Kitchen Update on a Dime - Part 1: The Ceiling.. uh Popcorn

Well, it's obviously been awhile since I've posted.   After graduation, I got incredibly lazy and just enjoyed doing absolutely nothing.  For three years, I burned the candle at both ends - working full-time, going to school full-time, trying to maintain a home, be a good wife and mother - needless to say I crashed and burned.  :)

Alas, it didn't last too long.  I started on my kitchen.  For a couple of years, I've been wanting to do some updates (click here for previous post!).  However, updates cost money - cha-ching!   My main issue was the popcorn ceiling - it had started to crack in several places, so I thought it would come down easy peasy.   Handy Randy (our neighbor) advised me to be very careful because any knicks into the sheetrock would have to be repaired.  To err on the side of caution, I decided to use a plastic putty knife to get things started.

Well at the end of day 1 (I should note I worked on this after work, so you won't think I'm a complete loser), it looked like this...

Lessons learned from Day 1:

• Plastic, plastic and more plastic - it needs to cover EVERYTHING.  This is a dusty job.
• Time - I need more of it because this is going to take FOREVER.
• Music - Tunes need to be rocking or you'll lose your mind!
• Hubby - Did I mention I got the bright idea to do this when he was unable to help?!  He had a medical procedure and was unable to lift his arm above shoulder height or lift anything heavy for 6 weeks!

Onward to Day 3 - let's keep scraping, scraping, and scraping and it's finally done!

Lessons learned from Day 2:

• Metal putty knife is necessary!  Some friends stopped by to help.  They had metal putty knives - I cringed but I'm certainly not going to turn down help b/c at this rate it is going to take FOREVER!  Their first scrape and it unzips off the ceiling like a zipper.  REALLY!!   I grabbed my metal putty knife and we had the ceiling down by the end of the night.  
• Friends - I needed them.  This was my first DIY major project and it didn't take me long to realize I bit off more than I can chew.  Thankful for their words of encouragement!
• Water is not necessary at least not for me! I had read to spray a small section and scrape, but once I switched over to the metal putty knife it came down so easy.

Day 4 - sanding, putty, sanding, putty... sanding, sanding, sanding.  I feel like I went over the ceiling a thousand times.  I wanted it to be perfect.

Day 5 or 6 and I'm losing my mind -- I want my kitchen back.  I'm tired of the plastic, dust. My family is tired of sandwiches.  Haha!

Again, I'm not sure what day we are on maybe 7 or 8 at this point.  It's finally primed.  I used Sherwin Williams products and couldn't be more pleased, and no, I wasn't paid to say that.  The staff at my local store were incredibly knowledgeable, helpful, and patient with me.  My memory is failing me now, but I think we did 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint.  We went with a flat white.  I love the clean look of white.

Here it is finally DONE!  It's not perfect - if you really look, you can tell I should have sanded more.  However my theory is - if someone notices the imperfections and it bothers them - then they don't need to be in my house!   It was a definite labor of love.   Will I tackle other rooms?   Hahaha!!!   I would like to think future rooms might be a bit smoother in the process as this was complete trial and error, but NO I don't intend to do any other rooms in the near future. 

I'll post more later this week on the cabinets, wall color and other updates!