Kitchen Makeover, Part #1 - Gray Day

When we moved into our apartment everything, I mean EVERYTHING, was painted the same dull beige. Every visible wall, ceiling, bit of trim, door, closet, cabinet and even most of the hardware = beige. 

The kitchen especially seemed like it could really use some color, hopefully to inspire me to hang out in there and do some quality cooking and cleaning. So, I decided on a gray, navy, mustard color scheme and set about gathering supplies. 

Supplies: 

High gloss latex paint, paint stir stick, trim brush, disposable nap roller and tray, drop cloth, screw driver, masking tape

I only wanted to paint the doors, so I taped off the rest and removed the handles. Taping was a little tedious, but its always worth it to do it right the first time. I didn't empty my cupboards beforehand because that just seemed like way too much work if I wanted to get all the gray done in one go with two coats. I put the hardware for each cabinet on the shelf right inside the door it came off of. That way, everything fit right back on and it was less moving stuff around so therefore more efficient. 

In lieu of a proper paint stirring stick, I used my trusty Home Depot yard stick. (It was either that or one of my bamboo kitchen spatulas.) I stirred for a good while because my paint sat for a couple weeks between purchase day and painting day. Next, I finally got to the fun and relaxing part of actually painting! I did each door one at a time, first the edges with the trim brush and then the front and back with the roller. 

After the first coat, my Little Man needed a feed. My wonderful husband, Captain Handsome taught me a great trick to keep the roller from getting dried out or weird with water between coats: wrap a grocery bag tightly around the roller part. To do so, stick the roller down into the bag, squish the bag onto it, making sure to push out air bubbles and then just roll the roller and the bag will wrap around it for an airtight hold. Awesome!

Coat #2 was much quicker to apply. As it dried, the Captain declared the cabinets to be a shade which was exactly the color of duct tape, and that he liked it. Ok, so, duct tape wasn't quite what I was going for, but his observation was honest and true and frankly, I couldn't help but agree. Obviously, Cptn Handsome and I were meant for each other. 

"Before" from as I was taping. (I took the Van Gogh repro down before I busted out the paint)

After

Paint dried, tape removed, hardware refitted. I am digging my gray uppers!! 

I also painted the vent thing under the sink gray instead of leaving it beige or doing it blue. When the second coat was all done and drying on the doors, the sink vent thingy called to me to paint it. I had just enough wet paint to get 2 quick coats on it. 

 Next on the list is to: paint the lowers blue, put up curtains, refurbish the 'dumpster bench' and find a couple of easy-clean no-slip rugs to put down for creature comfort. 

my DIY blogger FAIL: I forgot to take a "before" of the larger part of the kitchen. 

Stay tuned for Kitchen Makeover, Part # 2: Blue-ing