It took longer to complete than I expected and more money (a basic truth of any reno project), and serious patience (I almost lost it when I had to screw in a kajillion handles and knobs), but it was all worth it. The paint is Sherwin-Williams in Friendly Yellow. Choosing the color was a workout—so many yellows! I wanted one that looked sunny, but not too much so that we'd get tired of it. Dave has this bad (or smart) habit of saying "Whatever you like, honey!" so the crowd-sourcing I did here really helped. We used the eco-friendly Emerald Interior Acrylic Latex line for primer and paint; the color is rich, it's washable, it has something in it that stops mold and mildew from forming and it's zero-VOC. That meant it had barely any smell when it went on, so none of us got nasty paint-fume headaches. The floor is Mannington Adura Luxury Flooring Acacia in African Sunset. I did a lot of research on flooring, and this stuff is excellent quality and seriously good-looking. When I say, "It's vinyl!" nobody believes me;

the planks, their color and the grain pattern truly look like wood. It cleans up fast when the kids splatter paint on it.lewis curtains lower hutt Laura, a designer at our local IKEA, helped me choose the BESTÅ cabinetry for the back wall. dollar curtains ferntree gullyShe graphed it out on a computer, and I decided where I wanted the glass panels. ikea palo alto curtainsThe room isn't so big, and I figured having a few clear ones would open up the space.hibiscus curtains camper We put Fintorp handles on all the BESTÅ cabinetry, easy for Max to grasp. (The stainless steel ones are discontinued, but they're available in black).

This is the Ektorp Loveseat in Åbyn Blue. We got two of them—a sofa was too large for the room. The only problem is that they are so comfy the kids want to lounge on them and have movie night all the time. The red pillows are from Bed, Bath & Beyond and the patterned one that matches the curtains, an IKEA Emmie Kvist Cushion. I did get a white armchair, the IKEA EKTORP Jennylund Chair. Given that a cover is only $29, I figured I could deal with chocolate-milk (or worse) stains. That's a Kennebunk Home orange throw from Nordstrom. IKEA Ektorp Foostool in Blekinge white (new cover: $19.99). There's storage space under the seat, handy for toys, books and hiding dirty laundry when guests come over. (Like I said, nobody's ever coming to visit us again.) Finding a great desk was key; it needed to be solid and durable enough for occupational and speech therapy activities, with room for Max to grow. The chairs had to be comfy and give good support, because he sometimes slumps.

The Carolina Large Table in White from Pottery Barn Kids, with Carolina Kids Chairs in Navy, has been awesome—and it looks nice, too. Max loves sitting at the desk with his iPad. It has become his go-to spot for occupational therapy, speech therapy and music therapy—and he's really, really focusing. I wanted Max to have a couple of different surfaces to practice writing on, so we went with the Chalkboard and Dry Erase Hayden Simply White Utility Boards from Pottery Barn Kids. Plus (center) the Pinboard, for hanging up masterpieces. Max insisted on having a basket for his BFF. They're from Pottery Barn Kids and they're called...Sabrina was rather psyched about that. Max can now beam his speech app onto the TV via Apple TV; hearing "I want macaroni and cheese with ketchup" from a glorious 55-inch screen kind of blows his iPad away. We got the Panasonic VIERA TC-PVT60 3D Plasma HDTV, and it is the best picture quality I've ever seen—sharp, and colors really pop.

I'm a little color-shy, why I called my friend Kristen over for perspective on what to hang on the walls. She introduced me to the wonders of Modern Digital Canvas, glorious images hand-stretched over a canvas that come ready to hang. The Choti, a cheerful daisy on a milk-chocolate background The requisite Cars wall for Max (RoomMates stick-on decals)... A Lutron Skylark Contour Dimmer—perfect for Max because the slide control is easy to manipulate. Also check out: Our laundry room makeover—more exciting than it sounds, especially because it has inspired Max to do the laundry.I thought I would pop in and share a couple of big changes in our kitchen.  If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen them.   Even though I was happy with our all white kitchen, I was ready for a change and so one evening while cleaning out a cabinet, I came across my can of Annie Sloan chalk paint in French Linen and wondered how it would look on my lower kitchen cabinets. 

So I tried it and absolutely loved it. Problem was, after painting the lower cabinets, I now hated the countertop.  However, I've always hated our countertops.  When our home was renovated, leftover ceramic floor tiles were used as countertop.  But new countertops have never been in our budget so the only thing I could think of to do was to paint them.   So, that's what I did and I just love them now.  To paint the countertops, first I cleaned them really well to make sure there was no grease or anything that could prevent the paint from adhering.  Then I primed them with Kilz oil based primer.  I let that dry for 24 hours.  Then painted one thin coat of Rustolueum Oil based enamel in Glossy White and let dry for a full 24 hours.  To roll the paint on, I used a foam roller meant for very smooth surfaces.  I did a total of 3 coats making sure to let it dry a full 24 hours between coats.  Also, using oil based paint was important as I was afraid latex would just bubble and peel off if got wet often around the sink.