The Thankful reveal on Thanksgiving

I know all my blog readers (both of them) have anxiously been awaiting the reveal of my fabulous birthday present. It took a little longer than anticipated to finish it and we still have not finished the painting. As with all projects it is good to double the time you expect it to take. If we do that I really have another 2 weeks and this project should be done ahead of schedule. ha ha.

I am giving you a strange combination of project reveal and Thanksgiving post here since the project was christened yesterday.

First I present the BEFORE pictures:



My lovely kitchen/dining room wall. The many cabinet doors in which to store dishes and other kitchen needs.

DURING:





watching daddy
The end of day one. My new open kitchen.

John worked all last weekend on the project and by the evening of my birthay I had lights, a new power bar and trim on one side.




Of course into every project a minor problem must fall. So Tuesday night we begin painting the fabulous new color I chose for the walls. A very dark dramatic color with a green tint. The color was gorgeous on the wall. Unfortunately it looked TERRIBLE against my green cabinets. It was the war of the cool color vs the warm color. I was devestated. John finally told me to walk away from the room as I was becoming more depressed the longer I sat staring at it.

I had no idea which direction to go from there. I am terrible at choosing colors. I need an expert. Contractor husband to the rescue! John called a guy he is working with and asked him to swing by our house and choose a new color for us. I would never have chosen it and wasn't even sure I liked it but that is sort of how I felt about our cabinet color when it was chosen for us. Plus, I was having a house full of guests in 1 day and didn't have alot of options so, when John called from Home Depot I gave him the name.

I started painting with a little uncertainty but by the time we had the first coat on all the walls I felt really good about it and now I am excited to spend the next few years looking at it. The color is much greener than I had initially wanted to go but is still dramatic and is beautiful with my cabinets.

The big reveal was yesterday, Thanksgiving, and it performed perfectly. It was so nice to have that extra counter space while preparing and then while serving the meal. And when we went in the kitchen to clean up we didn't seperate ourselves from conversation around the table. We could shoo people out of the kitchen without really sending them away. It was one of my favorite Thanksgivings in a long time...do you think it was because of the new wall? Everyone was in a relaxed good mood because of the beauty of my new wall. It just makes people want to be better people because it is so wonderful. Don't you think?

My men preparing Thanksgiving dinner. I actually did not make a single part of yesterdays meal. Note the new wall color in the background.
Grandma learning a few things from Isabelle.
Cousins. It is so fun that they are all the same age and actually have some very similar interests.

Here are my neices speaking to each other in sign language. Note how functional my new wall is in the background. :)
I set a simple but beautiful table.
Instead of a kids table the kids chose a side of the table and were all lined up long before we were ready to start eating.
I bought a new puzzle for the holiday and every member of the family spent some time working on the 1000 piece puzzle. It was so fun, a shared project just makes you feel like you really spent time together.

And so after a busy couple weeks of construction, with a few days to go, and a wonderful time spent with family I can say that I am thankful for many things including:

A handy husband,
a son (and husband) who likes to cook,
a daughter who can entertain herself all afternoon while I sit in front of a puzzle,
being part of a wonderful family full of faith,
and my beautiful new wall which is sure to bring me joy for years to come.