While You Were Out - Mother In Law Edition

I haven't been blogging, because I've been busy. Susana went to Chile this weekend to visit Esteban and family, and as soon as she was out the door last Friday morning Mario called me and I headed over to re-do her kitchen while she was gone to surprise her for Mother's Day - which is in October in Argentina, don't ask why they can't have it in May with the rest of the world, they just like to be difficult.

Here are the before pictures, but it's not a real before because I forgot the camera in the morning so this is after 5 hours of removing and cleaning. Biggest problem in this kitchen is lack of light, accentuated by dark cabinetry and dark ambered colored glass blocks.
The darkness was accented by pale pink accents on the walls and this old piece of furniture from Deo's medical office painted the same pink.Here you can get glimpses of what the kitchen was like before my 5 hours of object removal. I was limited to all superficial changes - i.e. tearing out the glass blocks and replacing them along with the floor was out, and we wanted to refinish the cupboards but Deo veteod that as well. So, 5 days, 50 trips to paint stores, accessory stores, etc. and numerous budget revisions later, Susana returned to:
all freshly painted walls and furniture. Lots of removed items (mainly plastic picture frames) NOT returned, and curtains covering the window and the amber glass blocks. I wanted to paint the back splash with special tile paint, but I tried it on some hidden tiles and it didn't look great, so I had to leave it. Susana also has a large collection of decorative plates that used to be on the wall in what is Mario's consulting room but we removed. So we re-hung them up the staircase. I also made her a photo collage, painted her clock green and cleaned up the bookcase, getting baskets for kids' art materials and Deo's institute class preparation materials. I told Deo where I put all his stuff and he said "It's okay, I'll arrange it later" and Mario rebuked "dad, it IS arranged!" We'll see if it lasts. There are still a few details to finish, and we're lobbying Deo to buy her new kitchen chairs for her birthday next month, but overall it's a huge improvement.

And now I'm exhausted. Good thing it's my birthday tomorrow so I can refuse to cook, clean, or anything else!