PAIN(t)

I have finally, FINALLY finished painting the kitchen and family room. I am so sore, and not at all in the I just worked out and feel great way, but in the I seriously injured my neck and definitely exacerbated my probable carpal tunnel way. Here's a picture of my sad, cramped, painful hands:

I never want to paint a wall or a cabinet again. And I will certainly never do it alone again. I feel so relieved to be done. Tomorrow I will start cleaning up and organizing the living room. I'll also finally be able to rearrange some furniture and get the family room filled a little bit more. I'm waiting on a row of low white bookshelves that will run along the Red Wall. I also ordered a black secretary desk to fit in the little alcove next to the fireplace.

Anyway, I painted the first coat on the wall, the "Gray Area" paint, and hated it. It turned out looking really similar and almost indistinguishable at certain angles from the cabinet paint color. So after painting the first coat, I went back to the store and bought another gallon of a much lighter shade, "Pewter Mug." I then spent the rest of my night painting the second coat on. Luckily, the paint is a paint-and-primer in one, and because I already had a shade of grey underneath, I was able to get away with just one coat of the second color.

Below is a couple of pictures of the first grey vs. the second grey. The left is the old grey.

    

I know it doesn't look like the shades are that different from the pictures, but it really is quite a difference. I wanted a big contrast between the cabinets and the wall, but the first color just didn't look light enough. The second color now is much lighter. I also wanted to make sure it wasn't so light that it almost looked white, which it thankfully doesn't.

Below is the picture of the paint colors. The one I have my thumb on is the new, lighter shade. The one underneath that was the old shade that I didn't like. And the bottom grey is the color of my cabinets.

Last night I also made dinner for the first time since my husband has been gone now that my kitchen is up and running again. It felt really good to eat some real food. I made whole wheat pasta with zucchini, potatoes, onions, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and shrimp:

I'm getting hungry just writing about it. It's also 4 in the morning and I'm pretty sure the paint fumes are making me feel queasy. I'll post pictures of my hopefully somewhat cleaned living, dining, and family rooms tomorrow.