When my parents moved into their home many years ago the only updates they made were adding new paint and all of their belongings. That’s it!
It’s now 15 plus years of them living in that home and my Mom has finally been bitten by my design bug.
Their kitchen has always looked mostly like this:
{This image is of course after all the counter tops had been cleaned off it’s never that empty and all of the hardware had been removed.}
Notice how the majority of the paint is peeling off. I think my mom tried to convince herself it was Shabby Chic.
This is the gaudy hardware that was centered on each cabinet.
Since my mom had recently changed the paint colors in the kitchen I need to work with the existing colors and take into account the floor tiles and countertops.
{After a quick trip to my local Home Depot and Benjamin Moore I had many colors to pick from. While I have many fan decks I still like to have the small swatches that I can move around. I also grabbed swatches of the paint colors on the wall.}
Here is a glimpse of what the walls look like on the opposite side of cabinets.
{What can I say we all love orange in this family so it wasn’t a surprise when Mom decided to go with a warm terra cotta shade.}
After a long deliberation with some swatches looking too green and some looking not green enough I picked BM’s Crownsville Gray HC-106
But before you can paint you need to make sure you prep the walls properly.
We used this to get rid of all the grease build-up, etc that happens in a kitchen:
After that we went around and patched up all the holes where the existing pulls were with Plastic Wood. We did this because we were going to change the knob location for a more updated look.
Since we were painting the top cabinets a light shade I didn’t want to have a problem with stains showing through so we did a quick sand on all of the cabinets and gave them a coat of prime.
We had many days of the kitchen looking like this:
We then sanded again after the prime dried. This time it wasn’t as bad. Very light sanding was needed.
The cabinets in both colors took 2 coats of paint and a sanding in between.
We started thinking of this project on a Monday. We cleaned the walls that day and looked at swatches, bought paint and sanded on Tuesday. The remaining days were spent in one step of painting or another and by Saturday we were finished!
Voila a new kitchen (kinda) for around $300 in one week!
We all love it! The house had Italian tiles on the floor that we had to work with. So instead of trying to hide the fact that the kitchen had a bit of Tuscan/Mediterranean feel we went with it. The green/gray paint color not only picks up tones in the countertops, but the floor as well.
Painting the upper cabinets the same color as the existing wall color helped make the kitchen look more airy and open. It gave the illusion that the cabinets went all the way up to the ceiling.
In changing the knobs we updated the look yet again. We also swapped out the old facet with a clearance find at Home Depot for only $62 bucks, when very similar looking ones were going for $180-$220.
{Forgot to do a before shot of the sink so Jon was very helpful as my hand model!}
To be honest I’ve always been afraid to paint kitchen cabinets. The task seemed daunting and messy and I was never certain about how the paint would hold up.
If any of you are thinking about it I would highly recommend doing it. You would save yourself lots of money and for around $300 probably less if you don’t need new hardware you can give your tired kitchen a new lease on life.
I think the turn around time worked out well. The sanding, priming, painting etc was from Tuesday to Thursday evening. Friday was spent waiting for paint to dry and re-attaching the doors. Saturday was adding hardware, attaching new facet and window treatment and clean-up.
Even our little helper Jovi seems to agree. He was already on the look out for the kitchen mat, which he loves to take a snooze on.
Tomorrow I’ll have a follow-up post with some techniques that I used that made this whole process easy on me and will help you out if you are considering taking this kind of project on.
how great!! i love your DIY attitude! great work!
The kitchen looks great! It's amazing what a couple of coats of paint can do for a space.
Wow! It looks fantastic. Your family is so lucky to have you to help with all of their design projects!!
Way to go!
Wow! it looks GREAT! Isn't it amazing what a coat (or two) of paint can do??? Great job!
What a difference, great job! Love that Crownsville Gray!!
You make it look so easy! When/if Spring rolls around, I'm painting my kitchen cabinets, so I'm looking forward to the step by step.
What a major difference, it looks so great!! What an awesome daughter you are to help them out and pick new colors and paint with them!
I'd know that pup or kitchen anywhere!! Love the new look!! Xo sis!
That looks much better! Great job!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'm so glad you did or I may not have found yours. I'm anxious to see more projects!
My thoughts are with you as well. Take it easy on yourself and don't be afraid to try again.
{{Gentle hugs}} Lisa
What a great turnaround and for not a lot of money!
Wow fabulous job and for just $300- it IS possible!
My husband & I talk about redoing our cabinets at least once a week! It's so great to hear that you didn't think it was too terrible of a task. I'm holding my breath for your "make it easy" tips!
