Friday, January 30, 2015

The Kitchen Project

It was on my list of to-dos for January to clean my kitchen.  I don't remember when I last emptied every cupboard and drawer, sorted and discarded, and scrubbed and cleaned. 

I must tell you up front that scrubbing and cleaning are not my favorite things to do.  

I also wanted to change out the lighting in the kitchen. When we first installed these florescent light fixtures, I really liked them in the store, but I was never happy with the way they fit against the ceiling, and after a while they just seemed too heavy.
I liked the abundance of light from the florescent fixtures that had replaced the standard ceiling lights of the new construction.  The long tubes lighted up the whole space well.  But the lights were ugly and flickering and it was time for something new.

We went shopping and found LED light fixtures that use no bulbs.  In the photo above, the light by the window is already a LED replacement. 

These are the new lights.  But in replacing the old fixtures, we had to paint the ceiling, so we might as well paint the whole kitchen.  


So after days of scrubbing cabinets and drawers, I began scrubbing woodwork and walls.  We moved everything out.
Tom washed the ceiling and the soffits, and he did the taping and painting, while I stayed ahead of him with the scrubbing. 

The first day he got the ceiling and soffits done.

The second day I finished the cleaning and Tom got the walls painted. 


Then we deep cleaned the floors.  I crawled around with a scrubby sponge, a spray bottle of cleaner and a bucket of water to get all of the corners and edges.  Tom used the electric floor scrubber to do the rest.  
We got everything moved back in.  

Because the new lights no longer extended over the peninsula there was a shadow over the stove and counter.  We solved that problem with a different kind of LED lighting, diode strips. 


And now it's all done and all clean and all back in place.

I still have to tackle the pantry, but I need to rest up first.  

And I have a Super Bowl to watch.

GO,  HAWKS!

15 comments:

  1. You guys have so much energy, organization and talent! If you ever need a working vacation, I have the room for you at our house. We have a bathroom that needs an overhaul. :-)

    Your home looks fabulous and so clean and new!

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  2. By the way, about that bonsai plate... Would Tom be interested?

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  3. WOW! It's nice and bright. It turned out very well and I much prefer the new lights over the old boxy ones.

    I cleaned out my cupboards and threw out all the outdated and duplicated stuff. It took me several days to work my way through them and deep clean each cupboard. I'm putting off painting until I can replace the floor.

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  4. Beautiful result from all of your hard work!

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  5. It looks nice, Linda, and I know you must feel very satisfied. Job well done.

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  6. I love the new lights. Boy, that was a lot of work, but it's behind you. And yes, we have a Superbowl to watch tomorrow! :-)

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  7. I wouldn't attempt to do that much work but would like to have someone come in and scrub my tile floors-is it time for spring cleaning already?

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  8. Great job! I know how much work it is to paint a kitchen. You work as a great team.

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  9. I love the new lights! What a difference! That makes me want to pull everything out of my kitchen and go to work. Your home is so pretty.

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  10. What a great job you guys did. I love your independent, DIY spirit! There is nothing like a sparking clean kitchen. I would be going out to eat for the next week at least.
    What you talkin' 'bout...Hawks!??!!

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  11. Your kitchen looks great, I love the new lights. I sort and clean my kitchen cabinets about every couple of years. I don't much like cleaning either.

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  12. I have very similar lights that need replacing so I was watching carefully. Love the finished project.

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  13. Oh wow... I need to do a good kitchen clean..looks beautiful

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  14. Looks great! I know it must feel good to get it all done. I am working on my kitchen too...only one drawer got cleaned out today...it is slow going:)

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  15. So, this sorting and cleaning thing, how exactly does that work? I'm not sure I can figure it out. Perhaps you need to come over and give me a lesson. I haven't emptied a couple of drawers in my kitchen since we moved here 17 years ago. I'm afraid of what might be in there after all this time. Oh, THERE'S Jimmy Hoffa...

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