School House Kitchen

The owners struck again with their painting genius, and tried to color-match the walls to the curtains. This time they've added extra 'umph with the matching cabinetry. The all-yellow walls,  blue lower cabinets, and red uppers seems like it belongs on an episode of Sesame Street rather than in our house. Here are a few candid's from move-in day.

Can you see the dangling pull chain of insanity hanging from the center of the room? Yes, that goes to the florescent light on the ceiling. The crafty owners poked a hole through the light cover instead of A) wiring the light to a switch on the wall, or B) using a different light fixture all together. There's nothing better than walking through the kitchen and getting smacked in the face with the cord of your pull-chain lighting (bonus: it has an obnoxious bauble on the end). Seriously, how could anyone have put up with that!? 

Despite the elementary color scheme and annoying lighting, the kitchen really has a lot to offer. Firstly, it has WAY more counter and cabinet space in comparison to our previous home. It was also bigger and more updated than most of the other places we had checked out. Glass tile backsplash, blonde wood laminate flooring, and pull-out shelving were a good first effort in updating the space. The kitchen, however has the opportunity to really freshen up with some new paint and different window treatments. Lets start with paint, shall we?

When we were paint chip shopping for our living room, you bet your bottom that I picked out a few things I had in mind for the kitchen, too. I needed something that fit with both the red and blue cabinets (those will go unpainted for at least a little while), and also be cohesive with the rest of the house. Seeing how the kitchen has a faux tile backsplash which comes up just a little more than half of the wall, I thought it would be a good idea to use that as a natural separation line to use two contrasting colors. I think it will give the kitchen a little dimension rather than being one flat color. For the upper portion of the walls, I chose to use the same color as the living room: Glidden's "Swiss Coffee". Not only did it allow us to save a few beans by using leftover paint, but it brought just the right touch of creamy lightness to the room. See for yourself. 

Can you tell how much more light, open, and dimensional the space already feels, even with the dark, heavy curtains still on the window? Yes, the yellow is still there, but overall it has added some depth to the room. Here's how it looks on the other side of the kitchen:

Better? Our fur babies seem to think so. They curiously sat and watched as I carried my paint supplies from one end of the room to the other, and then also back and forth between the kitchen and living room. It was much easier to just paint everything at once while I already had the supplies handy so I did it on the same day. 

The bottom half of the walls are still  yellow, but I have already swatched and settled on a new color. We'll be using Glidden's "Wood Smoke". It's a brownish-gray that I am hoping will balance out the space. It is a good dark contrast to the creamy white on the upper half, but it is not nearly as dark as the blue cabinetry.  I've been leaning towards a semi-gloss finish, especially since it is on the lower half of the walls. It should make cooking splatters and toddler smudges much easier to wipe clean. Plus, the faux tile texture will be well suited for that semi-gloss sheen. The power of paint is our best option to transform a space on a renter's budget, and I am looking forward to seeing how everything comes together. I've got so much envisioned for the kitchen. From paint, to decorative storage. You won't want to miss it, so check back again. Hopefully we'll have an update soon.