Happy Labor Day, everyone!

I hope you had an awesome weekend full of hot food, cool bevs, and tons of fun in the sun. How did I spend the last weekend of the summer? Indoors, painting my kitchen.

Wah-wahhhh! ;)

I know, I know, it’s just that I’ve been talking about painting my oompah loompah orange kitchen (a present left by the previous owners) for years now, and finally decided the long weekend was the perfect time to put up or shut up, and did the damn thing – whee!

Say goodbye to pumpkin orange, and hello to April Sky (which looks semi periwinkle in the pics, but it’s actually a steely blue/green.)

The color choice was inspired by these IKEA curtains I got years ago which were supposed to inspire me to paint, well, years ago. The fun design contains waves of navy blue, brown, tan, and pale blue, which I chose to paint the walls.

I didn’t love the final paint color until we put the curtains up this afternoon – they really tied everything together!

Now when I say I spent the entire weekend painting my kitchen, I mean I spent the entire weekend painting my kitchen, starting Friday when I washed all the walls with this TSP concentrate – aka MAGIC IN A BOTTLE. It took away grease stains that I have scrubbed and scrubbed with regular cleaner in the past, in one measly swipe. Too bad you can’t clean with it regularly, as it’s only supposed to be used to prep surfaces for paint.

Looks left, looks right, sprays it liberally on the floor tiles… ;) (Just kidding.)

After everything was clean and dry, I had to tape all the trim, which took several hours. Honestly you have no idea how many corners and crevices a space has until you’re tasked with taping them!

After pulling everything away from the walls, I was ready to go. (And semi hyperventilating. I hate clutter!)

Saturday morning my Mom arrived, and we got to work, starting with a coat of primer.

Yet another reason why I love living 2 minutes away from my parents. I could have NEVER done this project without my Mom! (Ben was on a dude’s staycation this weekend!)

I was worried we’d have to do two coats of primer, since the orange was SO ORANGE, but this Zinsser primer covered it right up. Good stuff!

I could hardly contain my excitement after the orange paint was gone. The kitchen looked 5 times bigger already!

Time to get some color on the walls – a nice shade of pale, steely blue. We used Olympic paint for it’s smooth, non-chunky texture. Which is a thing, apparently, that you want to look out for when choosing paint.

This is where things went downhill pretty quickly. We got the first coat on the wall, stepped back to admire our handiwork and realized…

My kitchen was cotton candy blue! Like, baby boy’s room blue! I had picked out the April Sky paint swatch a few weeks ago but forgot the swatch, and the name, when I went to buy the paint Friday afternoon, and instead of going home and getting it, I tried to pick out what I thought was a similar shade, Ounce of Sliver. BAD CHOICE. It ended up being completely different, and looked almost neon blue on the walls!

So, Saturday afternoon I went back to Lowe’s (my third trip of the entire project) got a couple gallons of the correct color, April Sky, and re-painted the entire thing that night. Sunday morning my Mom came back over, we painted a second coat of the correct color, then touched up, cleaned up, and nearly passed out. Painting is HARD WORK!!!

But so worth it in the end. I’m still getting used to the color, but one thing I can say for sure is that the space is 100 times brighter, and much more cheery. (Plus I’m still just geeking out about those curtains. Love ’em! ;) )

Before and after!

I could never have done this without my sweet Mom. Literally I’d have half an orange kitchen, because I would have given up. Interior painting is definitely one of those things that is easier said than done!

This morning I woke up early to put the decor back on the walls, and get to everything I hadn’t done all weekend – laundry, gardening, etc., then Ben and I were going to go on a long walk. Mother Nature had other plans though. Seriously?! It had been the most gorgeous weekend ever, then when I finally get to go outside, it rains!

Several episodes of Honey Boo-Boo later (omg have you seen this?!) the rain stopped so we hopped out for a 4 mile walk in between storms. We were starving when we got back so I threw together grilled chicken with leftover mango salsa from Friday’s KCCI segment, fresh fruit, and grilled potato packs for supper!

This was just chicken brushed with extra virgin olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, then grilled and topped with Fresh Mango Salsa. Fresh, clean, and tasty.

Organic strawberries and grapes provided a sweet treat…

And grilled potato packs gave the meal some heft. I LOVE these things!

To make them, just tear a long sheet of heavy duty foil, then spray it liberally with non-stick spray. Slice a potato into 1/4″ slices, then layer them in the center of the foil. Spray with extra virgin olive oil (or dot with butter,) season (I used Lawry’s seasoning salt,) then add 1 ice cube in the center, to help steam the potatoes.

Bring the long ends together at the top then tightly roll until almost touching the potatoes. Then, tightly curl the ends in too.

Grill over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, then flip, rotate 180 degrees and grill for another 10 minutes.

Presto – grilled potatoes!

Not only are these potatoes absolutely amazing, with some crunchy, and some creamy, but cleanup’s nil. Just throw the foil away!

Grilled Potato Packs

Description

Grilled Potato Packs are an easy side dish for any grill out!

Ingredients

Serves 1-2

  • 1 medium potato
  • non-stick spray
  • butter or olive oil
  • seasoning (I used Lawry's seasoning salt)

Directions

  1. Tear a long sheet of heavy duty foil, then spray one side liberally with non-stick spray. Slice potato into 1/4" slices, then layer in two rows down the center of the foil, leaving a few inches clear at both ends.
  2. Bring long ends of foil together at the top then curl tightly until almost touching the potatoes. Curl the ends in tightly. Grill for 20 minutes over medium-high heat, flipping and rotating the packet 180 degrees halfway through. Open very carefully, as there will be steam.

This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.

Oofta, this was not only delicious – but filling. I am stuffed!

And oh-so tired. I have slept like a bebe the past two nights from sheer exhaustion. Who knew painting was such hard work?!

Hope you are all unwinding and ready for the short week ahead. Have a GREAT night!