Before signing the lease of my dream apartment, I asked the landlord if I could pretty please paint the kitchen cabinets. Armed with a two-year lease, he agreed to not only give me permission to work on the kitchen, but he also supplied the paint.
There were 4 layers of paint underneath the blue, which made for long hours of stripping with scrapers and heat guns. Fortunately, my father has a spray gun and air compressor, which made the actual painting process a breeze.
After the doors were ready, I decided to leave off the mis-matched hardware of the wood cabinets and also one of the rear cabinet doors. I was able to convince the landlord to remove the old double-action door that kept the tiny room blocked off from the rest of the apartment. Now the bright light from the skylight can illuminate the adjacent rooms, and even entices me to do the dishes! (Sometimes.)
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It never ceases to amaze me how paint can change absolutely everything.
Well Done!!!
Great remake, never under estimate the power of a fresh coat of paint! It's hard to tell what the storage situation is from a few pictures but I would have considered ripping out the cabinets over the sink and doing the open shelving thing. It would also have opened up the room.
This is very cute! It looks so clean!
Love it! Clean and bright. The color makes the space seem larger.
beautiful!
Really well done!
I love diy projects when they are well thought out and executed like this. Beautiful.
Your landlord must be thrilled. He should be.
I really love the new look..I love white kitchen...but I also love your old kitchen too...that antique blue looks AMAZING. I love it.
Smart & beautiful! Nice work.
I love the blue cabinets - should have kept that part!
So much better! It looks bigger than my kitchen -- and mine is 3 times the size! White cabinets, for the win!
Laura
Just a Little Bit
It truly lets so much more light in . Beautiful job...paint is the magical make-over cosmetic!
I love the fact that you went with white and brought color in in the details. I also love the idea of taking off the cabinet doors altogether, and removing the handles. Well done. It really looks bigger.
It looks perfect now! I love the colour white. My whole appartment is based on white colours. It makes the space more bigger, cleaner and spaceous. Job well done! I love your ceiling!
Nice job - your landlord must love you!
Those blue cabinets were amazing. I can't believe you painted over them.
I hope he doesn't try to raise your rent, now that you live in an apartment with a luxury kitchen. :)
Nice, nice work! Knockout! *claps*
What a transformation! Great job!!
If I was your landlord I would kiss you! Looks so open and airy.
Lovely!!!
Incredible transformation! (I would still spring for a new light fixture though, if I were you.)
holy smokes! your land-lord should knock off a month's rent for all of the work that you did!!! ;-) & LOVE LOVE LOVE the hanging mugs & aprons. Great way to personalize your space & add a punch of color!!!
I'm not crazy about white cabinets in kitchens, but in your kitchen it works wonderfully, blending the cabinet styles.
Is that a lino counter with chrome edge? It looks great.
I love white kitchens. Even though I'm not crazy about hanging mugs, I like the way they mimic the colors in your art. I'm a big fan of vintage aprons, too.
How did your landlord react to the changes?
It had to be done to open up the space, and it looks great, but...*sniffle* those antique blue cabinets were gorgeous.
Amazing what some white paint will do! I did a mini version of this in my rental kitchen (just paiting the doors and left the wood as is) however I have been feeling the urge to just sand and paint the whole thing white and this picture is exactly the "after" I'm going for!
Well, I did love the blue cabinets, but the new look certainly makes your kitchen feel bigger and more airy, and I love white kitchens. I wonder if it would've worked ok to paint just the brown cabinates white, and leave the blue as is? In any event, the kitchen looks really sweet now, and I love your artwork, mugs, AND aprons!
AMAZING. I wanna live in your kitchen!! I can't believe it's the same space!? I don't miss the blue cabinets, good call on the white :)
Oh, and I LOVE the hanging mugs :)
WOW. Unreal transformation!!
What sheen is that paint? It looks flat. I realize it could just *look* flat because it's white, but... it does look decidedly non-shiny (non-shiny is the look I'm after for my current cabinet-painting project).
I've always hated white kitchen cabinets because they seem generic and remind me of rented flats. However, yours is really pretty and has bags of quiet character.
I really love your artwork over the sink. Is it vintage ? I covet it.
The is beautiful! I have major kitchen envy. I also love the hanging mugs too.
Really impressive. Congratulations!
Very nice--I would put matching hardware on the other cabinets though, just to tie everything together. It seems strange that they wouldn't have any. Also, that bright white paint may start to look dingy after a while if you are constantly opening them with your hands. Just a thought, but it is a great makeover!
I also love the fact that she used a flat paint...i love that chalky white swedish look. love the floor too...goes so well with it.
Nice, Yes...
...but golly those blue cabinets had so much character.
I'd have left them alone and left the doors on as well - and replaced some sort of hardware on the newer cabinets - I know from experience that without handles/knobs, a new paintjob will chip in no time.
