Paint It White: The Kitchen

The footprint of the kitchen was a major selling point for us.  As many of you know, I come from a long line of amazing Italian cooks and I find myself happiest in the kitchen.  Josh is also a great cook and it's one of the activities we really value doing together.

Before

On our budget, we were so excited with the size of the kitchen, where it was located in the house, and the overall potential of the space. In a lot of the other houses we looked at in our price range, I was already thinking of how we would have to renovate to make the kitchen more conducive to our lives. Chaney was different-- there was definitely elbow grease needed, but the potential was there. Our real estate agents were just the best-- they knew exactly what to show us to fit our lifestyle, our budget and our non-negotiables (like a kitchen we could cook and entertain in).

The kitchen is a room in the house where our DIY skills have been put to the test.  The first project was to rip out the light wood laminate, exposing the vinyl tile underneath (it's sort of like a fun treasure hunt!).  Maybe I'll have J do a guest post on the floor laying process, because I really can't do justice to all his hard work in words....

We painted the walls above the chair rail Gray Screen by Sherwin Williams and below we painted Alabaster to flow from the dining room.  I painted the kitchen cabinets in Alabaster White as well and updated the hardware with these modern brass pulls.


Painting the cabinets was a huge, long, tedious process. I took all the cabinet faces off and saved the hardware and then taped off all the areas I wasn't going to paint.   After, I scrubbed all the surfaces with TSP to remove any grease from the previous owners.  Then I sanded down all of the cabinets to remove the finish.  I brought the cabinet faces outside and made a makeshift painting booth.  I used a Wagner spray gun to get a stroke-free finish. I put the cabinets up on makeshift stands that I made out of pushpins so I could have both sides drying at the same time.  I think I put 4 coats on each side of cabinet?  Overall it was close to a 2 week project (with at least 3 serious mental breakdowns in the process.  No one ever tells you about that step).

We got help from both of our dad's on the kitchen as well.  Eric, Josh's Dad, is an electrician so he helped us replace the light fixture above the table and helped wire a spot for the fixture above the sink.  SO much more light!  My dad helped reconfigure the direction of some of the pulls and helped do some touch up painting to the parts of the cabinet I missed.

The most recent project was the built in breakfast nook.  I knew I wanted a built in-- it would make the kitchen feel bigger and would give us more seating. As much as I would have used some storage space under the bench, I knew that keeping it open would keep the room feeling light and open, which was important to me.

Our wonderful friend Doug helped us with the bench (and by helped, I mean directed the whole project) and I painted and sanded the piece down.  I love how this simple Ikea table is elevated with these awesome ghost chairs at a killer price point.  The rug under the built in is thrifted and I love the colors.  I got the slab of marble from a junk yard and added gold leaf to the edges. I love keeping it on the table for hot plates etc.

There are still a few things I want to do in the space including: having custom cushions sewn for the bench, artwork above the bench (I'm painting an abstract that I think is going to work perfectly!) switching out the light above the sink for something brass (I am thrifting hard for it, but can't find it yet!), adding subway tile backsplash and switching to stainless steel appliances (please let us get a good tax return).  All in time!

We are loving the new, bright space and have had quite a few game nights around the table (with 4 boys sitting on the bench, so we know it's sturdy! Go Doug!) I have also realized that with 3 different entrances into the kitchen, it makes for a great space to entertain in.

Enjoy the pics!

Forgive the pics being blurry.  Still learning some photog skills!

I totally set the table like this for J every morning for breakfast. Average day at the Johnson house ;) 

Not a bad before and after:

Dining Room Progress

I'm really happy with how the dining room is coming together.  I had a pretty clear vision for where I wanted to take the room and I've been lucky to find some great pieces to finish off the space (for now).

When we bought the house, the dining room was painted a harsh red, was carpeted, and was where the previous owners kept their dogs. It wasn't my style at all and needed some serious updating.  We both love to cook and entertain, so I knew this room would be working hard.

Before 

The room got a total makeover.  Josh laid a new floating floor throughout the first floor (which deserves a whole post of its own!).  We painted a deep navy blue (Naval by Sherwin Williams) above the chair rail and Alabaster (Sherwin Williams) below.  I was initially worried that the blue might be too dark, but the deep moodiness really works, plus the room gets a lot of natural light during the day.

