What if I added color to my kitchen cabinets?

They need a fresh coat of paint anyway and a recent scrub of the kitchen floors brought me face-to-face with the oh-so-visible grub on their white surface…

This is likely to be a project tackled in, oh, five years or so! Don't hold your breath for before and after photos showing up anytime soon. But for now, let's enjoy all the Photoshopped possibilities!

First, my kitchen as it is now:

And how it would look with black counters (sharp!):

Pinterest inspiration – cabinets match the walls:

Image on left: Pinterest + original source (architectureartdesigns.com)
Image on right: Pinterest + original source (hometalk.com)

Trying it in my kitchen:

Pinterest inspiration – green:

Image on left: Pinterest (original source not known)
Image on right: Pinterest + original source (chateauandbungalow.com)

Trying it in my kitchen:

Pinterest inspiration – red:

Image on left: Pinterest + original source (myhomeideas.com)
Image on right: Pinterest (original source not known)

My favorite inspiration image: Pinterest + original source (thekitchn.com)

Trying it in my kitchen:

I was expecting to love the red, especially the red on the bottom only, but I am not sure I am convinced. I think it looks better in my favorite inspiration photo because of the sleek style of the cabinets. I don't intend to change the cabinets so I really have to look at what I already have. I might just stick with white after all. I do love love love the black counter though. I think it makes a very dramatic impact.

I am very curious to hear any reactions you might have, dear readers. Leave a comment below!

I want to make one: funnel light

Image from MarthaStewart.com. Click to pin original page with full instructions.

I saw these in the latest issue of Martha Stewart Magazine and I was enamored. We have kind of a blah generic light hanging in our back door entryway. Now that the kitchen is looking all sassy with its Sweet Rhapsody paint job and my updated curtains my wandering eye couldn't help but ponder the light fixture. I've had my eyes open for something appropriately vintage when I'm out thrifting but this would be just as charming. Head back to the original link for complete DIY instructions.

I finally painted my kitchen! Rhapsody!

Once upon a blog post written in 2010 I lamented that my husband had "successfully put me off for almost four years now" from painting the kitchen. I then enthusiastically described the color I had settled on… perhaps with thoughts that I was going to paint it soon.

Well, fast-forward to August 2013, and my dear husband surprises me by bringing home a couple of gallons of "Sweet Rhapsody" by Behr. I was so excited I screamed! Painting a room a bright, fresh color is such a joy to me. I absolutely adore the transformation. Our girls went camping with grandma & grandpa for 2 nights and we used the kid-free time to paint the kitchen (and go on a romantic dinner date too!).

Check out this post from earlier this year when I finished the new kitchen curtains. Then you can see a proper "before" image.

And, here is the lovely, bright, cheerful "after:"

At long last new kitchen curtains!

This blog tells no lies. I must confess. Let me find it. Here it is! In a post dated March 10, 2010 I go on enthusiastically about finally finding the perfect fabric for my kitchen curtains. And, to add to my embarrassment,  I just re-read the comments and discover myself enthusing about patching and painting the ceilings, painting the walls, and even mention painting the cabinets and trim!

Well, dearest blog friends, not quite 3 years later and I have finally finished the curtains. That paint swatch for Rhapsody by Behr is still taped to the wall. I recently visited a friend's house and saw her freshly painted light teal room and said "That's the color I want in my kitchen! Email the name of it to me." She did and I looked at the paint swatch and saw it was the very same shade! So, if I haven't changed my mind in three years it is a pretty safe bet I want to paint that color.

Before: gold & brick red plaid, now sadly faded

After: teal and red and green and poppies and dogwood blooms, how lovely

A few comments on sewing these. They're basically hemmed squares, so not particularly difficult. In fact, I think the originals may have been cloth napkins. Or maybe not since they have fringe. Anyway, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to teach myself mitered corners. Well, I did that for about 3 squares (I had to do 12 total) and was disappointed with the slowness of the process and stopped working on them all together for several months.

Then I had the epiphany that this was a classic case of perfect being the enemy of good. Especially since said corners were to be on the back of curtains and therefore never ever seen or noticed. So out with perfect (mitered corners) and in with the good (folded over corners that my machine handled just fine). And now it is done. Perfect!

