we just passed our first year in the new house, and i know for a fact that we’d never have guessed that nearly half of that time has been spent under shelter-in-place. what does this mean? it means we have gotten a lot of stuff checked off the house list…a lot of stuff that’s been kind of boring to update (to this girl who is obsessed with making things look pretty). it’s been functional stuff that we *had* to do…things like having the sump pump rerouted (which required having a strip of our driveway cut up and resurfaced), pulling out dead landscaping, cutting down dead trees, burying downspouts, and repairing cracks in the driveway. all super, super important stuff that needed to be done, but i kind of got to a point where i was really, really, really needing to have something done that gave us an updated look. the target: the kitchen.

back pre-COVID, i had my friend rachel from urban grace come out and take a look at our kitchen cabinets. they were already painted, but they needed a refresh and i really wanted to give the kitchen island and built-in bench a different look. i finally pulled the trigger and rachel started her amazing work the first week of august!

but, like any home project, this wasn’t just about having rachel come in to paint the cabinets. we took this as the chance to change out the cabinet and drawer pulls. and, as the chance to reconfigure the trash cans. and, as the chance to try and change the engraved leaf pattern in the cabinet crown molding. the mr. + i got to work with these three big things even before rachel stepped foot in the house.

once we had our homework finished, it was rachel’s turn! the whole project took six days from start to finish, and she did an absolutely amazing job! i’ve had so many people ask us: 1. why didn’t we DIY this, and 2. why did we change up what was there. so, here’s my answer: when it comes to considering a DIY project, there’s just somethings that i don’t have time to conquer, nor do i feel like i’m enough of an expert to try and tackle. painting kitchen cabinets is one of those. i wanted them done the right way, and i knew rachel would do that! as for why we did it, what was hard to see in pics is that the white of the cabinets was getting a little faded (to the point that the doors looked like they were a different color than the boxes). and, i wanted to give the island and built-in bench a little bolder, more modern look with a new navy blue look!

i can’t even stand how much i love how this turned out + how much i appreciate rachel and her talent! there is a zero percent chance that i could have ever tackled this project! next up: i’m keeping fingers crossed for new countertops, then a backsplash!