J
ps- LOVE the greenish color!!!!
We too painted our kitchen cabinets white and you aren't kidding, a tremendous difference in your ma's kitchen and ours. It was quite a project to tackle (for us) especially with a two-year old running around during the day so most of the painting was done by moi, after the hubby and little man went to bed.
You do what you have to in order to love your home, right? Same here with working with existing features. Great job.
Btw, I must say, the FIRST thing I noticed was that faucet. Amazing price for such a beauty!
It looks great! I am so happy it was easier than you though. I so want to do mine.
Loos great! Esp. when you have to work with all the existing items. I'm working on a kitchen like that for a client right now, but it's taking a little longer than yours because their son-in-law is doing the painting in between his contractor jobs! hope theirs turns out as well as your parents' did!
Wow, that is quite a difference. Bravo to the both of you for the hard work you put into this!
Awesome change for such a little amount of money. It really does look amazing and love your color choices.
It looks great and it's also great that I didn't take too too long to get it all done. It was nice to see the steps you took..how many coats, how many times sanding..I'm thinking about painting my kitchen cabinets pretty soon as well.
Thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting too. I look forward to reading more from you
Isn't it amazing how quickly it can actually be done when it's been put off for so long?! It looks great! What a steal on that faucet!
Your mum must be thrilled – love the cupboard colour. great job! KG
Oh, I'm so glad you posted this. I'm about to embark on painting my kitchen cabinets. Thank you! Oh, and it looks great! Lucky family of yours to have your design knack in the fam.
Amazing what the right color of paint can do! I love the hardware as well. And TSP in a spray bottle is the best invention ever.
Fantastic job, as always!!
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
This kitchen looks beautiful! I am convinced painting cabinets is the easiest and best way to update a kitchen. The colors you picked are fantastic and I love how you worked within the existing color scheme.
A big improvement, to be sure. I love the two paint colors you picked for the cabinets and I think they work really well together. Great job!
Looks so good! I love everything about it, and the new color really works with the tiles!
Love it! I'd be willing to paint the cabinets if I knew of a way to redo laminate type counter tops! Any tips?
great job! I know what a job it is as I re did the entire kitchen when I bought this house.. what a job that was! Happy 2010!
Designs for You
Carol
http://wwwbeenblogged.blogspot.com/
Think you were spot-on with selecting the same paint color for the upper cabinets as the wall. Looks great!
I've said it over and over, but I'm always astonished by what a bit of pain can do……….It looks NEW…
Happy New Year.
Warm blessings,
Spencer
Wow, your Mum's kitchen looks fabulous! You have done a fantastic job – thanks for sharing your pics and your tips
Thanks also for your kind comment on my blog. I can't wait to see what other projects you have instore for 2010 
So enjoyed this post Camila! I really like how you painted the cabinets two different colors (top and bottom). The grey grounds the space and white directs your eyes up!
Lovely job!
xo,
Crystal
Good job! You made great improvements on a small budget!
I absolutely love what you did with the room! I love a Tuscan-esque kitchen!
Love the color choices… And another great 'how to' post!
Thanks for giving us such great step-by-step!
~ Joanna
Love the 2 cabinet colors. Great update!
Holy mother! What a difference in the before and after. Great job.
LOVE!!!
Great job! Now that Cablevision has taken away my HGTV, you are filling a "void" where all those DIY home shows used to be…:) Thanks.
Thanks for visiting my blog. Glad to have discovered yours now. What an amazing kitchen transformation – it's amazing what a lick of paint can do to change a room.
I just love a good before and after.
Way to go!
I love a DIY project. Paint makes the biggest difference!
You have no idea how timely this post is for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was just talking to my husband about painting our kitchen cabinets over breakfast. Actually two days in a row now. This great how-to is indispensable. I can't wait to read your suggestions tomorrow. However did you happen to read my mind, Camila???? ;0)
Wow, you're amazing!!!
what an AWESOME how-to!!! Your mom must be THRILLED!!! Great job & you are such a worker girl!!! awesome. Bookmarking this for sureas a reference!!
xoxoxoxo
You did yet again another fantastic job! Love the way it turned out!
GREAT JOB! Paint goes such a long way.. I bet your parents are thrilled. xoRH
What a difference! I am so afraid of painting mine. I really want to redo my island, but ack it is scary.
Looks great!
XOXO
Jen
SO much better!! I heart paint!!
SO much better!! I heart paint!!
The kitchen looks wonderful and was certainly worth all the time you spent making it beautiful. Now I just need to find an outdated kitchen to revamp!