You Painted That??

We moved into our new house in 2013 and I was in love with it from the moment we walked in. I will also say that I love the people we purchased it from, though our decorating colors were very different. I don't think this is out of the ordinary, but I was definitely looking forward to putting my own stamp on our home and making it my own. There was A LOT of painting since 2 primary colors, red and yellow, were all over the house. These two colors make me hyperventilate. In fact, I HATE these colors. I love splashes of color, but whole walls sent me running to the garage in a few panic attacks when I wasn't able to get everything painted when I wanted to. Again, let me tell you, I like splashes of these colors. I LOVE COLOR. But anyway, more on that later when I show you the other room transformations. Today is our Kitchen! (please excuse the mess)

Our home was built in 1995, so we still have the original everythings. Including the original cabinets. They are oak and very well made, but definitely DATED. (My mom loved them and begged me not to mess with them. Clear red flags of dated pieces lol!) They were also DARK. And while I have a very open floor plan, the kitchen was very dark. We are only the 3rd owners of our beautiful home, so I'm actually honored to know that anything that has been done has been done pretty well.

 And I'll go ahead and throw this out there: I HATE OAK CABINETS. I remember my Grandma having them in her kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I ADORE my Gran. I just hated her kitchen cabinets because it always felt like you walked into a dungeon when you were helping her cook anything. However, the one good thing about oak cabinets is that you never really can see when they're dirty. Coffee is a hidden offender as well as grubby little fingers who didn't bother to wash before opening any of the doors. I know there was hardware on them at one time before we moved in because you can see the holes in the corners. I will also say how much I love the layout of my kitchen. I can see directly into the family room and out to the back yard. I have plenty of cabinet space as well as counter space. Yes, I LOVE my counter-tops. They are in fact, granite tiles. I have always thought they were gray, black, and white, but I have since learned that there is also specks of green. To be totally honest, I still don't see it. I don't love my sink...I have recently been a little obsessed with Fixer Upper and LOVELOVELOVE Chip and Joanna Gaines. So now I want a farm sink. Thanks a lot Fixer Upper!? But until I have $12,000 to do a counter remodel, mine will have to do. Also, please forgive the mess. I wasn't intending on blogging my kitchen remodel, but because so many have asked how I've done it and were shocked THAT I've done it, these are the pictures I had taken during the chaos. Keep in mind that it would have taken me a lot less time had I not been homeschooling 4 children at the time and getting ready for Christmas company while taking on this kitchen project. On the other hand, that was my deadline, so I was bustin' my butt!

Okay, so you can see that I have a lot of kitchen to cover. We had had someone come in to give us a quote on what it'd cost to have our kitchen cabinets painted...the grand total was about $1200. How about NO. First of all, we still have to refinish our hardwood floors to the tune of the same number and my rule is that if I can do it myself, look out, I WILL. These words strike fear in my husband because he's not always sure how I will accomplish a project or how much it will cost him. I figure that no matter what, it's not going to be a grand. While asking questions for what the professional would use, I gleaned that ONLY Sherwin Williams paint will do. And for those of you biting your nails from anxiety, wanting to know, OMG DID YOU HAVE TO SAND THOSE!? NO. I did not. In fact I also learned that you don't have to sand down cabinets anymore. This was huge for me because I don't have the time either. Let's be honest, WHO DOES!? Admittedly, I did have to sand a few parts simply because of normal wear and tear and white shows more flaws. Plus when we took the crown molding off the tops, there were a few holes I had to fill and scuffs I didn't even know were there because oak hides a lot! So what did I use to get the cabinets ready? Instead of sanding, we used Sherwin Williams M1-paint Deglosser and Prepaint Cleaner. Hubby and I took the cabinet doors off and started by scrubbing them with steel wool. Then I took paint clothes and just wiped them down. That was a task all in itself because we have so many doors. Now, because I have NEVER done anything like this in my entire life (even while helping my parents when we'd move into fixer upper homes growing up), I wanted to make sure this was something I could do and have it turn out right. The kitchen is a place that EVERYONE sees, so it must be done properly or I'll be out my own costs and paying a pro to come in...so I started with the 3 upper cabinets on the catch-all desk area. Then after talking with the professionals at Sherwin Williams, I had to get a quality primer so that the paint would stick and the sheen would be correct. I like a little gloss, but knew that I didn't want too glossy so I wouldn't need sunglasses while cooking. I used Sherwin Williams Multipurpose Primer and you can see the difference in the picture below. The door on the right only has 2 coats of primer and the door on the left has the primer with 1 coat of the white paint on it. Huge difference, right?

