Surprise Kitchen Makeover | Whitney Beth Photography
 

My mom is one of the most caring, selfless, loving, people you will ever meet. She would gladly give all that she had in order to help those in need. As such is the case, it was time for us to return the favor. Way back in May, for mother's day, my siblings and I chipped in to get mom (and dad) a weekend getaway in Zions. The plan was to send them down once Thomas went to the MTC. Well, homeboy had to do MTC from home thanks to Corona and there was no way mom was leaving while Thomas was still here. So fast forward to now. Thomas has been in the mission field for almost a month now. Makayla and I were talking about how if we didn't do it now, it would be right in the middle of the holidays and way too stressful for mom to leave, so we consulted dates and booked them a 5 star hotel in Park City. While talking with Makayla, she half jokingly brought up the point that since mom was out of the house we should paint it for her. I jumped at that idea and suggested we paint her cabinets and update the kitchen! Luckily Makayla is just as crazy as I am and said we should do it. 

With siblings all over the place, most of our planning took place over our group chat we have on Instagram. I carefully prodded mom for colors and then wouldn't say anything about the kitchen for a few weeks. showing her kitchen inspo that I just "happened to come across" on Pinterest that looked just like her flooring and back splash but with green bottoms and white uppers. All the while careful not to lead her on. (It worked btw - didn't suspect a thing.) By the time it was the week of, I had gathered all the materials we would need. For Dad's Christmas present we decided to replace all the bad outlets in the house - which ended up being 30! 

Just in case we needed some wiggle room in timing I told each parent about the other's surprise. So dad knew about the cabinets and mom knew about the outlets. That way if I needed to text to stall them from coming home on time we were golden. I drew up a timeline and all siblings were to be at the house for as much and as long as they could. Austin and I (and the ones that still live there) were there the most. We were due to start around noon on Friday, but mom was taking forever to leave! Poor dad was trying to hurry her, but she kept forgetting to pack things! By the time we were able to start it was 1. Already an hour behind schedule. But it all worked out. I slept over with my boys that night and went to bed about 2:30 am, got up at 7 and by 9 am we were back to work. We kept up that pattern and worked all through the next day. I had Danny take the boys home around 8 and I stayed until midnight finishing up the polyurethane with Makayla and Austin.

Sunday morning was filled with putting everything back together. We literally finished putting the last drawer pull on eight minutes before my parents pulled in. We all hid in the family room and had the pocket door shut so that it helped make the surprise that much better. When mom opened the door we all yelled, "Merry Christmas!" Now mom has a pretty kitchen that matches her style to be able to be in as she preps and cooks and bakes for the holidays. Mom and Dad were both so surprised and pleased with the outcome! They couldn't believe we pulled it off in two days! And honestly, neither can we! Haha! It was a lot of work, and I'm still tired, but it was so worth it!

For those curious this is what we used;

Behr scuff proof matte paint in Swiss Coffee and Heritage Green mixed with BB Frosh Powder and sealed with Water Based, Semi-gloss, polyurethane.