Err, I mean "cabinets", not "cabinates". Weird spelling snafu....
She had to scrape 4 layers of paint off the cabinets,they would have originally been white or dark varnished wood. I think the white looks great.
Thanks, everyone! My landlord provided the standard paint he usually uses in kitchens. I was a semi-gloss oil based paint. He hasn't said what he thinks about the transformation, and I keep forgetting to ask! We didn't paint over the blue, we actually stripped 90 years of paint from them and started fresh. All of the doors were stripped and then primed with oil based primer, then painted with oil based enamel paint that will not chip over time since the base was properly prepared. We decided to leave off the handles on the formerly brown cabinets because they were brass, and the ones for the blue cabinets were nickel. It just looked funny.
As for the blue... I actually had to talk my landlord into it. I think his wife did the blue shabby-chic look. I thought the blue was nice, but just not my style (pretty grungy faux treatment and "fake" character) and the tiny kitchen was so claustrophobic that the white really helps.
Oh, and the crewel piece over the sink is a vintage number I picked up in a junk store for a $1.
From sad and drab to glad.
You made a very clean, crisp, appetizing kitchen that must be joy to work in.
I love your landlord! Not everyone is open to changes. How did he react?
The blue cabinets were beautiful but they needed a bigger space.
Your floor looks nicer now.
Well done!
WOW what a fantastic change! it looks great!
blue cabinets like that can look cute in large farmhouse kitchens...........but the white is SO much better in this kitchen!!!!!!
It would be cool if you could find matching hardware for the newer cabinets...
Some ninny that rented before I did painted all the cabinets dark green, so I have a similar job ahead of me!
That's such a big improvement! Crazy!
I think the blue could look great in some kitchens, but not that one. It was just too small and dark before. The white makes it look a lor larger and more open; it even seems to make the counters seem a little less dingy.
The only thing I would recommend would be to put matching hardware on all the doors. Right now it looks kind of odd to have some with and some without in such a small space. Even if you can't find any to replace the existing hardware, there are some nice nickel multi-packs that are cheap but look fairly nice.
Both you and your landlord should be thrilled. Looks infinitely better. You did a great job!
I agree, I definitely would like to add new hardware. But the visible hinges on the doors are also brass and I would like to wait until I have money to buy new hinges + new handles. But for now, I'm glad I could get such a dramatic change for no cost except for our labor.
Taking the door off the far cabinet added some depth, some how. hmmm.
LOVE what you did. I don't think the blue cabinets worked well in such a small space. You went from a yuckie country shabby granny blue to chic updated modern white!!!!
The before picture had a certain charm that I really like. However, the after picture is definitely more sophisticated looking and bright. Job well done!
amazing! love your skylight!
WOWSA! I'm not worthy. I bow in your direction! Your landlord should too.
Those blue cabinets would inspire a hurl fest. Which I guess would make me lose weight.
That ceiling is inspiring as well. Can you explain how you did that?
Wooow The White Power !!! Excelent !
Congrats
wow!Beautifully done! I absolutely love it! I have painted the kitchen cabinets white in our last 2 rentals, the landlords always seem happy with the results.
Is the fridge now brown? Or is that just the lighting?
~Emily
So nice!
The fridge is just backlit in the photo, it's still white, but now it's on the other side of the oven.
There is a deep skylight with lattice on the ceiling side. It was like that when I moved in. It's pretty nice, though.
what everyone else has said. amazing what paint, vision, and elbow greese can do.
Looks fantastic now! I'm planning to paint the kitchen cabinets when I move in to my boyfriend's condo. Thank goodness they don't need to be stripped first.
Well done! I've recently repainted my kitchen, so I know the time and effort that went into this - TOTALLY WORTH IT!
Love your skylight too.
Hanging is perfect for the mugs and aprons. These are things used often. They are not ugly and they are handy this way.
Yes, wow! Excellent job.
Not a fan of the stark whiteness because it makes everything feel so generic. But at the same time it looks more spacious, good job. I did like the colour of the blue cabinets before, but if it looked "fake" shabby-chic that's a dealbreaker right there, lol.
I agree with those who say that although the blue was lovely, it just didn't work in that kitchen. You did a great job and it looks amazing! Love the mugs and the art too! :)
Kudos to you for embracing the kitchen's character and even improve it by paint. Definitely a fabulous work done! Enjoy!
There's no comparison between the before and after. It is a breath of fresh air compared to that heavy, dated blue and wood.
I've been wondering how people get such beautiful painted finishes on the DIY projects I;ve seen here..The sprayer seems to be the answer! I can't afford one at the moment but someday...
Anyway, it took a lot of work to get off all of that blue paint-congratulations on a great job. I love it!