Kitchen Updates

Hello!  I thought I would pop in and share a couple of big changes in our kitchen.  If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen them.   Even though I was happy with our all white kitchen, I was ready for a change and so one evening while cleaning out a cabinet, I came across my can of Annie Sloan chalk paint in French Linen and wondered how it would look on my lower kitchen cabinets.  So I tried it and absolutely loved it.

Problem was, after painting the lower cabinets, I now hated the countertop.  However, I've always hated our countertops.  When our home was renovated, leftover ceramic floor tiles were used as countertop.  Yuck.  But new countertops have never been in our budget so the only thing I could think of to do was to paint them.   So, that's what I did and I just love them now.  :)

To paint the countertops, first I cleaned them really well to make sure there was no grease or anything that could prevent the paint from adhering.  Then I primed them with Kilz oil based primer.  I let that dry for 24 hours.  Then painted one thin coat of Rustolueum Oil based enamel in Glossy White and let dry for a full 24 hours.  To roll the paint on, I used a foam roller meant for very smooth surfaces.  I did a total of 3 coats making sure to let it dry a full 24 hours between coats.  Also, using oil based paint was important as I was afraid latex would just bubble and peel off if got wet often around the sink.  It was definitely stinky but luckily our kitchen has lots of windows for ventilation. 

I can't believe I didn't do this sooner.  It is super easy to clean and very durable.

And I love the shininess as well as how they look with the french linen paint.

And of course I had to make some cute little cafe curtains from some Ikea tea towels that I just bought.  They completely take me back to my grandma's kitchen.  She had something similar and they were always blowing in the breeze, which I just loved.

The whole project took about a week when you consider the drying time between coats but it was totally worth it.  I just love it and the total cost was around $20 for primer, one can of oil based paint and a roller.  Gotta love that even more!

Have a great week!