Home Improvement

As the holidays draw near, any self-respecting home owner would pee their pants when they suddenly realize that their house is a mess, and then frantically rattle off grand ideas to get their home in order. My husband and I are not exempt from that first sentence. Some people buy a massive tree. Some people buy new dinnerware and place settings for a gorgeous, "well-thought-out" Christmas dinner. Some people buy new furniture and decorate the house with candles and tinsel to bring on the festiveness. We like to fool around in the kitchen. NOO, not like that- you're dirty.

With the Sherpa and the baby coming to stay, the usual onslaught of crackheads almost always convene at our house for eats, drinks, poker, baby googling, and just plain riff raff. Some people call rushing for a fraternity or a sorority "hell week", well- I like to call the week between Christmas and New Year's "hell week". Everyone and their mother's brother wants to catch a glimpse of the Sherpa, and they come traipsing through the house, and eat all of our food, and jam themselves in here like they've never seen a dark, wiry, freakishly strong, and short Sherpa ever before. This year will be madness, only because the Sherpa has given birth to a baby. And the baby has lived to be 5 months old. Surely, something to see.

Anyway, last year my husband and I decided that new kitchen counters would be nice to replace the cheap plastic counters that ruined the look of our kitchen. We got that done the weekend right before Christmas, and once the dust settled, WOW- what a difference. Well, this year..we suddenly decided today that we needed nicer cabinets to go with the new, nicer, butcher block counter tops. So, we bought a shit load of bead board, trim, and some paint, and we rolled up our sleeves just this morning to get it done. Why hadn't we thought about this all summer long? Who knows. Maybe I spent one too many days at the pool with Ryder. First things first, you know? And who doesn't like to work under pressure??

So far, its coming along just dandy. Let's just say it's our own "Design on a Dime". When we're done with this, we will have upgraded our kitchen, thereby increasing the value of the house, all for $500 bucks. If any of you have ever been in the market for cabinet refacing, or just replacing your kitchen cabinetry in general, you would know that it costs ALOT. I mean, in the thousands. If you include the butcher block counter tops, all spent in our kitchen will have been $1300 bucks. Not bad. You do need some elbow grease, an incredibly handy husband (whom, oddly, turns me on with a pencil stuck behind his ear), and serious time management skills to get the job done. But when it's all up, you will be really proud of your weekend accomplishment.

"Before" picture:

"After" pictures will be forthcoming. In the meantime, enjoy this one: