Gorgeous right? Telisa painted and distressed her cabinets, added bead board and posts to her island, and new hardware. Wanna know the best part? Sarah's husband had it done for her as a surprise while they were at Disneyland!
Telisa came to my house today to give me a bid on my cabinets. Gulp. It's a lot of money. The good news is, we can do the some of the work ourselves like sanding and priming and save a lot of money. And by ourselves, I mean Sam. Here is my kitchen now:
Just to give you some perspective, here is my family room area.
I really want to paint my cabinets antique white and do the black bead board island. I need your advice. Since I have white appliances and a really sweet white tile floor (don't ever put white on a floor!) Is it going to be too much white with antique white cabinets? Is the black island going to look good with the rest of my colors or should I go with a cool green on the island?
Telisa also suggested painting the mantel black to coordinate with the island. She also thought it would be good if we painted the kitchen a little darker shade of tan. I explained to her that we have no stopping point and I'd have to paint my entire main floor. Which, I can pretty much guarantee that Sam would leave me if I asked him to do that.
She also suggested a back splash to break up the white. So I'd have to probably do that too. Then I have this bad boy to contend with:
Basically there is no end to the painting and oak eliminating process. Do I throw up my hands and do nothing? Do I just do white bead board on the island?
Advice? I would love to do this, but it would be a lot easier if I already had stainless steel and dark floors to break up the white. Is it better to do nothing. Do I just spend the money on plastic surgery instead?
30 comments:
I have only one thing to say.....if you give a mouse a cookie....
Actually I have one more thing to say. After I remodeled my kitchen and bathrooms my only question was,
"Why the heck did I wait so long?"
I am wondering about the black with all the white. Your color theme is so light it might stick out. However, I am no interior decorator.
I will think about this at work today and get back to you. I need to mull over the options to give you the best advice possible.
my mom had the same problem, and was sick of the kitchen, so they painted the whole main level, the living room a dark burnt yellow, and the rest a green color, it sounds weird but it looks really nice, and i think just the paint made a world of difference.
Ooh, I think you should do your island the green color. You have no black anywhere else to help ground it if you went that way. Ultimately, I think plastic surgery is the way to go, at least for me. Maybe we could get a two-fer? But seriously, I love to decorate. Want me to come talk it through with you?...
Nothing.
I say paint your island the green color you were saying. I have told a couple of friends here that I would love to add beadboard and paint my new island a light pear green. You could definitely keep your oak banister, at least that's my opinion.
Sam I hope you have your painting clothes ready......
When you say advice do you mean friends and family or lurkers??? Thought so...
Spend the $ on a family holiday... your house is beautiful (really its gorgeous, you see it every day and you might not notice).
Elizabeth
I've been lurking for months and I had to come out of my closet and say that I have those same cabinets and same dilema. I'm not a completely creepy stalker since I'm friends with one of your sister's friends, ok maybe that is still creepy.
Since I would agree that you have a beautiful home I'm not going to recommend any changes (but secretly I'm hoping you'll paint so I can see if it's something I could do at my house!)
Good luck!
Just move, and start over.
We had the same problem at our house too. All white appliances and light cabinents. Soo we stained them. Nic has a friend that did it and they looked so much better. You should ask Nic who it is and go look at them. We also put beadboard on the island too.
How handy is Sam? Dave did most of the work and saved us a ton money. You will love it when it is done. We ended up moving as you know to VA and I know that is why we sold our house so quickly.
I think it will be too much white. I don't think that you have to worry about the railing, though. Could you go with another color on the cabinets like a nice sage? I think the darker tan would be better than the white, but then it might not look much different than what you already have.
Make Sam buy you a new kitchen! Help the economy!
He's going to hate me :)
I agree...too much white. We redid our kitchen about two years ago. We have dark brown cabinets, white appliances and a white subway tile backsplash. It's cute and it would work with your floor. I had someone paint my master bath cabinets instead of replacing them and they look great. You could have him stain them a dark brown. He did Mark's aunt's kitchen and they look fabulous. Let me know if you want his name. I agree, have Sam do the beadboard to the island. That would be so cute! I'm sure you could stain your banister, too. Tearing up tile is a joke. We did it and it was a horrible mess. Did you know you can buy grout stain at Contempo? It works really well, and gets the grout back to its original color. I hate doing house stuff. It makes such a mess!
Maybe you should just move! I'm sure you could find a screaming deal out there somewhere!