We switched out the light fixture for a mid-mod sputnik replica with eddison bulbs.  This thing gives off major light and heat.  We installed our own lucite curtain rods using acrylic rods I ordered from a plastics company and brass ballet bar standoffs!

The table and chairs were hand-me-down from a family friend. I reupholstered the chairs and refinished the table myself.  The bench was a thrift store find that I covered in the same fabric to give us more seating and give me the eclectic look I like.  The buffet piece was also thrifted.  It's a bamboo, hollywood regency piece and a gasped when I saw it and desperately jammed it in the back of my car before someone else could snag it up!  The marble lamps are incredibly heavy and were a yardsale score for only $5.  

Lastly, the plate wall was a labor  of love.  I spent months collecting blue/white plates from thrift stores and places like Marshalls and TJ Max.  Once I had a good collection, I used these plate holders to attach them to the wall.  I'll write more on that process later.
Overall, I'm really please with the room and think it's mostly done (for now!)

Seeing Spots: The Bathroom

The downstairs bathroom is probably one of our most completed rooms at this point.  The before wasn’t horrible, just very beige and sterile. 

I knew that I could really have some fun in the space because it was so small.  Coming up with the vision was easy-- Convincing demanding Josh to let me paint it cheetah print was the hard part. I mean, I can’t really blame him—he’s not exactly as enthusiastic about animal prints as I am.

I thought about wallpaper, but decided against it for the cost and the permanence (we’re I’m considering remodeling the downstairs in a few years, I didn’t want to deal with all the stripping etc.) I had seen different bloggers using this stencil from Royal Designs stencils and loved the results.  I’ve never stenciled a wall before, but figured I could give it a shot.

Painting small spaces, like the bathroom, can be tricky because there aren’t huge stretches of walls and you have to navigate around all the fixtures, etc.  I painted the base coat with Sherwin Williams Alabaster White.  The same white is carried throughout the other rooms of the house so it helps each room flow.

Here is the Alabaster base coat.  Already looks fresher.  

Once the base paint was dry, I got to work on stenciling.  With my Mac Miller Pandora channel playing, I got started.  After getting one sheet done, I realized this wasn’t going to be a day long project.  It wasn’t hard, just time consuming. I spent probably 3 weekends at 6 hours a pop to complete the painting.  I think it might be like childbirth—while I was doing it, it was terrible, but the end results were so worth it. 

Stenciling in rows 

seeing spots!

While the cheetah print is definitely the focal point, I knew the details were what would make the space feel fun and sophisticated and not safari themed.  I wanted to add some character to the vanity, so i painted it a kelly green and added these druzy pulls from Anthropologie to up the glam factor.

I pulled the same green into the painting behind the toilet for repetition (I just love that print!) We switched up the light fixture to a more updated chrome and bubble glass fixture.  I replaced the heavy wood mirror with a contemporary beveled edge.  The lucitetowel rack, toilet paper holder,  and tray are modern and fun, but keep the cheetah print as the star.  Also, a sucker for our new monogram, I was just looking for an excuse to order these customized hand towels from Etsy. Here are some pictures. 

The finishing touch was the velvet curtain with geode tie back.  I ended up making the tie back myself after scouring the internet for hours looking for a modern tie back (most of them were too traditional for the space).  The curtain probably seems like a strange choice.  The door is a pocket door and we knew  before buying the house (our inspector was the best) that the door was likely going to jam.  It did.  We got a quote to fix it and it’s out of our price range right now (would have to knock down a wall to get it back on track, and again, if we remodel, that would be the first thing to go, so not worth spending the money there now). SO. The curtain was the next best thing.  It works just fine for us now, especially with two full bathrooms upstairs.

In the end, I am so happy with the space.  Everyone who comes over comments on how fun it is and it really does feel like a little surprise nestled in the back of the house.   If you’re thinking about adding some interest to your space, I would definitely recommend checking out Royal Design stencils.  You won’t believe how many styles they have!  It’s definitely a time investment, but worth it.