On Tuesday I shared the current state of our kitchen. It belongs to the original farm house that was moved onto our lot. I hinted at giving our cabinets a little facelift…
Here is what our cabinets looked like before I got busy with a mini roller and paint brush.
And here are our cabinets after 2 coast of Marina Isle by Behr.
Can you believe the difference?! It feels SOOOOOOO much brighter, bigger and more open in our kitchen. I am loving the change. I decided there are about a million tutorials on painting cabinets, so I didn’t think we needed yet another floating around the blogosphere. Originally I planned to distress these, but I decided to leave them untouched. If they wear poorly I can help them along with some sandpaper in the future.
I knew if I was going to pull this off without disrupting our lives I needed to bang it out. So, I removed all of the doors and hand sanded the frame. I started at about 4:30pm, and finished everything that same night with the exception of a second coat on three of the doors. I hand sanded the doors, brushed the inside of the profile and used a mini-roller on the rest. It is a flat finish, self priming, self leveling, zero voc paint from Behr. $17.49 for a quart. When the painting will strikes, might as well go for it!
I am SO impressed with the coverage of that paint. It looked amazing after 1 coat, but I did 2 just to get the thin spots. On the window I had to do 4 coats! With a primer and non self priming Simply White (same paint as our trim) I didn’t tape off the window, and simply used a razor blade to scrape any stray paint off the glass.
It’s so difficult to photograph a window…. haha. #blindedbythelight 
It’s hard to see but I hung some darling tea towels from my sweet friend Mo, as mock cafe curtains just to add color. I used hemp and paper clips 😉 Now that is no fuss! Maybe I’ll get around to sewing them and adding actual rods, but I was determined to work with what I had on hand.
I can never say enough about fresh flowers in a room! They add so much color and life! I snagged these darlings from Home Depot for $2.49 each… pink, red, yellow and orange.
We lost a handle in the process, so I bought these new pulls from Target. They were about $4 each (they came in a pack of 6) They work so well because they cover the pre-existing holes. I moved the 3 old pulls onto the drawers below. {if you look at the top photo you’ll notice the odd hardware before}
Eventually I would love to re-use the uppers for a buffet/hutch in our dining room. That was my reasoning behind going with such a fun color. If I ever tire of it, I can easily add a fresh coat of white and do some distressing to add to the age of the piece. I love how simple it is to breathe new life into a room with paint! 
What do you think about the new cabinet color? Would you use color on your cabinets or stick with a neutral? Matt wondered about painting the lowers white, but to be honest I don’t know where I would use them in the future… and lowers face so much more traffic with 3 littles running around… ALL the drawers would have to come out to be painted and prepped, so it just wasn’t worth the time to me.
I have plans to refresh the other parts of the room… and will share more soon! I am trying to convince my hubby to do a little appliance swap. Wish me luck!
I hope you are having a restful weekend.
xxx
-Miss Ash
OK, ok, now you’ve done it! You’ve gone and inspired me again. It is amazing how much your “old/before” cupboards look like mine (which are still old/before.) Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to Home Depot I go.
Your home looks simply amazing. I hope it brings you joy!
Yes go to the paint store!! 🙂 I can’t wait to see what kind of loveliness you come up with 🙂 It’s amazing what a little bit of paint will do. We are loving the space and having fun fluffing and making it home. Thanks!
mizz ash
your upper cabinets look amazing, the transformation is day and night, I love it!!!
I would leave the bottom cabinets the color they are, you are right ,the lower ones takes a lot of wear and tear…
Great work
Thank you Mizzzzz Deborah!
I told Ted when we bought our house, this spring I AM painting the kitchen cabinets. But Pinterest overwhlemed me with many different tips and idea. it’s so helpful to have a friend who has done this and beautifully!! Thank you for sharing. GOLLY, i love your blog (and you :))
The effect paint can have on cabinets is amazing!! I can’t wait to see what you choose. I actually got quite overwhelmed myself, haha. Because everyone talks about prep, prep, prep, and getting a tough as nails finish. I decided to approach it more like a furniture makeover… and just went for it. Maybe I am a lazy DIY’er. A girls got to do what a girls gotta do! I totally recommend something with thick coverage, like a paint and primer in one… our friends are going to paint their cabinets- they have quite a few, and plan on using a paint sprayer for all of the doors/fronts. Painting the boxes and doors was so simple, because I didn’t have to take anything out of the cupboards themselves. I used a small roller and brush. {don’t know if I said that?} Drawers would be a bit more of a challenge I think because you’d have to empty them all in the process, so it would upset the day to day swing of things a bit. Also thanks for your sweet words 🙂 I sure have fun with this little blog, and connecting with the outside world from the comfort of my house. lol.
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I am helping my sister paint very similar cabinets and we are really struggling with the hardware. She too has so many holes. I am trying to find the hardware you used from Target. Do you remember what they were called or do you have a link by chance? Thank you so much!