It's amazing...
The first bit of warm weather, sunshine....and the phone starts ringing.
People want to spruce up their kitchens!!
Yep, spring is on the way.
And who could blame them?
Here's one I did last week.......Very unique kitchen.....
Take a tour with me...
Gay asked me to come out and take a look at her kitchen
and offer up some ideas on what could be improved.
(Sorry this kitchen is very hard to photograph because of the backlight...)
Lavender walls...
Dated window treatments: A long cornice with sheers.
The floor and island countertop are off white ceramic tile with dark brown grout,
while the back of the island, facing the entrance to the kitchen,
is a glossy blue-grey tile with bright white grout.
Similar to the type you would see in a bathroom....
It's all a very eclectic mixture.
Looking to the right, there is a built in refrigerator on the left,
and cabinets on the right with black granite tile countertops.
All the cabinetry has a pickled finish,
including the other side of the island.
The barstools have a natural wood finish.
Oh, and did i say the walls are lavender?????
And while no ONE thing is terrible,
it's the combination of so many things -
tile squares and colors and materials -
that feels overwhelming to me.
So....we agreed on a plan,
to simplify and unify,
and I got to work.
I began by building a beadboard facade for the island,
to cover up the blue/grey tile.
I had to use industrial adhesive caulk and then tape this for 24 hours,
since I didn't want to damage the tile underneath.
Because a lot of bottom cabinetry sides had water damage at the base,
I extended the beadboard to cover those as well.
I added trim and baseboard to finish off all the cabinetry.
There was no moulding around the sliding glass doors,
So I added moulding around the frame.
I also added a beadboard backsplash between the upper and lower cabinets.
Then I primed all the base carpentry in a grey primer...
All the doors were removed to prime/paint those separately.
On the upper cabinets and backsplash, I primed in white,
As well as the built in cabinetry surrounding the refrigerator.
I painted the base cabinets in an espresso brown (Behr Ultra Espresso Beans.)
Love losing all those squares on the kitchen island base!
The upper cabinets and backsplash were painted in Benjamin Moore White Dove,
as well as the cabinetry surrounding the fridge,
the baseboard moulding,
and the barstools.
Painting complete!
I love how the dark espresso "grounds" the island (no pun intended)
and integrates that dark brown grout.
And the white backsplash cleans up and opens up the counter area.
Painting the barstools in white really pops them against the island.
This photo shows more of the beautiful texture of the beadboard.
Painting the base cabinets in the deep espresso also helps marry that black granite.
The new color palette simplifies the entire kitchen....
and gives the space a more sleek, graphic feel.
The last step was painting all the walls in Benjamin Moore Alaskan Husky,
...a silvery pale blue/grey
that looks terrific with the espresso and white.
I also painted the alcove/wine rack here in Alaskan Husky for a little smile.
I believe Gay likes her new kitchen!
What's not to like?
It's graphic..
Unified...
Crisp..
Clean...
Contemporary!
For the windows, I suggested sliding fabric panels..
...like these from Ikea.
They are on order.
We also selected a silvery blue fabric for the
barstool cushions that Gay will whip up.
What a success story!
The new kitchen even matches Otis the dog!
Thank you, Gay and Sven (and Otis)
for the terrific project!
I'm still recuperating!
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