Last time, I mentioned some “light renovation” we’re hoping to tackle before move-in. We’re getting started in the kitchen. We’re jumping right in, in real life. So I’m just going to jump right in right here.

Let me introduce you to the kitchen, as we first saw it:

Not too bad, right? Amazing blaze orange countertops (the same ones my partner grew up with in his childhood home, in fact). Dated but clean, solid cabinets. Obviously the linoleum is…my dream come true.

Seriously, though–I’m thrilled with this kitchen. Here’s why: The layout is great. It’s open, but there’s tons of storage and workspace. Nothing needs to be rebuilt. I’m convinced that a few tweaks are going to make this space look and feel awesome.

Here’s the view from the eat-in area/dining room:

From this angle you can see the brick fireplace off to the right. The living room, kitchen and dining area form one huge space, with the massive hearth in the middle. Here’s the view from the living room:

That fireplace. It’s a monster, size-wise, and that brick is not pretty. Not, like, charming traditional red brick. It’s some kind of manufactured brick; the color is kind of crazy and it really made the whole room feel a little sad and a lot dated. But I have big plans for this behemoth.

I also wanted to point out the lighting in the kitchen/dining area. In addition to the fluorescent lighting in the kitchen, there’s also this happy little light fixture in the eat-in area, which everyone taller than me keeps running into:

Sweet.

Before we move in, we want to tackle these “little projects” I’ve been hinting at. Here’s the list:

– Paint the fireplace
– Rip out the linoleum floor
– Install new flooring
– Paint the cabinets and replace the cabinet hardware
– Replace the kitchen lighting

I also want to paint the walls and replace the baseboard molding, but the project keeps spiraling bigger, and we’re moving in really soon, so I’m trying to save some of the fun for later.

We’ve gotten started on the painting and floor-ripping-out already. The floor came up remarkably easy, and it was such a sigh of relief to get that busy busy pattern out of the way. Here’s a happy moment, captured: