It looks great! I really like the gray (my kitchen is gray too - lol). How do you feel about it now? Love your helper too.

WOW! WOW! WOW! Y'all are zooming right along. So glad you posted gratuitous picture of utterly irresistible helper monkey, too. It looks great. BTW, I requested and got 4x4 white tiles for the counters and backsplash of my (honestly) beloved utility room. Not all of us hate them. I am a bit annoyed by DH's hobbies, which have left me with the work of trying to get weird substances off of some grout, and may, therefore, ultimately replace one surface he uses frequently with something metal. But the looks do not bug me at all.

What an absolutely great job! It is looking so pretty.

I didn't respond to your first post because you had me feeling a bit guilty. I had been whining about how much I hated my new construction home and then I saw all the work you had in front of you with little ones to boot.

The other room you posted about earlier is looking great, too.

Kudos to you!

I like the gray a lot. It reads a bit blue in our house, but the color card is a true gray. Not sure how the Aura (which is supposed to be similar to the full-spectrum paints) changes the color. I think the very green backyard alters the light in the kitchen. The 4X4 tiles are fine on the backsplash (except that poorly executed decorative tile over the cooktop), but they're really gross on the counter (well, the grout is gross), but we're not going to worry about changing that until we're ready to do the real reno. All in all, it's a vast improvement over the baby poo brown that was there.

You work fast girl!!! No doubt the kiddo help speeded things along. Isn't it amazing what a coat of paint can do? You have got to be so excited. Even though there are many elements of the kitchen that you do not want, like the counter, that will fade away given the beautiful freshly-painted walls. Maybe you can use one of those grout cleaners. I did that at one of my kids' homes - it was the floor - and there was literally a layer of goo in all the grout. That may help. Great job!

It looks wonderful! I have also been wanting to let you know that your progress pics in the previous thread have really inspired me to get some of the little and relatively inexpensive things completed in my home, too. I just needed a little kick (like your progress pics) to get me out of my funk. Thanks and keep up the good work!

Elizabeth

Finazzle is the grout cleaner that worked the most effectively for us.

Wow, terrific! (Hey, who's the cute girl in the pink tshirt painting the ceiling? (: ) Adorable little guy, too. Is he eating better these days?

Good for you!

Ya see??? NOW you have your game face on! All it took was a bit of a pity party and a good cry ;-) to get your adrenaline going!! You're moving along at a good clip now. No doubt due to ALL the male helpers you have. large and small! It looks great - fresh and clean.

How'd you like the Aura paint? I was all set to hate it but my paint guy INSISTED I try it myself and not assume discontented reviewers know what they're talking about. He gave me 3 qts of oops colors to test and I'm sold. You have to read the directions and it does work a bit differently than regular B/M paint but what a finish. Great coverage in dark colors, too.

I am so excited for you and feel as if we're twins with the white cabinetry / grey-blue walls and the "helpers" ....

Congratulations on all your incredible work -- I am really proud of you.

Go Go Go!!! I bet it feels great - what a difference!

Thanks for the grout cleaner recommendation, KD. I'll look into it. Anything would have to be better than the grout we have now!

That is looking great. I had white tile counters before and used one of the Clorox Bleach pens to squirt bleach gel into the bad areas. I left it on for a bit and it worked nicely.

Looking good!! Your little guy is beyond cute! I like your gray walls.

I used clorox bleach pens on my grout. I let it sit for bit and then used an old toothbrush to scrub. I've used Oxyclean before and it cleaned my grout pretty well.

I am so excited for you that you've made some progress on the kitchen. That is a wonderful paint choice. You really are very talented with color. You must be thrilled to have the refrigerator in it's proper place. Thanks for sharing pics of your little helper guy too. He is just adorable.

Regarding grout cleaning, Bill Vincent over on the kitchen/bath forums recommended making a paste with Oxiclean and water and putting that paste in the grout and letting it soak in for awhile, then rinsing it and sucking up the rinse water with a wet vac. I did this in my guest bath (after we'd been out of the house for 8 mos. during out remodel and it was never cleaned)--everything except the wet vac part as I don't own one. I was very happy with the results.

What's next on the list? The fireplace?

From the sounds of it, the grout cleaning is next. :)

Actually, we need to get the fireplace fixed so that our tv room is comfortable this winter, but the estimate for the repair and refacing is $6k. Yikes. So I'm thinking about getting separate estimates from a roofer and a drywaller for those parts, which might save some money. After that, I'll be painting the dining, living, foyer and catwalk.

From there, we'll need to work on new built ins for our desk/library area in the family room.

$6K. Yikes is right! Make sure to talk to multiple contractors as they may have different (or less expensive) solutions and get more than one quote. There is a separate fireplace forum--have you posted your problem there? Don't you just hate it when your house money goes for repairs and not improvement?