My Kitchen Cabinet Makeover 2.0

First things first – It’s that time of year – lots of home tours and holiday decorating inspiration.  We’ll be kicking off this year’s 12 Days of Holiday Homes Tour on Friday, December 1st!  We have a great lineup, so make sure you check them out!  I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone has in store, and getting my own home ready for the holidays.  You can check out the tours from Christmases past, as well as this year’s tour on our Pinterest Board here.

Now let’s get on to the nitty gritty of my kitchen cabinet makeover 2.0.  If you follow me on Facebook, you saw that I posted my most recent kitchen madness.  My kitchen.  I was cleaning up the kitchen after my brother-in-law and his family left after Thanksgiving weekend, and was doing so at just that perfect time of the morning where the light shows every bit of dust, dirt and grime possible.  I started cleaning my cabinet doors, and then pulled a couple of them to respray.  Before you know it, my entire kitchen is in ruins.

Panels removed from the fridge and everything.  And let me just say, I don’t like the exposed stainless steel in our kitchen – the panels are way more attractive.  Plus, I’m noticing how dark the whole place feels without doors.  Not good.

Today things went from bad to worse, and I’ve removed everything from the cabinets and am taping off the frames because like the glutton for punishment that I am I decided respray the doors and the frames an entirely different color.  I’ve been thinking about it for awhile, and honestly had no plans to do it NOW, but sometimes the spirit moves us in ways that we just can’t explain.

This really looks tame, but trust me when I tell you that the surrounding areas are giving me hives.  If I could, I would work through the night to knock this out.

I’m also debating about colors.  I thought about going with a slightly lighter shade of white (but not too stark), but then I saw this kitchen from Studio McGee, and just fell in love.

Is that not absolutely gorgeous?  Well, as far as I’m concerned, Studio McGee can do no wrong.  And I did some digging to find this paint color.  It’s called Stone 3 by Portola Paints.  

I love the color palettes that Portola Paints carries – of course, they’re located in California…  So pretty, I’m tempted to order a color deck and take a closer look at what they have to offer.  Check out the beautiful neutral color palette that Portola Paints has here.

My friend Kayla at Painted By Kayla Payne has a stunner of a kitchen as well, as they just finished building their forever home. Her cabinets are painted in my all-time-favorite-color – Revere Pewter.  So classy and elegant, and the hardware and finishes are just perfection.

My issue is that the kitchen that I want, and the kitchen that I have are two different things.  I don’t have white counters, I don’t have a light tile backsplash.  I would love to change my backsplash, but let’s be realistic – the counters in my kitchen aren’t going anywhere, and the floors are staying put as well.  It’s a big and expensive project, and not in the cards right now.  So, I need to live in reality.

That said, I haven’t given up on the idea of having a hint of color that isn’t white.  What I would like to do, is install a new tile backsplash, and get rid of the weird stair step/pyramid thing going on where my stove is.  It just seems like a space where something went wrong.  Like it was supposed to be tiled up to the ceiling, but then the cabinets were in place, and they couldn’t do it anymore.  So, some men (in my mind, this is the scenario) decided to just do some stair step technique and call it a day.

I would love to have a more substantial range hood here, and get rid of the tile all the way up to the “steps”.  I’d like to break up the brown, by putting in a more neutral and updated backsplash of some sort.  And I’m going to repaint the island too.  I’m just over the distressed look and am ready to move on to something different.  Maybe Urbane Bronze – that’s what I used for the backs of our built-ins in the family room, and I still am a big fan of this color.

As for colors, right now, Canvas Tan (Sherwin Williams) is in the running.

Sorry for the horrible iPhone photo, but it gives you an idea of what my current color looks like (post cleaning/sanding) in comparison.

I haven’t decided 100%, but this is kind of the direction my mind is going.  I’m going in with the long game in mind.  Even if I did act in total haste by starting this crazy project right now.  As I’m supposed to be getting my house ready for the holidays.  I’m also working on a client kitchen – did I mention that?  I’m going to be spraying both sets of doors at once and want to knock them out together (while spraying my frames in my downtime).  

Do you get crazy during the holidays by stressing yourself out with house projects?  I’m finding that this is a trend for me.  I remember when my husband and I worked on our board and batten hallway project right before the holidays shortly after we bought this house.  The walls have gone through several coats of paint since then, and I’ve repainted the garage door (um, twice), but I still love it.

I think I need some elves to help me get everything done around here.  I don’t know – I’m wrapping up this post, and feeling like I’m moving in a million different directions in my my head.  Maybe next time, I just clean my cabinets and call it a day, yes?

Jenny