A Fresh Start

Hello! Well despite the fact that I have obviously not been busy working on my blogging resolution (which I promise will change in the very near future) I have been working on my become-a-better-cook-and-baker resolution, and gearing up to work on my complete-all-major-decorating-of-the-house-by-the-end-of-spring resolution.

Last week started with a thorough scrub down of the kitchen and happily ended with an inaugural waffle making session, which is worthy of a post unto itself.

I got the kitchen sink gleaming with the help of this lovely product which also took care of all of the the annoying water spots on the glass cook top that I couldn't get to come off with anything else. I also used it to polish up our stainless steel toaster, which to my annoyment had been irreparably smeary and finger-printed since the day it came out of the box.

To avoid using a stinky chemical oven cleaner, I put the oven on the self-clean cycle and ended up having to open all of the windows in the house to get rid of the resulting horribly-burnt-food smell. So apparently when cleaning one's oven, stench is unavoidable. All the little spills and splatters did turn to ashes and therefore wiped right away, though their ghosts remained behind. In the end I'm not sure it was really worth the wasted energy of getting the oven that hot and running the furnace with the windows open, but live and learn. 

I used one of these to take the oven door from this:

To this:

I also cleared more space on the counters and cleaned and organized the fridge and freezer and all the cabinets, and I thought I was pretty well done until I came across this post on Apartment Therapy on how to clean your dishwasher. So I've yet to tackle that. 
But here is a little kitchen tour: 

I'd still like to do a bit of accessorizing. We desperately need a light over the stove. And perhaps a picture too.

And this wall is very white. I've been wanting to try my hand at bunting-making for a long time now. Perhaps a colorful one to brighten up the window. And maybe a few decorative plates on the wall. Oh and another desperate need, a mat for in front of the door.

And finally, the overhead light. Has got to go. Only one word comes to mind when I look at lights of this style. It starts with a b and ends with a b and there's an oo in the middle. Not to mention the intentionally paint-splattered, sickly yellow-ish finish. Ugh.

So this week and probably most of the rest of the month I will be devoting to painting and decorating the living room. I picked up wall patching supplies today and tomorrow I am going to the paint store. So stay tuned for living room progress reports, the waffle post, and lots more!