Freshening up the Kitchen with a Lick of Paint
On a whim I decided to finally do something about the ugly honey stained trim on my kitchen windows.  Which then of course meant it spilled over into new kitchen paint color and painting all of the kitchen walls. Oh and giving the copper hood some love and hunting for some new stools, but we’ll get to that later.
It’s all about painting everything today and why I went with white. You read that right, I went with white.
How about we kick it WAY back. Here’s where I started and yes I made the colossal mistake of not getting the cabinet color I really wanted and succumbing to the pressures of “what if we sell someday?” “grey stained is popular in this area so I have to” mistake.  This photo physically pains me.
I never liked the grey cabinets. It was the one thing I always regretted doing in this kitchen.
A few years later I finally did something about it. We covered up the ugly brown ceiling with this glorious peel and stick mural, I spent a whole week painting all the cabinets this gorgeous soft pink from Annie Sloan and added greenery to the island for some oomph.
Freshening Up With a New Kitchen Paint Color
But I never painted the walls. I made the decision to leave the original greige color because this space is part of the open concept of our main level that includes the family room, entry, hallways, bar and my office. It was tough to figure out a starting and stopping point without it being super janky.
It’s much brighter with some pop but it still feels somewhat dingy. It’s the paint color, the dark hood, and the ugly honey trim around the windows.
I was so annoyed with the ugly trim (it’s literally all over this house and I am desperate to start getting rid of it) that I just up and did it. Let’s call it a paint-on-a-whim that ended up taking 2 days.
Here’s at the beginning of day 2. I didn’t take pics the first day as I was too obsessed with just getting going. But the first day consisted of me cleaning, sanding and filling nail holes on the window frames to prep for painting. Then followed that up with the first base coat of white. After that we started painting the walls.
You can see the big difference in the color above the windows before we painted that ceiling edge.
Here’s a shot looking in after we finished the ceiling edges and I did 2 more coats of white on the windows. It’s so much brighter and it feels so open.
I’m on the hunt for some new stools, I’ll share more on this in my next post.
An overall shot, you can see where we stopped the white, on the corner next to the big mirror. The greige just reads really dingy and almost brown. This project actually doubled as an experiment, I wanted to see what white would be like in this space as I’m debating on painting the entire main area with it.
It feels so much more open. The white really just freshens everything up and let’s the pink cabinets, copper hood and blue range really pop.
Here’s a shot of the hood. I mentioned earlier that we did a bit of a clean up on it during the painting mischief. The hood is copper. (see my thoughts on copper patina-ing vs keeping it shiny) I snagged it on Ebay for $300 and it came out of an old pub in New York. So think countless years of patina and unknown gunk. I’ve been slowly stripping it over the years unsure of how much I wanted to remove.
We tried 2 other techniques after this photo was taken and it’s much lighter now.
I will share the multi step process we used, the new look of the hood AND the stool saga in the next post. I’ve been getting loads of thoughts from my peeps on Instagram so it’s been a fun adventure for sure.
As much as I love color, white walls and window trim are where it’s at for me in these large open spaces. It keeps everything bright and fresh and lends itself as the perfect backdrop for letting all of my beautiful colors pop. I have a very strong feeling we will be spending a significant amount of time painting the main area soon. Just imagine how thrilled my hubs is haha.
What do you think? White was an unexpected choice for me I know!
I always love to hear from ya so hit me up in the comments.
And don’t forget the subscribe box in the sidebar, I’ve got counter stool searches and the multi step hood treatment coming up!
Have you freshened things up in your home with a new kitchen paint color? Let me know in a comment below!
XOXOXO
Tiffany
February 16, 2021Wow, I just love the white walls and window trim! What an improvement, and it does really allow the amazing elements to shine!
Tina Bousu
February 18, 2021Hi Tiffany! Thank you so much, it made such a big difference I was immediately mad at myself for waiting so long to do it! haha xoxo
Pat Rutledge
February 16, 2021Tina, I love the white! It truly allows all your colors to pop! It’s really evident that it’s a great change by the wall where the big mirror is. I would feel the same way about changing the window trim and I will be tuned in for the rest of the 1st level to be painted. 😂
I’ve laughed about the stools you shared on IG! Only you would come up with a couple of them! 😂🤣 No one is ready to get older but it’s real and does make a difference in the furniture!
xo
Pat
Tina Bousu
February 18, 2021Hi Pat! haha oh yeah, the last time we painted the entire main area it took us 5 days. Hopefully now that a couple of the kids are old enough to help this time it won’t take as long, fingers crossed! And the stools, oh man did people have thoughts. It’s funny, I heard from someone who actually sat in the rattan stool and said it was really comfortable, I’m not sure if they can be made to the smaller size I would need though so that might automatically cross that one off the list. I’ll keep you posted on what I find out! xoxo
Michelle Carder
February 17, 2021Beautiful room and I luuuuuhv white which is surprising. It’s a great backdrop for the bolder things and our attic/master at the last house was full on white on the floors, ceiling and walls. Although I did add a coat of Glitter Effects paint which I wouldn’t recommend for the kitchen because things stick in the glitter. Wonderful space Tina!
Tina Bousu
February 18, 2021Hi Michelle! Yas! I’m really diving into the white walls which shocks me. But it really does let all of our glorious color and fun pop so much more that it’s hard not to want it everywhere. And glitter effects paint?! I need to look into this! Thanks so much love, I really appreciate it xoxoxoxo