We have no yoga studio here.  No place for that hour of stretching, inward self-reflection that comes with doing yoga in a temperature-controlled room with the soothing words of a yogi teacher leading you through the moves.

Truth is, I hate yoga anyway.

I do, however, love cooking.  Food prep has turned into my meditation.  Isn’t there something immensely therapeutic about chopping vegetables into to exactly the same shape and size?  Except onions, they’re pull you back to reality real quick.

For as much time as I spend in it, I never loved the kitchen in our new house.  I didn’t hate it, but I definitely wouldn’t have chosen it.  White cracked laminate countertops and water-stained cabinets from  years of love and abuse.  But we were newlyweds and new homeowners, so we made it work.

See?  Our kitchen style used to be “trendy.”  However, I do not have shoes and a belt that match my appliances, so it was time for a remodel! (Photo Cred: Retro Renovation)

It wasn’t more than a month into living in our new house that one of our large burners on our cooktop started acting up (read: sparks flew when I turned it on).  Around the new year, one of the smaller burners suddenly stopped working.  Working with three burners I could do; working at 50% was not something I was going to settle for – I have needs.

So, with a minimal budget, lots of sweat equity, and many hours watching DIY tutorials, I started my chaotic kitchen remodel.

As any remodel goes, it ends up encompassing more than you initially set out to accomplish.  So for you, reader, I broke it down into two parts:

Part I: The (Old, Stained, Mid-Century) Cabinet Refinishing Project

Part II: The (Modern, Cool, Edgy) Concrete Countertop Project

If you think the posts are long, let me tell you the process was MUCH longer.  My fingers have yet to recover from the many hours of sanding (even with protective gloves!); my neck is still suffering the consequences from being hunched over for long periods; our laundry room sink has a new layer of concrete mud stuck to the edges; and there is a never-ending layer of fine, grey concrete dust covering everything.

All casualties aside, I think the finished product is absolutely worth it:

So follow me on a trip down memory lane as I recount the best and the worst parts of the remodel; the successes and the setbacks.

Next: Part I: The (Old, Stained, Mid-Century) Cabinet Refinishing Project