Nesting? A good excuse for a kitchen makeover.

I could blame it on nesting, but I would be lying. I have wanted to give my kitchen a makeover ever since we moved in.

A little background: We purchased our home two years ago. It was a bank repo and what some would call "a house with potential," others would just call it a disaster. The first time we toured the house, we were appalled. Who, in their right mind, would choose to pair forest green carpet with red walls and mint green tile? Maybe in a future post I'll share the before and after shots of the rest of our home. But for now, a look at my new kitchen makeover. 

It wasn't a remodel—we opted for a more economical refresh.  Basically, painting the existing oak cabinets white and adding hardware. Simple enough right? NOT! For anyone who is interested in doing a similar makeover, the hardest part is picking the right color white for the cabinets. No matter what your husband tries to tell you: WHITE IS NOT JUST WHITE! There are so many variations, shades and undertones. And the shade that looks fabulous in the paint store, looks awful in your home. For a month, we lived with about 40 rotating paint chips taped to the cabinets. On them, I wrote down my favorites based on time of day (the sun and time of day make certain whites turn funky shades of green or yellow or pink) and finally narrowed it down to about a dozen.

After much internal debate, and purchasing 8 samples of the whites I had narrowed it down to, I settled on a Sherwin Williams grey hued white: Aesthetic White (#7035). We are very happy with the almost-final result. We need to add a backsplash at some point, but I am resigned to waiting a while for that. …. One project at a time!


Before: Light oak cabinets, Matt routed out four of the cabinet doors for glass to open it up a bit.

During: The painters masked off the entire kitchen and sanded, primed, sanded and painted in three days.

Almost there: It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do! Matt added molding to the island for architectural detail.

And the hardware is on: We chose basic round, brushed nickel knobs and matching pulls. The hardware on the island are a little more kitschy—vintage pulls from Anthropologie.