Kitchen Sneak Peak

We’ve finished painting the kitchen, though we have a few more kitchen projects on the horizon… so we’re holding off on the big reveal of the finished project! Before we left for the store to buy paint, I checked the blog poll and confirmed that Dark Teal was the winner! …which was what I was leaning toward anyways. Thanks to everyone who voted!

If you’re wanting to update a room in your home, but feel you lack the creativity or ability to tackle it, know that you need no knowledge of painting, and no creative tenancies. Just the energy and ambition to complete the project! If you’re experiencing anxiety with regards to your painting skills or color selections… do not fear. Below are a few tips that came to me as I was painting. Hopefully these will calm your fears and ease your anxiety. And help you take the plunge!

~ Chances are, the room in question is either white or beige. Get over yourself and pick a fun color. But keep in mind, the color you choose will appear two shades darker on the wall than it seems in the form of a paint swatch. So don’t get overzealous.

~ Make darn sure you purchase enough paint for the whole room. If you were to go back to get more after running out prematurely, you would find that it’s impossible to exactly duplicate the same color… big problem. And you can almost always plan on needing two coats of paint, if not more.

~It’s true, the darker the color, the smaller the room seems. But this is no excuse for having a sterile, white room with no character or creativity. Sacrificing a little room size might be a small price to pay for having a room that you love. Be daring!

~ Do NOT use painter’s tape on a textured surface. If your walls have ANY texture on them at all, you’ll have a guaranteed globby gross line. You’ll find that using a good ol’ paint brush to hand-paint around windows, doors and along the ceiling isn’t as tedious as it sounds, and gives you a crisp straight line. Plus, who likes to spend hours taping off a room anyways? Just jump to the painting!!

~When choosing paint color, you’ll want to consider the amount of natural light to determine if the color will be too dark for the room. A good rule I came up with is to ask yourself, ‘could I paint this room during the day without any other lights turned on?’ If there’s not enough natural light to accomplish the paint job without supplemental lighting, this is a good indication you should be going with a lighter shade than what is already on the walls. Or, if you’re heart is set on a certain color but doesn’t fit the criteria, you could try an accent wall!

~ If your having a bad day, wait on the painting project. Painting + rage = reckless, careless, messy paint-job. Don’t take your anger out on your helpless innocent home. How do you think I know this?!   Instead, I urge you to opt for a bloody mary and reruns of Desperate Housewives.

~ Avoid the urge to use leftover wall color to paint accessories, furniture, or other stuff in the room. Matchy isn’t always a good look. A good way to bring the room together is to choose an area rug, curtain fabric, or piece of artwork that has visual interest or pattern that contains your wall color, without trying to exactly duplicate your wall color. This also means, if you paint an accent wall red, don’t put a red couch on that wall, with a big red painting. Instead, have red toile curtains on adjacent walls, and perhaps a red vase in the corner with an arrangement . Got it?

~ Most importantly, marry a very tall, very willing man.


“Too many people believe that creativity is a talent with which some people are born and the rest of us can only envy. This is a negative attitude that is completely mistaken. Creativity is a skill that can be learned, developed and applied.”~Edward de Bono