 When I began my quest for what I wanted in my kitchen, I fell in love with the white cabinets and cottage look. However, I needed something durable and a white that wasn't going to blind me every time I walked downstairs. I also wanted paint that I could keep clean without having to repaint any time we used the kitchen. Children are REALLY hard on kitchens. I was on pinterest a little too much, but found Shoji White. There's at least 40 shades of white and I also had to keep in mind that I didn't want there to be a yellow tinge (obvious reasons there) and I have gray walls...and super white trim...how to choose a white shade? Seriously?! It's white for crying out loud, but I found out quickly that it was really an important decision.

 So when I went into Sherwin Williams, I was expecting that I'd been spending a lot of money and having to buy A LOT of paint. I expected to purchase at least 2-3 cans of white since my kitchen has a lot of doors. You're not going to believe this, but I only bought one can of the primer and one can of Sherwin Williams Proclassic interior acrylic latex paint. GUESS WHAT!? I STILL HAVE ALMOST HALF THE CAN LEFT! I couldn't believe it. I wasn't skimpy on the coats either. I bought the foam rollers and rolled both the primer and the paint on. I used a brush for some of the grooves of the doors, but when applying the 2nd coat of primer, I used the roller so I would avoid brush strokes. Since the doors turned out to my satisfaction, I began tearing apart the rest of the kitchen. Holy hot mess, Batman. Yikes.

 The microwave was also really low, so when we took off the crown molding, I had my husband raise the microwave 4 inches so I could use the back burners without burning my arms. I feel like it gave the kitchen a bit more character and dimension by doing this. Plus I haven't burned myself since Christmas...it's a beautiful thing.

Alright, before I get any input, let me just say that I don't care about the inside of my cabinets. I don't have any glass front doors, so I didn't feel that it was necessary for the inside to be painted. Also, we didn't have a paint sprayer, so it would have been way more hassle than I could have imagined. Therefore, painting the inside was discussed and vetoed. If someone is looking in my cabinets to criticize whether or not the inside of my cabinet is painted, we can't be friends. LOL.

As you can see, it was definitely a process.

 Oh my gosh, I have never really had a project so time consuming like this before. I've taken on painting rooms and doing themes, but this was tedious, EXHAUSTING, & sucked the life out of me by the end of 2 weeks.

 Progress would have been a lot faster if I could have just focused on this for a whole week, but running kids to sports, schooling, and general house stuff, yowzers, it took longer than I wanted.

 I also had decided that I wasn't going to paint the outside of my cabinets, other than the front, because I had decided to do bead board. I LOVE BEAD BOARD. I love the look, I think it adds great texture to boring cabinets, and I've always wanted to use it. So I talked my husband into putting it on. He wasn't so sure putting it on the sides of the cabinets would turn out how I was hoping, but like a good sport, he went along with it.

Here he is helping me as I was clapping in excitement that it was looking EXACTLY how I had hoped!!! Look how GREAT this looks!!! The trim really shows the difference in the whites that I used.

So, if you notice the hardware...if I may make a suggestion: DON'T BUY IT IN THE STORES! Holy crap, it was between $4-$6 (or more if you have expensive taste) FOR INDIVIDUAL HANDLES!? UNREAL!? I mean, maybe I should have been prepared for that, but I wasn't. My best friend said to check out amazon. This was in my pre-amazon days of sadness, before I knew the joy of amazon and amazon prime. SAVED MY SANITY. I purchased our hardware for $2/piece with free shipping. HALLELUJAH.

I also wanted to dress up the space with a curtain that would make the area pop. On a whim, I went to Walmart to see what kind of brighter fabric I could find and saw this granny apple green with the white lines and thought, "Meh, I'll give it a shot." I was laughing when I hung it up because it was exactly what I wanted and I bought the fabric for $2/yard. 

All in all, I spent $25 for the primer. $69 for the SW paint. $12 for the Deglosser. $10 for rollers and roller sponges. $8 for rags. $50 for hardware. $5 for curtain fabric. So around $200 (including tax) for everything. See? If I can do it, SO CAN YOU!!!

Mama's happiness? 

PRICELESS!!!