Today I dropped the kid off at his tutoring session, grabbed a cup of iced coffee and headed to remove cabinet door fronts in the kitchen. This part of the house was modernized at some point, but I am changing the colors and the layout.

I’ve been a stay-at-home Mom for the last 9 yrs. Before that and for a few years during as well, I was a caregiver for three different family members. Caregiving and stay at home parenting are both easy ways to lose sight of whatever path you may have been on before. I loved being there for my Grandparents and my Mom and I cherish being home, and homeschooling my youngest. As he gets older and more independent I’m crawling back to the path I was on and today felt wonderful. A cup of coffee, an audio book and some sweaty hard work. It was the perfect way to spend my time and I can’t wait to go back and pull more things apart and breathe life back into this home. The whole process fuels my creativity and lets me dream, design and create.

This is my first time doing the majority of the work myself. My only mistake was doing a Pilates class this morning and having jello arms even before I grabbed a drill. Pulling cabinet doors down is an arm workout itself!

The upper cabinets are in perfect condition so I’ll use them for a different project. The lower set I intend to salvage and paint a custom color with a new countertop. Oddly enough this will be the second set of tile counters we have removed in under 6 months, but that is for another day.

I’m thoroughly enjoying the first book in this YA series and will report back when I finish.