Our Amazing Kitchen Makeover!!

We LOVE our new house. One of the things that we loved about it was the kitchen. I ALWAYS wanted a black and white kitchen. ALWAYS. And to be honest, I love black and white in any room. So, when we found out this was a for sure thing, I told Matt that this was the only project that had to be *mostly* done before we moved in. (Even though there are lots of rooms I want to paint!) I just knew how crazy it is to have your kitchen a mess, and I thought "if we wait and get all unpacked, we'll never do it.) and we might as well do it while it's torn apart from moving, right?
Right?
Well, it ended up being a much bigger nightmare than we had bargained for. Matt even says that he doesn't think he would do it again if we went back and made the decision again. It was a TON of work. And to be perfectly honest, my adoring husband did the lion's share of it. So what exactly did we do?
Here are the before pics: (sorry- Matt thankfully thought to take before pics... it was just after he already started taking it apart)

(there were several doors that wouldn't close, and the vent was broken... Matt replaced the hinges and re-did the vent-- it looks so good now!)

We did 90 % of the work before we moved in, but we still had to finish the top coat, do the bead board, paint, stain and top coat the bead board after the move-in. And as you know, once you move in, there is a ton to do in the house altogether. Plus we both have a lot going on with our kids and jobs this month, so this project that was 90% done before we moved in on October 21st is now, one month later, done!!! Hooray!

The worst phase of the process was the de-glossing. We had to scrub every single surface of every single door (and the rest of the wood) with a scouring pad and the deglosser. It sounds easier than it is. Matt and his sweet sisters, Paige, Raegan and Natalie (his brother's wife) helped with all the doors. I deglossed the other wood, but Matt did most of it. His fingers were numb by the end of that step.
After that was done, you have to rinse everything and let it dry before you start to paint. My visiting teachers, Susan and Rachel, actually came and helped do the first coat. We had to do two to three coats on everything.

So here you can see the doors and vent repaired:

So... I would totally do it again!! Er... I would totally make Matt do it again. It looks amazing, right? Didn't he do a fabulous job!?! Love it babe! I can't get over how beautiful it is! Thank you!!