As an update on the rest: I am totally itching to paint the walls. I have giving up any desire to paint the cabinets and trim. That's the level of nice I will accomplish 20 years from now if we're still in the same house and decide to spend money on brand new cabinets.

ornaments = window adornments

I spent a full 8-hour day – no joke – decorating my house for Christmas so you better believe I've got more blog posts to write about it!

One of my favorite things to do with Christmas tree ornaments is hang them in other, unexpected places like doorknobs, cabinet handles, and in windows. I use two tree ornaments in the narrow windows flanking my fireplace. This year I hung a star in the bathroom.

Then I took my favorite felt ornament by the artist Jenn Schaub of Pulled Print Press and hung it above the kitchen sink. My teal glass, an antique jar, and a freebie postcard from when I ordered a gift through Raw Art Letterpress keeps the blue theme going. There is also a repeat of hearts in the ornament, the snowman print, the pink play-doh, and the red glass. And let us not forget the minimalist nativity, a very inspirational craft from my sister-in-law's family. It too coordinates in shaded of red and blue.

A lovely little scene if I do say so myself!

for the love of poppies

You already saw me gush about the fabric that I then purchased for my kitchen makeover.

Here are some other bits and pieces from my inspiration clothesline.

I am thinking about illustrating some poppies, bold and simple shapes, and having them printed as vinyl that I can then adhere to the tiles on my backsplash. They're already painted over so I can't hurt them.

Kitchen makeover: curtains

I love the hardware that I currently have. One of the very first things I did when we moved in was to replace all the cabinet knobs to match. The current "curtains" are made up of three squares of fabric folded in half, which many people like and have complimented.

So my quest has been to find the perfect fabric. I have been working on compiling a blog post of all the options I have considered, with none of them being quite right. In fact, I have a folder labeled "fabric" that bookmarks to 25 different fabric websites! One of them being Spoonflower, a site where you can have your very own design printed.

Then it happened. I found it. Just yesterday. The lovely delicious line of fabrics in just the right colors featuring sassy bold red poppies. I was so happy! I already ordered some!

Kitchen makeover: cabinets part 2

So this site shows a lovely example of glass front mixed with solid fronts:

And IKEA shows it both ways (mixed and all glass up top):

Something to consider. I suppose it would be easy enough to change if we didn't like it!

Kitchen makeover: cabinet options

So once I get the walls painted, the cabinets are getting refreshed in some way:

1. I paint them.
If I choose this option, I have to figure out if I paint them with regular ole paint (glass? semi-gloss?) or do I go for some special cabinet coating stuff? I am also considering leaving the doors off the large top ones so that they are open. Then that leads me to think, "Oh, I could paint the interior of the cabinets a different color!" However, the risk here is that the interior of your cupboards is permanently exposed. So all that counter clutter I tucked away on a shelf? Back out in the open!

2. I get a quote for getting them refaced.
As I understand it, this puts new coat of something (more substantial than paint I think) on the base and then attached brand-new doors with brand new hardware. Our current hardware is pretty funny. Teeny little springs are always exploding out of the hinges and zooming across the kitchen. I think this might open up the option of doing the top ones with glass doors with white panes that are similar to the style of the window.

Both of these options have the inside of my cupboards being visible in some way. One set, that has my Feistaware in it, would of course look bright and sassy.

The other set is a little more monochromatic since I mostly store glass and plastic containers here – and they're all clear!

Kitchen Makeover: the paint

So I've been itching to paint the kitchen ever since we moved in. The color is fine, a brick red of sorts, but it's just not mine. My husband has successfully put me off for almost four years now. I've painted our living room, our dining room, our sunroom, our bedroom, the basement family room (that's a long story), the multi-purpose "art room, and Julia's room. Teal, orange and yellow, yellow, lavender, red and gray, three shades of purple, and green with a custom mural in case you're wondering.

Oh, and I did the hallway, a staircase, and the area near the back door in a tan color. It was cream before but I thought it needed to be warmer to go better with the wood floor. Choosing a neutral color paint is rather difficult. When I first was painting with it I was horrified because I thought it looked like concealer!

For a while I was thinking of keeping the red but making it brighter. I don't think I was ever entirely sold on that though. I always wait until I have a clear vision before I embark on my projects. Now I know what color I want. It's a teal but lighter and greener than the color of my living room. I've dumped the contents of my kitchen folder out onto my scanner for your viewing pleasure:

I especially like seeing the color shown in a kitchen! I too have white cabinets and trim with wood floors.

And of course, if you haven't seen the news: