Thursday 2 January 2014

Changing my kitchen (Part 1)

Happy New Year!


I sincerely hope that all of you had a blessed Christmas and that you were able to spend some wonderful time with those you love. 

This is my first blog post of the new year. I'm going to apologize in advance...this post is very picture heavy!

I'm starting the new year off with a new to me kitchen. 
Do you see this? I'm doing a happy dance. 

You see our kitchen is wonderful! 
I've always loved it. It's big and designed for cooking and entertaining. It's simply wonderful. 

BUT..............

it's always been dark. 
 I know it doesn't seem that bad. I tried lighten it up by adding a very light backsplash...it was still dark.

 I also picked a lighter paint for the walls..and it still wasn't good enough.  (note the ugly florescent light above the sink)
 Look at all the stuff on the counters...I actually live in my kitchen :)
Our kitchen island..wonderful but very heavy in dark kitchen. Even with all the lights on, it still seemed dark. 

So what's a girl to do? 
Paint of course. 
But I didn't want to lose the wood...well not all of it. 
So hubby and I sat and talked and we came up with a plan.

We started with the island. 
 The island was scrubbed clean (I love TSP for this part) Then everything was given a light sanding.
 Taped everything off and first layer of chalk paint laid down.
 Already the kitchen was getting lighter.
 Everything seemed so much cleaner and more airy....And with the light on the island, I felt lighter myself..happier. Not sure that makes sense buts it's the only way I can describe it.

 I then glazed it with a brown that had no reds in it. I find that if I use a brown with red in it on an almost white paint it just looks like mud and I really wanted to avoid that.

 We were soooooooooo happy with the results we spent the next couple of day just staring at it


Then staring at the rest of the kitchen...
But I will break up this post into a couple sections. 
I had so many comments and messages on my facebook page I decided to do a tutorial...
I'll blog that next. 
Till then........ have a great new year and stay tuned. 

11 comments:

  1. That looks so good, I love the look of the glaze it just adds a little more warmth to it

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  2. You are reading my mind! We had a cherry kitchen installed about 12 years ago with the dark brown granite formica, and hardwood floors - even though this kitchen/eatting space gets 75% SW exposure, it is still dark. I have been talking about painting the cabinets for about 9 months now. Everyone thinks I'm crazy to paint over cherry. My husband has started to come around but we still haven't decided. What color chalk paint did you use? I was thinking Olde White by AS but not waxing - just a high quality varnish/poly -- how are you finishing them off: Trisha

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    1. I have sisters that are very upset with me for painting..so I get the whole crazy thing. I'm actually going to do a tutorial this weekend so stay tuned to find out all the details on how to do it and what I used :)

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  3. So pretty, love what you have done. Although I love the cabinets before, I know what you mean by too dark. Can feel like a cave, I know I had a living room with the same effect, til we lightened it up. So much better. Anyways, I am coming over from Creativity Unleashed linky party!! Great Job, I would love to do this to my cabinets as they are dark 1990s oak! Will be referring back to your site, bookmarked! Thanks!!
    Christina

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  4. I'm a no-reply blogger... but I have a question about the brown. How did you find one without red in it? :)
    gail {at} myrepurposedlife.net

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    1. ohhh, forgot to say, that I LOVE the island.

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    2. Hi Gail. I just blogged the next step. Almost all browns have a red base, you have to keep looking till you find the right one :)

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  5. Oh I love your island! Good job! I found you thru The Shabby Nest linky party, and I am so glad I did, because I have an island redo coming up...mine is actually a dresser we are redoing by adding a counter top and paint...I love your finish. I would be pleased if you visited my lttle corner of blogland, LifeSimply at http://paulaboudeaux.blogspot.com

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  6. Looks AMAZING! I'm a sucker for a white kitchen. Great work!

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  7. I want gray cabinet with black glazed on a small Budget

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