Just do one thing at a time. You can have the white floors with white wood for awhile. We did in our last house. But paint the cupboards yourself!! It took us 1.5 days to do half of our kitchen. So it will be 3 days total, spread over three weekends. You don't have to sand the cupboards!!! Just use an oil based primer, then 2 coats of semi gloss. It works, trust me. We've done it twice. The oil base primer is awesome. It smells bad but eliminates sanding. Good luck!
p.s. one thing at a time is the way to go. It might not look perfect right away but eventually it will and then you won't have to fork over all of the money at once and Sam won't leave you.
This post leaves me too overwhelmed and lost about what you should do. I can relate--on a somewhat different level--but still, I know the pain of wondering where to start, when to stop, or if I should just lay down and die. I do believe that every little improvement helps.
A whole nother (but related?) topic--I am starting to think about getting rid of all my Christmas decor and starting fresh.
Easy changes...Add Hardware to your Cabinets. Install Molding around the top on the Cabinets for height and to is an upgrade, it is easy to stain to match.
Adding Bead Board is a great idea and black would look beautiful, it looks like you could just easily paint the Corbels on the island and not have to buy others.
I am completly matchy matchy so I would do a white tumble stone back splash with a black glass accent tile here and there.
Keep us posted on this...I love home improvment!
I love the white cabinet's not so sure about the black island for your house. All of your furniture is so light colored... blue and yellow.... it feel so happy. Black just doesn't fit in. I go with green! :)
Moving is not an option. Right? and Sam has oodle's of time on his hands with no ward calling right? Or does he have a calling I can't remember! Paint away!
Carolyn,
Sam is assistant scout master which isn't helping my case to stay here and spruce up the place....
I just blog-hopped to your blog and read this post... but I have a black island in my house, and I would never do it again. I LOVED the way it looked in the picture, but keeping it clean is a NIGHTMARE. It shows every bit of dust and fingerprints. I would go with a color:)
I just want to know how you keep everything so clean!
I didn't even want to redo my kitchen until I saw your friends awesome kitchen. Now when I tell Jason about my new idea, (redoing the kitchen) Sam and Jason can go to lunch and complain about their crazy wives togehter.
That is a lot of white...but then again, I painted mine dark and they show all the dust that gets in the molding and all the food splatters. I would stay away from the black island because nothing else is dark, but I do like the idea of the island being a different color than the cabinets. You should pick some fun color to pull out with your decorating. But, I'm not a pro and it ain't my kitchen. Good Luck!
remember trends pass...
with that said.... white is comming back. Shellys father in law sells appliances and says yes to white. Love a colored island, love the white (cream) cabinets. I agree black really shows everything. Check out my black cabinet in the bathroom that I have repainted and touched up because everything shows. In West VA I swore off black and did it again. hmmmm its the old age, memories fade. Green would be awsome. Check out hgtv.com and look for kitchens. Have you thought about doing your cabinets a yummy buttercream? I need to find photos to send you of Shellys in-laws. They are beautiful!
I see plenty of stopping points for color on the walls.....post a circle of photos. Start with kitchen turn a bit next photo turn nextphoto etc...and back to kitchen, then we can talk.
I would love to know what plastic surgery you think you need!
My decorating advice (disclaimer- I have no business giving decorating advice): Anyway, I would paint the island green. I don't think you need to worry about painting the kitchen darker. I do think you will end up with too much white, and you won't love the kitchen until you've done the appliances and or the floor. Also, you could put a nice backsplash yourself (I mean Sam).
So if I were you, I'd stay out of the mall for a month-maybe two, and you will have saved enough money to hire someone to refinish your entire kitchen. You and Sam will be happy.
Really Brooke, you have a very cute house, and your kitchen looks great.
Lisa
you need to come over.
I don't know what to advise you, especially since you're receiving good advice from people with actual experience in these matters. I'm just excited for you to make the changes you want. Maybe you should plan a trip to Disneyland!
Ok, Brooke I am the first person to admit that I am crazy, but do it yourself!! I did mine and it turned out great!! I painted some of my cabnets cream and some a really dark brown that almost looks black. As for the comment that someone posted on here about black being hard to keep looking nice...I agree, but if you distress all of it you won't be able to tell it will just be getting more distressed. I think I have a picture of my kitchen on my blog...I will look and if I don't I will post a before and after for you! Oh and Sam will hate me for this, but just start it and he will have no choice but to jump in!!!
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