Week two: the kitchen

I went away for the weekend, and when I came home, I walked in the door to discover my boyfriend had painted the kitchen... and didn't even tell me!!

BOYFRIEND OF THE YEAR!!!

Yes.  I actually am the luckiest girl in the world.  It's true.

I love a 1950s-style kitchen.  As much as I would love to rip my kitchen apart and start over (who wouldn't?!), the checkered floor and white cabinets -- the whole "'50s-ness" of it -- was a huge reason I fell in love with this house.  The walls were even originally painted the exact same shade of yellow that I'd painted my apartment kitchen.  Initially I wasn't going to repaint at all, since clearly I liked that color, but I decided I wanted to make the room "mine" instead of what someone else had chosen for me.

We picked a delicious light minty green paint (Valspar "Ultra Green") to go with all of the red dishes and cherry accessories I already had.  My paint choice was inspired by this room, via Country Living.  Oh, if only I had a red stove!!

My kitchen before:

The surprise I got when I came home:

The kitchen today.  The color is actually lighter than this in real life.