YAY POPE FRANCIS!!!!!!!! Don't you feel like we hit the jackpot?? Our new Papa is amazing! We will still miss our Benedict but I'm jumping up and down about the new guy!!! So so exciting! Big props to the Holy Spirit for making our jaws drop once again:)
Next order of bussiness: My kitchen.
I really, really love befores and afters. Don't you? When we first bought our house and moved in a little over four years ago, we were so excited. This is our first real home!!! That's a big deal.
Some people can afford the home of their dreams. Others people have to work on it over time. My husband and I are working on it and taking our time.
The previous owners were really nice pople and they did alot of work on the house, but daaaang, they really loved the color peach. WTH?! Peach in the kitchen. Peach in the upstairs bathroom. Peach sponge-painted all over the walls of the downstairs bathroom. I mean WE GET IT, okay? You REALLY LOVE peach. Geez.
So. The kitchen. We painted over all the peach a few years ago. I chose two different wall colors in hopes of going for a coffee shop sort of feel.
HAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAA nice try Heather. Let the coffee shops do their coffee shop thing and you do yours, mmkay?
Although the colors did compliment one another, and I still like them, they were not good for the kitchen. They were just waaaay too much. Made the room too busy and small.
Now, I don't have good before pictures. They might be gone forever, I don't know. I'm working on finding them and if I find them I'll put them into this post later on.
Here is my one random, weird pic of the "before" cupboards:
Notice the plain wood cupboards. They made our kitchen very dark. The green paint on the wall was Georgian Green by Benjamin Moore, from their line of Historical Colors. The brown was Richmond Gold, also from the same line. barf.
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| Hey there's a ton of crap on the table!! Let's eat lunch there!! |
You can see the trim has been painted already. It was the same wood color as the cabinets.
A little more of the room. The cupboards had obviously already been painted. We used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White.
Another angle. Those two wall colors look really ugly on camera and there's clutter everywhere and oh LOOK!! our garbage can is overflowing!!! but "before" pics are important so they must be shown.
Partly finished. AUGH I wish I had a better "before" pic of the cupboards!
Ok now here's the "Afters" (even though everything is still a work in progress!). ps These were taken at Christmas.
So that's it so far.I still wish I had some better shots but this is what I've got right now!
We liked the Chalk Paint because it was pretty easy to paint with and obviously you don't need to prime anything before you use it. For us, though, the downside was that while it has a washable surface, you still get alot of grease spots if you get food or dirty kiddie hands (which there is no shortage of here) on the cupboards. Not so convenient.
Maybe part of our problem is that we haven't used any finishing paste or anything on it yet, but it looks like we are going to use a matte finish water based polyurthane. Pretty sure the one I'm thinking of is by Minwax.
We did not use ASCP on any of the kitchen trim or the space above the cupboards (also called soffets. now you know). The chalk paint is pretty expensive at roughly $35 per quart.I found an awesome post on color matching ASCP with Behr and Sherwin Williams paints which saved us a ton of money.We used Behr Ultra Antique White on all trim and soffets.
We chose Benjamin Moore Lenox Tan as the wall color. I really feel that this color calmed the whole room down and made it look larger. Again, we had the paint color matched to Behr Ultra so it was cheaper. happy happy joy joy.
The Deets
Wall Color - Ben Moore "Lenox Tan" colormatched in Behr Ultra
Trim Color - Behr Ultra "Antique White"
Cupboards & Soffets- Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, Old White
They look great! Do they look whiter in these pics than in person or is that just me? FYI: I tried the polyurethane over the chalk paint and it YELLOWS!!! I had to do a whole bunch over again. SUCH a pain. It may not make a big difference over the Old White but beware. I ended up doing polycrylic over them because that's the only thing I could find that would protect them and was as clear as I could find. BUT anything you put over them besides the wax changes that smooth chalk paint finish. So now they just look like I painted them with normal paint anyway.
ReplyDeleteAlso, love your happy Christmas decorations and Dan's back cameo...
thank you Mary! haha @ dan's "back cameo"
Deletethe poly - aw man, are you serious?? I do NOT want my cupboards to yellow. I don't know what to do yet. We keep stalling on it because we're just not sure.
answering your question: I think they really look this white in person. It is so crazy how much brighter the whole kitchen is because of the cupboards. I bet you feel the same way about your kitchen! POST YOUR PICS!! I want to see!! Especially the other things you've done like backsplash and counters..we're doing that soon after the tax return comes in. I think I want really dark counters.
Wow, looks really great...is that a farmhouse (think that's what it called?) kitchen table, love those! And off course, Yay for Pope Francis!
ReplyDeleteHi Patty! Thank you for the compliment. You're right, it's a farmhouse table:) Stay tuned because we gave it a little makeover!
DeleteLOVE White Kitchens!!! Great Job!!
ReplyDeleteHey Nella! Thank you:) I know, I love white kitchens too. It's so fun checking em out on Pinterest, right?
DeleteWhat a difference! I love before and afters, and white kitchens. We painted ours way last summer and I still haven't put up after pictures. I think it is mostly because our kitchen is rarely clean enough to post on the internet. :)
ReplyDeleteHow neat that you used ASCP! I have never used it although I have always wanted to try...but the price keeps putting me off. Maybe I will try some of the homemade chalk paint recipes.
Thanks Elizabeth! HAHAHA I so hear you on the kitchen rarely being clean enough..that's why I put up pics from Christmas instead of current ones!
DeleteI have a friend who has painted a ton of furniture with ASCP. She encouraged me to try it and I was super intimidated by the cost as well as the process. The paint seriously does go a looong way, and it's very easy to use. BUT I will say that this same friend who has used the paint a gazzilion times just told me that she's gonna try the homemade, because it the ASCP *is* so expensive. You should def try it and post some pics!:)
This is my first comment! I enjoy reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteWhat I noticed on your deck is the exact same gazebo without a cover that we have! Do you have plans for redecorating it? I was thinking of getting some of those mosquito net curtains from IKEA and tie backs of some sort. I also saw some photos online where the person had decorated with different types of streamers over the top of it for a party.
Anyway, love stopping by!
Tamara