NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

Painting kitchen cabinets at the barn

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Painting kitchen cabinets is not at all something I was looking forward to.

The good news? It’s a tiny house. It’s a tiny kitchen. So there wasn’t much to paint. And it actually went more quickly than I anticipated.

This isn’t in any way a “reveal” post. But, it’s progress. And progress can be a beautiful thing.

I wanted the cabinets to be a deeper grey than the walls (the walls are Behr Dolphin Fin). I ended up choosing Behr Elephant Skin for the cabinets in a semi-gloss finish. I love me a good animal name for a paint, don’t I? (Check out Addicted2Decorating for a beautiful kitchen using Behr Elephant Skin.)

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Oops. We also need a toe kick, don’t we? Details, people. The fridge will go on the left barn wood wall and the stove will go to the right.

On the opposite side, we have double uppers installed for extra space. This will likely become our pantry with the microwave on top.

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The color blends a little with the walls in the photographs, but it’s a nice contrast in person. Although now that I’m seeing that black door, I’m sort of thinking I should have gone darker. Bad Kim.Behr Elephant Skin Cabinets2
Ryan also picked up a piece of butcher block for our countertop. Our local Menards carries it in stock now – for the same price as IKEA. And it’s 11% rebate time. It’s birch and needs to be darker. Sigh. I see staining and waterloxing in my near future.
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The sink is a simple stainless version – but it’s nice and deep. A necessity, since we’re sans dishwasher.

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Here’s a quick peek at all that storage we have. It will never be enough, but when you only have 320 square feet to work with, you make it all work for you.
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And here’s another view of the pocket door. We ended up finding a matching 5-panel pocket door from my aunt’s garage. (The first door was actually an extra we kept from our first house.) Ryan had to strip layers of paint off of the second door in order for me to turn around and paint again. He loves me. After you shared your opinions on door colors, I went with black. I love the contrast. (In case you care, it’s Jet Black by Behr.)

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Progress is being made. Which is good, because if this house sells, we need a barn to live in. Preferably this one.

What do you think of my paint choices?

Comments

  1. I love seeing all of this progress. This is fantastic. My name is Kim and my husbands name is Ryan… last name also starts with a W.. and we are just starting our journey of buying our first home and it’s a fixer upper. How funny! (if only my husband was as handy as yours).

  3. it’s really starting to come together now!! eek! can’t wait til you all get to move it and say “all done!” (but really, is it ever really ‘done’ ??) 🙂

  5. I love everything, of course!! I painted the inside of our front door Elephant Grey, one of my favorite shades grey of all time! I’m also in the process of painting a few other interior cabinets the same color.

    Oh and that black door, yes!

  7. It looks beautiful! Our kitchen is gray and white. We painted it that way 11 years ago when we moved in. It’s ready to be repainted, and I think we’re going to do the exact same color – we like it that much. We also need to repaint our cupboards. 🙁 Did you use a roller on your cupboards, or did you use a spray gun?

    • I painted them with a brush. Spraying would have had the best finish, but SO MUCH prep work. I wasn’t willing to do that much work for a barn. =)

  8. My heart seriously starts beating faster and I lean all the way to the screen every time you show updates from the barn. I love that cabinet color with the door. Before I even read down to where you think it might be too light, I was already thinking, wow Kim nailed the color. So great with the light gray cabinets against the black door and the barn wall. Love it, love it, love it!!

  10. Looking good!! I used Behr’s Elephant Skin in my bedroom at my last house and it’s just a great gray isn’t it!!

  11. Wondering what your thoughts are on semi gloss vs flat?? I know semi gloss is more derable but I’m not a fan of yet the look. Was wanting your advice!

    • For cabinets, I always use semigloss. I just think it holds up better. But, I also don’t mind the glossier sheen when it comes to cabinets and furniture.

  12. It IS called jet black! I think the BM black I’m going to use in my bathroom is called jet black, too 🙂 Looking great! And, yes, fewer cabinets to paint is a nice trade-off for a small kitchen 😉

  13. I’m loving the color of the cabinets. I like that they aren’t super contrasting to the wall color. It makes the barn feel bigger. Love the black door. I mean love it. Paneled doors in black are pretty much my love language!