Kitchen Cabinet Makeover -

The other week I shared I was going to repaint my kitchen cupboards with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint while I was on vacation. I'm so excited to share my progress to date.

I absolutely love this paint and the shop I get it at Diamonds and Toads in St. Thomas is wonderful. Michelle and her family are a delight to deal with and ever so helpful and supportive. Good news is they are opening a shop in London on Richmond Row very soon.

I'm blessed with a lovely large kitchen and clearly I underestimated how much time it would take :-)

I did however get the island completed and the back wall of cabinets top and bottom completed.

The island was painted in Coco - a nice rich taupe colour. Here is the before and after....

Front Side - BEFORE 

                                                                   Front Side - AFTER

   Back Side - BEFORE

( Sorry for the poor photo )

Back Side - AFTER 

(Again sorry for the poor photo)

The island looks so much warmer now and fits in very nicely with the flooring - Whew ! because replacing the floor was not in the budget this year :-)

Here are the before and afters for the back wall of cabinets. I edged the detail in Coco, then painted them in Pure White. Once dried I sanded off the white around the detail to allow the Coco and natural wood colour to come through. The finished look is so pretty and really shows up the beautiful back splash and granite we installed a few years back. 

BEFORE - complete with photobomb by our pug JD

 AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

                                                    

CLOSE UP OF THE DETAIL

I really have enjoyed doing it. The chalk paint is so nice to work with. I chose to use the Annie Sloan Clear wax on the cabinets rather than clear coat them. It really comes down to personal choice. I didn't mind taking the time to wax them, it was very relaxing in fact - mainly because I'd come to the conclusion that I wasn't going to complete the entire kitchen before I headed back to work.  I have approx. 10 more cabinets to complete. Once I have it all finished I'll share some more pics.

Btw, I absolutely love flowers so I picked up this stunning hydrangea. The colour just had me screaming happy !!!! At the moment it's sitting in the kitchen space so I can truly enjoy it as I paint. I love it so much I may have to take it back and forth with me to work...hmm that might be a bit too much - although I'd really like to.

Anyhow I hope you've enjoyed my kitchen pics so far.

Have a beautiful day, 

Diane

Spring Renewal

Can you believe it we are in Spring!
I've been slow to awaken to spring, probably because the past winter was so incredibly long and cold. It seemed each time I peeked my head out more snow fell, so I figured I'd just stop peeking so it would go away.

However this week it seems to truly be showing signs that the snow is going.  Yay!!!
I find spring exciting and filled with a feeling of freshness. I have been busy participating in an online Spring Cleaning Challenge. I have found it to be a fun way to tidy up my home.

Of course spring wouldn't be spring without some home improvements. Over the past couple of weeks I gave our bathroom a fresh coat of paint and....chalk painted the vanity. The vanity was your typically builder grade white vanity so what better than a coat of ASCP in Coco. I love the look and it completely changed the feel of the bathroom.

I have an inexpensive bench that was practical but I just wasn't loving it. So out came the Coco paint again and I gave it a worn look. I picked up some fabric for $3.00 to cover the cushion ( I have enough left to make some pillow covers) and voila I have a cute little bench. I'll look for some nice baskets to finish it off.

As you can tell I haven't been making many cards of late. I've been distracted (in a good way) with some paint projects. At the end of the day it's all good !!!

Today, it's a little paint touch up on the bathroom trim and then to spring clean my craft room !!!! I'm excited to clean it. In all my creative moments my craft room tends to get messy so it's good when I get in there and organize. I actually have so much stuff I told my daughter that I'm not buying anymore craft supplies until I use up what I have or at the very least purge it down to what I absolutely love !!

I hope your Sunday is filled with the freshness of spring and the love of your family,

Hugs,
 Diane