I recently was commissioned to give this kitchen an update.
Check it out.
Here's Despa's kitchen.
The laminate white cabinets have yellowed,
and some are peeling…
And the hardware is dated.
Despa wants a spruce up!
The countertops are a faux granite laminate,
and the backsplash and floors are black and white.
The walls are a yellow green.
Over to the left,
Despa has an open shelving unit
that houses all her cookbooks.
On top, she has a TV and cable box.
I would suggest perhaps a hutch or cabinet here
that we can use to hide all the clutter and provide
more storage.
On the other side of the room
is this fun little built-in shelf that used to be
an ironing board cabinet.
Can you tell Despa's favorite doggy breed???
Yep, Scotties.
She has two:
Boots and Minnie.
And lots of scotties in her decorative collections.
She has a table and chair set from the 70's…….
The chair cushions are worn and need a makeover.
And over here at the door to the dining room,
is another open shelving unit.
I have lots of ideas…….
So here's what I recommended:
I suggested painting the cabinets in two tones
White above and a blue grey below.
Despa thought about a khaki for the wall color,
and I loved that idea.
Always always do test swatches………
I chose several different blue grays for the base cabinets and the doors.
And i chose several wall colors as well.
I taped letters at each sample,
..and made a "key."
My recommendations were
Crisp Khaki for the wall color,
White Dove for the upper cabinets,
and Puritan Gray for the base cabinets.
All Benjamin Moore.
I also recommend painting both doors in the kitchen
a slightly lighter blue-gray, Boothbay Gray.
And the work begins!!
I started by painting all the trim in White Dove.
Next, I painted the walls.
Then I removed all the cabinet doors and
moved them to a garage where I'll work on them.
I primed and painted the doors and the cabinet frames.
This is what I like to use for cabinets:
This bonding primer STIX is the bomb!!!!
Followed by Advance.
And here's a little tip:
When doing colors,
ALWAYS use a tinted primer…
For the doors that had peeling laminate,
I decided to remove all the vinyl.
The first one I did by scraping...
But then I decided to try a heat gun. It worked great,
melting and lifting up the vinyl.
Then you are left with the MDF doors…
Unfortunately, the adhesive didn't come up easily.
That involved hours of scraping with razor blades,
but finally, I got them smooth.
And before painting over raw MDF,
because the latex will make the particle board swell,
I like to always prime first with a shellac based primer.
I decided to paint the back of the little built-in
in Boothbay Gray as well.
Oh yes, it's coming together.
Doors are painted, walls and trim are done.
The Boothbay Gray looks great with the Crisp Khaki.
I hung this antique dough bowl on the pantry door.
And hung a few things on the wall...
And I purchased this hutch
that I think will work great for storage.
It's a little Colonial looking,
but I'll change out the hardware to update it.
All the cabinetry got a prime coat,
and three coats of paint.
I lightly sanded between coats.
I had these dry overnight in the garage before rehanging.
It takes 30 days for latex to fully cure,
so it's important to treat them very delicately.
I put new satin nickel bar pulls on all the doors
and drawer fronts.
They really modernize the look of the cabinets!
The base cabinets doors are back on.
I used a semi-gloss finish for the cabinetry
and satin for the walls.
Next I removed the open shelving unit
and replaced it with the hutch.
It really cleans up the look
and brightens the room!
I repainted it in the cabinet colors,
and changed out the hardware to match.
And the kitchen is finished...
Clean
Contemporary
Modern.
Streamlined.
It looks like a brand new kitchen!!!
A lot of work,
but well worth it.
It looks amazing, Despa.
Thank you!!
(I'm still working on upholstering the four chairs,
but I couldn't wait to show you this awesome
kitchen makeover!!)
Have a kitchen that needs a lift?
I can do it!
She She, The Home Magician
Sheila Fox
sheilafox@aol.com
804-257-5515
