Friday, March 4, 2011

The Domino Effect

We're making decisions. You know how you decide to start one project and that leads to another and another and another? The Snowball Effect, The Domino Effect--whatever you call it, that's what's happening to us right now.

As I mentioned a few days ago, we are one month out from having our floors refinished. (I've made it back to 2007 in my Marthas so far, by the way.) Before the floor guys start, Gerry would like to get the kitchen painted. And by painted, I mean the whole thing, cabinets and all. Here's how it looks right now:

Taking stock: The walls are a mess and need to be painted, pronto. The backsplash is my nemesis. The tiles are very "country primitive" with brown grout, and I hate them. The floor will be a little lighter in color when refinished. The butcherblock counters are staying and will also be refinished. The appliances are pretty new and are staying.
This is a photo from a Martha Stewart Living booklet I picked up in Home Depot. The cabinet color is similar, so I started thinking, "Hmm, maybe we could just paint the walls and change the tile." I do like the cabinet color, but it seems like they were only given one thin coat of paint, and we are literally wearing through to the wood beneath. Bottom line is they need paint, so why not go for something new?
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Ah, but what? I'll post some of my inspirations tomorrow, but I'd like to hear what you'd do with it!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think the MS kitchen looks great and yours already has the bones to get there.

How about adding some moulding to the tops of your cabs just to finish them? Then paint them. Lighten the tile & grout. Paint the walls a light complementing blue so you can get that look you like. Some good handles and I think it'll look fabulous.

Mags

Darling Petunia said...

Mags, I never even noticed the moulding, but that is a good idea. Hmm, wonder how the Ger Bear would feel about that?

Anonymous said...

I'm willing to give a try--I'll get on it first thing saturday morning!

ger

Wendy said...

The molding is a brilliant idea!

I'd change the knobs and use some of that chemical stuff to frost the existing glass in the cabinets to make the doors frosty.

Could you use an oil-based paint over the tile and grout? Since it's backsplash it's not likely to be nicked up easily. Then it would be easy to make it a neutral color but keep the nice texture too.

And yes, I'd probably paint the cabinets. Sorry.

Love those counters and floors! They will be so fabulous when refinished!

Christy said...

while I do love the inspiration photo, with the dark countertops and dark appliances, I don't think you will get the effect you want. I do like the suggestion to apply crown moulding. I also saw a suggestion on a blog (can't remember where) about painting the ceiling...you could do something non-white (even lighter green or blue would be really cool, I think). What are you going to do with the backsplash - tear it out, replace it, paint ovet it?

Darling Petunia said...

Christy, stay tuned for more musings on the kitchen project! I'm not done yet! ;-)

Anonymous said...

I love a blog called Retro Renovation. There's lots of ideas for fun, colorful kitchens. Also, there was a post recently about a new product for painting your cabinets that sounded interesting:
http://retrorenovation.com/2011/02/16/repaint-your-kitchen-cabinets-without-sanding-with-hiqh-quality-adhesion-and-great-looksfor-150-or-les/