Kitchen...95% Complete

Well, I never thought it would actually happen, but the kitchen is almost done.  It feels SO good to finally have one room close to completion.  I think after doing the kitchen, every other room is going to seem much easier, because the kitchen ended up being such a task.

In all we:

• Painted all of the cabinets (Benjamin Moore Mascarpone)
• Replaced all of the knobs, pulls and hinges in Venetian Bronze
• Painted all of the trim (Benjamin Moore Mascarpone)
• Painted the wainscoting (Benjamin Moore Mascarpone)
• Painted the walls (Benjamin Moore New York State of Mind 10% lighter)

Things that still need to be done:

• All of the hardwoods are going to be refinished darker and a little redder
• Paint the ceiling (we just bought a generic Behr ultra white ceiling paint for this)
• Window treatments...this may take a while
• Find a chandelier/light fixture for above the table

But, overall we are both thrilled with how it turned out.  Before, the whole house was the same color (seriously...the whole thing).  The walls, trim, cabinets, and even the ceiling in some rooms was the same dark tan (we found the can of paint downstairs and it is called Almond).  It just made the house seem much darker and smaller.  Now that the kitchen is painted, I love sitting in the room...it is much fresher and brighter and more inviting.  We obviously need to decorate, and we are missing 10 sets of hinges, so a few cabinet doors aren't attached...but once those come in we will be all set.

Here is the kitchen before (These pictures really don't do the dark almond paint justice...in real life, this room was a lot muddier before

And here are the after pictures:

I love these coffee cups from Crate and Barrel.  They say "Breakfast" on them and I thought they were just perfect for the breakfast nook.

This is the hardware we chose.  We originally wanted something brushed nickel or another similar finish, but while I was standing in the kitchen hardware aisle (for 2 hours) I overheard a lady and her designer discussing Venetian Bronze being the new "hot" finish for kitchens.  I hadn't even considered a finish like this before, but hearing that made me interested.  I looked into it a little and was sold.  We love how it looks.

It's a little hard to tell from the pictures, but the finish is overall pretty dark, but not black.  In person it looks about like the the handle in this picture.  It has bits of bronze shining through the darker finish, and the man who helped me said that over time, the areas you use most will rub away and more of the reddish bronze color will show through, which I totally love.