Kitchen, dining and lounge paint reveal

Looking through our transformed dining room into our transformed lounge.

My sister-in-law, Kim, and her husband, Brendan, gave us such a wonderful Christmas present. They flew down to Wellington for three days to help us paint our house. (And by 'help' I mean 'do most of the work themselves.')

I organised back-to-back play-dates for Lily and Sophie with church and Playcentre friends while Kim and Brendan were here, and was overwhelmed by the kindness of all the people who took the girls during that time so I could paint.

It meant my girls had three days of fun, while we got heaps of hard work done.

And let me tell you, Kim and Brendan did work hard - and always with such a cheerful attitude! I really loved having them here and was so sad to send them off home to Te Puke.

The grand reveal
Since before and after shots are pretty much what I live for, I thought I'd share some of ours. For your viewing pleasure, may I present our once very dark kitchen...

KITCHEN BEFORE: Maroon walls, maroon ceiling.
(Looking through the yellow dining room into the kitchen.)

And how our kitchen looks now...

KITCHEN AFTER: White ceiling, Resene Geyser (gray) walls.
So much lighter to work in!

ACTION SHOT: Paul painting white undercoat over the maroon walls in the kitchen.

And now let me lead you into our once overly cheery, but still surprisingly dark dining room...

DINING ROOM BEFORE: Yellow walls, turquoise trim.

So that you can gasp in amazement when you see how much lighter it looks now...

DINING ROOM AFTER: Resene Geyser (gray) walls and white trim.

ACTION SHOT: Brendan sanding the turquoise door-frame in the dining room.

Now walk on through to our very cluttered yellow and turquoise lounge, how it used to look...

LOUNGE BEFORE: Yellow walls, turquoise bay window. Stuff everywhere!

Feel free to sigh in contentment when you see the calm space it is now...

LOUNGE AFTER: Kim and Brendan enjoying the peaceful new space, painted in Resene Geyser.

ACTION SHOT: Kim scraping the turquoise window frames in the dining room.

I'm loving our new space. It's so much lighter! I don't have to turn on as many lights, which is a big bonus, and it feels so fresh and open. There's still a bit to do - sorting out blinds and curtains for the lounge and dining room, and finishing off the paint on the windowsills and doors, but even as it is, I am so happy.

From the bottom of my heart I want to thank all the people who made it happen:

Kim and Brendan for working their butts off for us. Nanny for babysitting Kim and Brendan's children. Fiona, Peta and Antonia from Playcentre for taking my girls on play-dates with your children. Liz, Janice and Faye from church for taking my girls on exciting trips. And everyone else who offered to help but I had to turn down because I had too much help. I'm grateful to you all.  Thank you!