Through the Dutch Door: Blue and White Kitchen

This kitchen has been a trial and error from the beginning. I was afraid to start any projects on the kitchen because I knew it would be a big deal. I just had no idea how big it would be.

I started off wanting to do a blue kitchen. I had come across this gorgeous blue cottage kitchen from Cottage4C and I knew I had to have it.

Here is what our kitchen looked like when we moved in.

Notice the floating cabinet?

I also figured that the only way to achieve this look was from chalk paint. Let's forget that this happened, shall we?

After getting about 85% done with chalk paint, I realized I hated everything about it. I hated the color, which was Paris Grey, not this beautiful robin's egg blue that was in the kitchen picture. I hated the feel and look of the chalk paint which came out thick and streaky. I hated that it took me twice the amount of paint that the Annie Sloan stockist told me it would, and I still needed more paint. I hated that it took me a whole day to wax the darn thing and when I tried to antique it with the dark wax, it just came out looking like somebody smeared poo all over the walls (sorry, bad visual). Not a good look for a kitchen. Oh, and when I took a rag to it, it immediately would rub off.

So I had it in my mind that I would have to strip the entire kitchen and start fresh. After awhile, I decided I would just clean the wax off of them, and paint over the chalk paint. I had decided on doing a two tone, light on top, blue on the bottom. I just could not commit to an entire kitchen of blue and after the mishap with the chalk paint, I was scared to do anything at this point. I chose a Martha Stewart color called Glass of Milk for the top. Fancy way of saying creamy white.

I took down two doors and started with that. I was determined to take my time and not rush it. I used Gold Canyon Candle wax remover and it slipped that wax right off. Then I used some Awesome spray, available at the Dollar Tree, to clean any grease or grime. And what to my surprise? The chalk paint just came right off. I did try to sand it for awhile but found that wiping it off with Awesome spray would take it right off. I did this until the cabinets were back to where we started, light oak.

Next I used a sponge roller and a sponge wedge brush. I did the backs first, then flipped over and did the fronts, starting with the recessed areas. The paint turned out so creamy and smooth. I love it! After about a week and a half, I was sick of wiping off chalk paint. My hands were dry and cracking from the chemicals, everything was a mess. When you wipe off the chalk paint with Awesome, it makes the paint back to it's original liquid state, so then I had to clean that off, of everything! So I tried on one door and discovered that I could paint directly over the chalk paint, minus the wax, and still come out with an ultra smooth finish. And because the chalk paint worked as a primer, I didn't use as much of the Glass of Milk than I had before.

Once the top cabinets were done, I started on the bottom. For the bottom cabinets, I used Behr Misty Surf. I bought the primer/paint in one. Overall, I like Behr much better and it went on so much thicker, so it took only 2.5 coats. I used an entire gallon of the Glass of Milk for the top and only about 1/3 of the Misty Surf.

Overall, this project took me about three weeks, as I wanted it to be done right. I added some hardware (you can read about my hardware here), a little towel hook, a new paper towel holder, a couple of details and we're stamping Done on this project!