Before & After Kitchen Renovations: Country Kitchens: Creative Kitchen Renovation

For a while I have been collecting photos of cottage style living. I buy the different cottage style magazines and drool over them. I love seeing the before and after photos where a room has been transformed from dark and dreary to a light filled cottage room. I'm always attracted to the kitchen photos, like this one. I love the light colors and the touch of vintage with the school style lamps. This is one of those photos that I look at then look at my own kitchen. My kitchen has light colored oak cabinets. The counter tops are light colored Formica and the floors are a medium oak. Everything in it looks like it is the same colored oak....or almost; there are a couple degrees in the shades. My kitchen is definitely on my list for a transformation. This photo is my inspiration. I want to paint my cabinets and change my counter tops. Well, I don't want to paint the cabinets yellow as in this photo but a nice cream color with some antiquing (I still love that touch of the primitive style). The main thing that is stopping me is the fear of painting those cabinets. Seriously, I'm having a hard time getting past that fear. I worry that they will chip or peel, and believe me it would be costly to buy new cabinetry. So, I am going to get some quotes to have them painted by a professional. This would also set my next fear to rest and that is getting into the project and losing steam, you know, not finishing them for 2 or 3 years because I don't have the time to work on them. I'll keep you posted on the process and the progress. Oh, I'll post a photo of my kitchen once I've cleaned it up, don't want to scare you away!

~willa~