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.

Another Round of Weekend Projects

I worked on another round of projects this weekend. And once again I failed to take the time to take good pictures (these are the ones I sent to my mom from my phone) or write posts. I really must work on that. I swear I'll write actual posts on all these projects in the near future I'm just so busy trying to get them done.

Laundry/Mud Room Makeover

You know how I told you my mom was here all last week and worked on projects all over the house and I would post about them?

This post is not about them.

It's about something I've wanted to do since the day we moved into our house, but haven't. It's about our laundry/mud room/only way to access the only bathroom on the main floor. It's so bad it's embarrassing. Really, I tell people they have to swear to love me anyway or just close their eyes before I tell them how to get to the bathroom. If you're seen my front porch you have some idea of how bad a room has to be before I get embarrassed by it.

The other part of this problem is that we are throwing two parties in the next couple of months that will require people to use the bathroom you can only get to through this room. Clearly, something must be done and must be done soon.

The problems in the two spaces are  actually linked. I bought the wood for a project that will handle quite a bit of the disorganization in the laundry room months ago and it's been on the front porch ever since. Operation Use and Remove commenced on the porch wood pile last weekend (posts to follow, I swear).

This weekend I'm taking on that big (physically big, but not actually hard) project and helping out both spaces.

What is this mystery project?

Ana White's Laundry Basket Dresser. I'm not actually planning to use it for laundry though. I'm going to use it to keep our recycling sorted. That's the plan for now anyway. I suppose I can always change my mind and use it for laundry.

I also REALLY want to coat the particle board walls and bare sheet rock ceiling with a couple layers of drywall compound and paint it a cheerful yellow. And some day I'd like to buy an inexpensive butcher block counter top from Ikea and make a wood base for the sink and install some new hardware to give it more of a farmhouse look, but I'll settle for tidy and unattractive at this point.

Austin said he'll assist in cutting down the 4x8 sheets of plywood tonight so I can put it together tomorrow. I'll try to remember to take before and after shots of both spaces. Not sure I'll be able to work up the courage to post before of either though.

It's not finished...

and I've been holding out on posting about it for weeks.

I've been showing anyone who will stand still long enough for me to crack out my phone the pictures though.

Literally. Anyone.

The woman who owns a flea market I frequent has seen them.

You should feel slighted.

So here goes.

For reference, the kitchen looked like this when we moved in.

 

It felt dark and dirty, and even though tulips were my absolute favorite flower at one point, I was NOT feeling that wallpaper border. 

I tried to hold out for as long as a could. I knew it was a bit of a project and I'm working on not starting too many of those. 

One day I just could take it anymore and starting prying off the trim and peeling the border down.

I don't think Austin was pleased.

I was. Even with half peeled paper it looked better than before.

In the process I found out why they put up that border in the first place. That wall board stuff with the pattern on it that covers the bottom 8 feet of wall is only 8 feet long. 

We have 9 foot ceilings.

They didn't want a horizontal seam around the top of the room and opted for a layer of plywood finished in wallpaper and a piece of trim over the seam. Not such a bad idea really. 

Unless, of course, you hate that border and the pattern on the wall board and want to tear your eyes out every time you look at it.

Then it's a bit of an issue. 

It means you have to correct the difference between the surface levels of the two spaces and attempt to blend them together in addition to dremeling out the plastic seam cover things and spackling the entire surface of the kitchen to eliminate the wallboard's linen fabric texture. It only took two entire weekends to get it ready to prime and paint. The next week I primed and put a coat of paint over everything, including the cupboards.

Since then I've given the cupboards another coat of paint, gotten new drawer pulls and handles, and spray painted all the hinges with oil rubbed bronze paint to match. I'd take you a picture, but I'd have to wash the dishes from dinner first and the hubs is already in bed. I tend to bang things around and make a lot of noise. It will just have to wait.

You can think of this post as a teaser.