Kitchen Before & After: Out With The Oak

I am so excited to show you these before and after pictures of my kitchen!  This is a project we tackled a while ago, so I had to search for some 'before' pictures.  I almost can't believe this was how my kitchen looked for so many years.  Our kitchen is like a busy Command Center.  Life in our house happens in the kitchen and I wanted to have a kitchen I loved.  However, the cabinets' strong oak grain was way too loud for me.  The laminate green counters looked great in the '90s, and I'll just leave it at that!

These are the BEFORE pictures of our kitchen:

 

I wanted to change it all, but major surgery wasn't in the budget...then a crazy thought entered our heads...

Mr. StyleBurb is a pretty handy guy, and I know my way around a can of paint and a paintbrush, so we decided to refresh the kitchen ourselves.  We knocked out the ceramic backsplash, added under-cabinet lighting, removed the old counters and sink, sanded, primed, and painted the back, front and sides of the cabinets, and installed a beadboard backsplash.  Our big splurges were the gorgeous granite counter top and new appliances.  I kept tally of the number of hours it took to prep and paint the cabinets and it totaled somewhere in the range of 40 hours.  I think it cost less than 200 dollars for paint and supplies- including the beadboard.  Amazing, right?
 
I am proud to present some AFTER pictures of our kitchen!  Ta-Da!!!!

 Here is how everything looks with the under-cabinet lights on:

You might notice that these pictures were taken at night.  That's because this is the only time we could manage to keep the kitchen clean long enough for a photo! 

I love my kitchen!  It really is hard to believe that this is the same kitchen! The cabinets are so peaceful to look at now!   I love the detail and coziness of the bead board and the shine and zip of the granite and stainless steal as well.  We are so happy we did this!


This type of  makeover worked well for us because the cupboards were in good shape, the layout of the kitchen was fine and there was just no way we were prepared to do a full-blown renovation of the kitchen, and really, it would have been unnecessary.

Here's a list of some tips/details that you might find interesting or helpful if you've thought of painting your own wood cabinets:

• we used Benjamin Moore oil paint on the cabinets and beadboard in Ballet White.  It's been a couple of years and so far, it's holding up well.  The beadboard got 3 coats of paint to make the backsplash extra durable.
   
• the beadboard and cabinets are painted the same color to visually add height.
  
  
• use a tack cloth after sanding the doors and in between coats of paint to remove any dust so that you get a nice clean paint finish.
  
  
• really pay attention to sanding the grooves and edges of the cabinet doors.  You want the paint to stick well in high use areas.
  
  
• since there isn't a window over the sink, I hung a picture instead (it's a print of the location where we got married).
  
  
• update your counter top accessories if you can.  I think a shiny kettle on the stove is like a piece of jewelry for your kitchen.

Recovering My Kitchen Chairs

We bought these kitchen chairs 8 years ago and after three children having three meals a day and lots of spills and other accidents, they now look like this:

I can't believe they look this bad!  And....what you can't see from the photo is how gross and stained they are...or maybe you can! (I'm also a little bit horrified to notice the finger prints and smudges on the little t.v. in the background.  I'll grab the glass cleaner in a minute.)

I had wanted to cover the chairs with this red material.

Unbelievably, in the 36 hours that it took me to decide if I liked it in the kitchen, some decorator bought the whole bolt of the fabric!  Apparently she wants to use the fabric on chairs in a restaurant.

 

So....that's not happening.  My husband and I went to another fabric store about an hour away. We discussed bringing home just a sample (that would have been the smart thing to do, in retrospect), but we didn't want to miss out again, so we bought enough of this material to recover the chairs.

 I don't want to tell you how much it cost!  Would you believe, it's just not right.

Can you tell I'm really new at this whole picture taking for the purposes of blogging thing?  Don't answer that!

Anyway, the problem with this fabric is that it's just too muted for the kitchen- even though it is lovely.  I am looking for something that is more vibrant.  This story will continue next weekend after my husband and I visit another fabric store.  I've got my fingers crossed.

In the mean time,  I think there are about a thousand staples per chair seat that need to be removed before this whole upholstery event can occur.

I also need to find a new use for a few yards of oops fabric!