Kitchen Upgrade Update

It's been a few months since we finished painting our kitchen cabinets, and for the most part, have the first phase of our kitchen updates done! All we have left to do are patch a few wall holes, refresh the ceiling paint and install a new light over the back door. Also, I want to get a little freestanding island/cart so we have more workspace and aren't constantly fighting over the one little counter we have.

Just a reminder on what our kitchen looked like when we moved in:

THE PROCESS

We roughed up the ugly greenish-taupe color painted on the cabinets, and found a layer of paint underneath that was a putrid pale blue. The original cabinet color is a dark walnut, and I'm super sorry they ever painted them. However, I wasn't in the mood to sand everything down and stain it again, so... I painted them this deep teal blue. I did it gradually over the summer, just doing a few doors and boxes at a time. The summer is a very busy time of year for me with my gardening, and wanting to take advantage of our beautiful weather, so the slow method was perfect.

I love the color, and since the cabinets are super old boring builder grade, I think it makes them look fantastic. Also, the silver hardware the previous owners installed really pops against the blue, and matches with our appliances that we installed.  All I did was give them a quick wash and they look so bright with the blue cabinets!

The biggest surprise to me was how the ugly stone backsplash suddenly doesn't look as ugly. I was positive I was going to be scraping it off the wall. Turns out it just needed something pretty to pop against. And, a few people have asked me if we installed new counters. We did not. They just look so much better with the blue cabinets. I also only used half a gallon of paint, so I have plenty of the blue to use on other things in the house. If you have any fun project ideas for the blue, let me know!

When we first moved in last October, the appliances were black and all of them were broken or really old and unsafe. It looked like the oven had been sitting outside for years, and I didn't even dare turn it on.  We got a killer deal on our kitchen appliances at Lowes during their fall/holiday sales. Our dishwasher, oven/range, and over the range microwave were all less than $1100 combined!

After I painted the walls and cabinets, the kitchen door seemed a little too drab, so I painted a pretty sage green and it brightens up that whole corner. We also replaced the dark brown curtains on the kitchen doors and kitchen windows with a pretty white and gray curtain from Target, and some bamboo shades from IKEA.

I'm pretty happy with how everything has turned out. Taking this kitchen from drab 50 shades of brown, to this bright and fun color scheme was well worth the effort.

FUTURE KITCHEN GOALS

If we decide to stay in this house for a long time, I want to build a half wall along the stair railing and add some more cabinets with some countertops since we have almost NO counter space to work on. We also want to update the decades old linoleum to something easy to clean, and pretty. Like the linoleum faux wood plank flooring. Or, if we get enough cash saved, we want to move the stairs to the outer wall of the kitchen, and make the living room and kitchen an open floor plan with more cabinets, and a big island in the middle (Joanna Gaines style, ya know?).

Right now, the living room sits just on the other side of the stair wall. In the basement it makes our basement living room small, and a gigantic laundry room sits below the kitchen, a total waste of space. Moving the stairs would make a much better use of the space in this house on both floors.

PAINT COLORS & PRODUCTS

Walls: Behr Polar Bear
Door: Behr Environmental
Cabinets: Sherwin Williams Sea Serpent

Oven: Similar GE
Dishwasher: Similar Whirlpool
Microwave: Similar Whirlpool
Fridge: Brought with us - Similar Whirlpool

Shades: Similar IKEA
Curtains: Target

All in all, I've been really impressed with the power of paint to make an old ugly kitchen not feel so outdated. It's not as perfect as an interior decor professional, but it's a huge improvement from what it was!

+ Have you painted your cabinets before? 

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