Shine On!

I've really had a slow start to my 2011 blogging. I think this may have a lot to do with;
(a) both B and I being really sick all of last week and
(b) our slow start / progress on any projects around the home.
Unlike last year, we didn't start this new year off with a total gut job (thank god)! I think that our list of things we'd like to accomplish in 2011 is long enough as it is!

While thinking of all of the stuff we have to tackle this year, I realized that there was a small project that B completed back in December that we failed to share.

When we moved into our home in July of 2009, our kitchen looked like this...

It was pretty yellow looking, and we were able to look past the ugly light fixtures and odd placement of the fridge because the space was so huge for such a tiny home, and had so much potential. Eventually we I couldn't handle the yellow-ness of the kitchen any longer and painted the backsplash, walls, range hood and large pantry cupboards. By this past summer, the kitchen was looking like this...

The one main problem... those lights. Not only did they not look nice, none of them turned on! Oh yeah, and both of the lights over the kitchen table were broken... take a look...


Note broken glass on left, and light on right hanging by wires...

Yup... I posted that in our home tour. I'm happy that you were all too kind to mention our ugly broken lights hanging by the wires (that was from B trying to discover why they wouldn't turn on...), and the IKEA floor lamp that we were relying on as a light source. Finally, in December we were tired of having insufficient lighting and wanted to fix the issue before our family Christmas party. During a quick stop into the big orange one day, we noticed that their pot lights were on sale for $39 a box. Still a little pricey, but better than the $49 they usually were.

So, admist the work he was doing on the front entrance, B spent a late night and one afternoon off work rewiring and installing some new pot lights in the kitchen. I know it took a lot out of him to get it done, and I appreciate all of his hard work. Let me tell you, finally having proper lights in our kitchen has made all the difference in the world... check it out...

Not the best quality photo as I don't really have a chance to take daylight photos during the week - but it does give you an idea of how bright those lights are! The best part is that the lights over the stove and sink, and the lights over the kitchen table (not pictured) are on separate dimmer switches, so we can decide how bright we need it, and only use light where it's needed depending on where we are in the kitchen.

Oh, you can also spot my Christmas gift from my wonderful parents in that last photo... just to the left of the stove on the counter top. My brand new KitchenAid stand mixer. There will be a lot more baking going around our home!

There's a lot left we'd like to do in the kitchen, like bring the cabinets up to the ceiling for more (much needed) storage, and get a new counter top... but the kitchen is pretty low on our project list at the moment!

Have you accomplished any small projects around the home recently that have made a huge difference to you?