breath again.  My DH has promised it would get better.  Sorry to say, I kinda quit believing him about half way through, and just gave up.... 
We did manage to find a house to buy in the new town, but it is far from my old house.  I know this sounds petty, and trite, but I miss the niceties (is that a word) from my old house - especially the newness.  We had that home built for us, were there for all the big building days, and had my baby's foot and hand prints in the driveway.  New kitchen, new carpet, then hardwood, and new everything.  And one thing that goes along with new is that you know it works!
In our now house, an immediate fix that was needed was the HVAC unit.  Previous owner said she didn't use them (had space heaters and opened the windows) and the unit was dated from before either my DH or I were born (1964!)  It worked when we first moved in, but within 3 weeks died.  That was August - in the South - where it gets very, very hot.  Since we were intent on debt free living, we waited - until we had the cash to buy a new unit - and that took us through the end of summer to the middle of winter.  No AC or heat people!  Not that I think I am spoiled or anything, but bundling your 3 kids up in front of the wood burning fireplace on 20 degree nights is my idea of starving!  But eventually we came up with the $, DH bought a unit from out of state and we drove to get it (saved tax, and only about an hours drive) and installed it ourselves.  Yep, I got under the house with him (sometimes) and learned how to make HVAC ducts, bent the metal, put in the grommety things, and taped.  Well, my DH did most of it, but I was under the house helping him.  Our first hurdle was jumped!
In our now house, none of the overhead lights work in the bedrooms...DH has tried to fix it, new wiring, new switches, etc and it just won't fix.  So an electrician is needed, and we don't have the $, so we wait.  DH did manage to make the electric outlet in the kitchen work so that the microwave and refrigerator no longer require the neon orange electric cords snaking over my kitchen walls (waited 3 1/2 years).  We almost immediately took down all of the shelves on the ceiling - you know the ones that are about a foot below the ceiling and extend around the entire room.  They were in both the living room and dining room/kitchen.  And slowly are patching the walls (the lady who lived here had Jesus pictures EVERYWHERE.  It is hard to cook with Jesus watching you!) and repainting.  The first room we did was for Boy2...and my mom came from out of town to finance/help rip wall paper, repaint, and sewed a dust ruffle to match the roman blind I had made for the window.  Thanks Mom!  Bought the fabric on clearance for $3 a yard. But still not enough.  I needed more!