What I"m Doing Now

Apparently, I just can't be satisfied. We've lived in our house for a little over two years and, regardless of what the real estate experts say, the kitchen is NOT what sold us on this house. It is oddly shaped, poorly laid out and hasn't really been changed since built in the 70s. I finally took the bull by the horns and spent the majority of several days scraping wallpaper. For those of you who have never had this wonderful experience, count yourself blessed. Removing wallpaper is not the most fun job in the world. Just one time of taking it off will break you of ever wanting wallpaper again. But I digress.

I now have all the wallpaper and border off. My sweet husband tore out a stupid cabinet that served no purpose other than to take up space and we have moved the desk. Now you don't sit with your back to the door--which is bad feng shui.

By the end of this weekend, I want to have the walls painted in Tuscan colors. Haven't really decided what those will be yet, but I am planning to use a method called Frottage. You paint a base coat, then put a glaze on small areas at a time. You then take a sheet of newspaper, craft paper, or plastic and smooth it out over the glaze and slowly peel it off. The effect that's left resembles a colorwash or aged look. One thing I can't decide is whether to use the effect on the whole wall--both above and below the chair rail--or just above with a solid color below. Any opinions??

I should have taken a picture of the ugly kitchen "before" I started so you all could appreciate the "after". Oh, well, next time. Once I get the painting done, I'll fill you in on my other plans for the kitchen.