I’m not sure if it’s the fact that we’ve been home since mid March, or because I’m always in the need of change, but I made a few updates to my kitchen. Remember when I decided to paint my kitchen navy blue? Well I still love the color, but wanted to take a little more modern approach to the rest of the area. HGTV is my own worst enemy in that I want to take all the ideas and apply them to my own home. I have my limitation, however I can paint, change out hardware, and redecorate with accessories like rugs, lamps, and throw pillows.
For my newest kitchen update, paint and hardware were the name of the game. I love the look of contrasting cabinet colors and thought gray lowers and white uppers would be a nice compliment to the navy walls. I headed to Home Depot and picked all the grays I liked best. From there, I narrowed it down to four and taped them against the blue wall, the white cabinets, and our charcoal countertops. I wanted to make sure that the gray played well with all of those surfaces. The family weighed in and the clear winner was French Silver, a subtle light gray.
When prepping for paint, it’s quite a process. Or at least it should be. I removed all the cabinet doors, one side of the kitchen at a time, and lined them up according to where they hung. I wanted to make sure they lined up when I re-hung them. I cleaned both sides with Simple Green, a great, non-toxic household cleaner, before I began painting. Cleaning prior to painting allows the paint to go on smoothly and you won’t brush in dust and particles along the surface of your project. I also sanded any imperfections, especially along the edges where wear and tear were the worst. Wipe away all debris. Now it’s painting time! I like to cut out along the edges before rolling on the paint. Rolling gives you a smoother look than a brush, I feel like you can see the brush strokes, but the cutting out gives you a nice edge. And always apply two coats for complete coverage.
And guess what? This girl was going to totally cut corners and not repaint the uppers white. I was going to just leave the old paint that was applied 18 years ago!! But I guilted myself into doing it and so glad I did! It looks so bright and fresh. Word to the wise, don’t cut corners. If you’re going to paint one thing, paint it all! And clean! Good grief! Because my cabinets on the right side of the kitchen are open faced, they were filthy! Not anymore!
The last change I made to the cabinets was new hardware. Originally, I thought I wanted to go the trendy route with brass. Brass is all the rage and it’s not your Mama’s 90s brass! However, I saw a kitchen remodel on Christina on the Coast where she did all black and I was hooked! Matte black to be exact. These new pulls are substantial too. Heavy and classic. I love it. The next thing I will add is a matte black faucet for the sink, but I can’t find one I want and I’m not going to settle. Also, I don’t really want to hire a plumber right now so that change will have to wait!
So, now I have these gorgeously painted cabinets with amazing new hardware. I have a fabulous kitchen table that’s black and dark brown in tone. And I have this dated brick curved fireplace in the kitchen. It’s red and shiny and doesn’t go at all. So, I had to paint that too. I had to paint it black!! My husband wasn’t terribly excited about it. He was pushing me toward a charcoal gray, but let’s be honest, charcoal gray wasn’t right. Black was what it needed!
I did so much research! I pinned all the pins on Pinterest, read all the ways to go about painting a brick fireplace, and I found so many different pieces of advice. One was to use a liquid sander to help take the varnish off the brick. That didn’t work! At all! So, I talked to the paint guys at both Home Depot and Sherman Williams and they both said the same thing. Prime it first and then paint. So, I primed it first. I used Kilz, which I had the paint department tint to a dark gray, and applied. That worked in the place of sanding as it provided a matte finish to the brick, which is what I wanted before painting.
After a very insightful discussion with the paint guy at Home Depot, I decided against using a matte finish paint and went with eggshell. He said that if I applied a matte paint, the fireplace would look like a black hole in the wall because there wouldn’t be a sheen when light hit it. Always talk with your experts! That’s why they are the experts!
I am so happy with how the whole thing came together! My kitchen may be from the 1960s, but it doesn’t look that way anymore! The cabinet colors are perfect with the navy walls and charcoal countertops. The black fireplace looks like it’s been there the whole time. It’s modern without looking out of place. I never want to leave this kitchen!!
When it comes to home improvement projects, I am here to tell you that you just need to go for it! I was never worried about the gray lower cabinets, but was I was so leery of the black fireplace. Not sure why I ever doubted myself! It all turned out exactly like I had envisioned! Yours will too!
XO,
Andrea
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