It's a miracle! I have a ceiling!

Oh, my kitchen. I love it and I hate it. We've got tons of storage, lots of counter space and an oven I love, but pretty much everything in there looks like it was last updated in 1987 (because it was).

This probably doesn't look like much to you, but to me, it's pretty much a miracle.

Here's what it looked like when we moved in (picture taken facing the other direction) :

The ceiling became the most urgent issue over a year ago. It was a (yucky) drop ceiling with "cracked ice" light covers. The fluorescent bulbs began to flicker. After replacing several of them, we realized the fixtures themselves were failing.

It only took EVERY SINGLE LIGHT FAILING and then another month or two of working in the dark to finally tear out the drop ceiling and old fixtures and get our recessed lighting installed. (DH did a great job!)

Picture taken from yet another angle.
When you're really unhappy with your kitchen, you avoid photographing it!

But our redo was just starting. The textured plaster underneath the light fixtures was filthy, cracking and peeling off in places, and riddled with holes. Taking out the drop ceiling revealed unfinished walls on every side of the kitchen, including faux sheetrock walls forming the doorways into two other rooms.

Can you say overwhelmed?

It took us almost a year to make progress from there—it took my dad.

Dad (the Original Wayward) has done pretty much every home improvement ever. When he and Mom came to visit this month, we put them both to work.

It took pretty much their entire visit (with time off for fun, of course), but Dad and DH got the ceiling completely finished and redid the walls. All we've had to do this week is final patching, sanding and painting!

Miracle!

Not to be outdone, Mom reorganized both of my kids' rooms and closets, as well as my living and dining room.

My girls love their closet! Before not only could you not see the floor in there, but it was overflowing with a mix of too-big and too-small clothes. Now all the too-small clothes are sorted and out of the way, and the clothes they're growing into are boxed by size and waiting!

The living room just looks clean now, but the space between the couch and the end table had become a collection point for things without homes: a case of flour, a box of dried fruit, all our tote bags, etc., etc.

THANK YOU, MOM & DAD!