Paint and Repaint

You already read about the fabulous kitchen cupboard makeover here, but I had a secret. As ecstatic as I was with the results of paint on wood, now there was so much white that I yearned for some color - not a lot, just a little. I toyed with the idea of painting some of the kitchen cupboards an actual color - maybe green, maybe a grayish blue, maybe black. I wasn't sure, but that nagging feeling wouldn't go away. I finally bounced the idea off of my husband, who promptly responded with, "No. I like them this way." No biggie. It usually takes him awhile to warm up to one of my projects.

My original thinking was to paint the wood under the counter where the barstools sit. It was a smooth space with a corner for a clear transition from the white to the color. I knew I had enough of our white cupboard color to paint it back if I didn't like it {we used the same color for all of our upstairs trim}, so I looked over my paint collection, picked a coolish green, and went for it.

I lived with it for a few days, didn't love it, and painted it white again. A pain? Not really. It only took about 15 minutes to paint the space white again, and that was totally worth it in case I'd loved it in another color. I love this part: my husband never even noticed I painted it until I pointed it out to him. Not sure what that says about him {or about how often I paint things}, but it couldn't have been all that ugly if he didn't notice it immediately.

So I thought some more {there was still an awful lot of white in the kitchen, after all}, and it dawned on me: the china cupboard! My husband's grandparents owned the house before we did, and his grandfather custom built all of the cupboards. When he finished off the kitchen, he added a built in china cupboard in the corner dining area. And when we painted all of his lovely cupboards, we totally painted the china cupboard, too.

China cupboard untouched {I think she's crying a little in this picture.}

China cupboard painted white

I liked the china cupboard white, but what a perfect piece to add some drama to the room. I looked through my color fan deck of paint colors, selected a country grayish green, and had a quart mixed. After that and two coats, I transformed our china cupboard from the nice girl that no one notices to that foxy lady in the corner.



No more tears for this babe.



I painted the back and side walls and the insides of the doors in addition to the outside of the cupboard. I didn't paint the top, of course. I wasn't going to spend time painting that. If you want to come and inspect the top of my china cupboard, you'll still see the wood in its original condition, but be sure to dust it for me while you're up there.

I think with this transformation, the china cupboard went from being the biggest not to hot in that part of the house. But as they say, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.