DIY Chalk Paint Trial 2: Kitchen Cabinets

My mom and I were so pleased with the results we got with the DIY Chalk Paint Dresser Makeover that we took on another project that afternoon and finished it the very next day. We used the same 2/3 paint, 1/3 plaster of Paris mix in a different blue I found at my HHW facility to paint the bottom cabinets in the kitchen. I've been considering it for a while. Pretty much ever since March when I had my mom paint the dining room Parchment White. I was on a bit of a white spree and it didn't take long before I wanted to bring some more color back in. After the paint dried we distressed them a bit and I'm really happy with the results.

Why did I wait so long to post about it?

The cabinets are in the kitchen...beauty shots of the kitchen require that you actually clean the kitchen.

I almost got it done on the 4th, but didn't quite make it. Since I've been back at work I've opted for baby time in the evening over cleaning and photography time and it just hasn't gotten done. 

As many of you already know my kitchen has been a source of frustration challenge since we moved into our house. It's not super big, but it has a decent amount of counter and storage space. When we moved it it was at least workable. Hideous, but workable.

At some point I just couldn't handle the darkness and that awful wallpaper border anymore. I lost it and peeled down the border. The bare plywood I found under it sort of forced the issue of doing some spackling and painting the kitchen. I ran out of paint and left the backsplash primed, but not painted. And then I got ambitious and got a couple of coats of paint on the mismatched cabinets.

I never actually finished painting them. I kind of got exhausted and put the knobs back on. It's been that way since last April (as in April 2011, not 2012) Are you sensing a pattern developing yet? I can't seem to finish anything in this kitchen. 

When I first decided to paint the cabinets I did some google image searching (it was before Pinterest) trying to pick a color. I landed on white because I already had the paint when I hit desperation mode. That, and I was in love with Kelsey Grammer's kitchen.

InStyle.com

I still am actually and when I can actually afford to redo the kitchen for reals I'll probably go back all white. Right now that isn't happening though. Our budget for kitchen updates is around $5 and without the blue tile backsplash the white cabinets are a little blah. I've been thinking of ways to faux the backsplash, but I think to get it the way I want would just take way more time and energy than I want to devote to it at this point.

And that's where the other kitchen I'm in love with comes in.

Better Homes and Gardens

No backsplash and I already owned a pale grey blue. As soon as we started with the chalk paint on the dresser I knew what I wanted to do next Thank God my mother is almost as nuts as I am and went for it.

Yes, there are definitely plans for beadboard wallpaper to faux beadboard the cabinets in the works. And Mom, please don't hate me, but I think I want to streamline the look when I paint the walls.