Milestone Makeovers: Daniela’s Happily Messy Kitchen
Repainting cabinets can be a tricky, tedious task. You have to sand them and strip them. Then when you go to paint them, the application has to be consistent across the corners and ledges of their molding. Add to that the inevitable conclusion of two young kids with a bowl of spaghetti and the cleanup they imply. These were concerns for Daniela, a new mom in a new house. But then this was precisely why she wanted to refresh her kitchen: to create these new memories.
Milestone Makeover: Daniela’s easier kitchen for enjoying family time
Location: South Pasadena, CA
Goal: To refresh her kitchen cabinets without a complete redo
Problem: Painting cabinets is usually a labor-intensive job
Solution: Advance® Waterborne Interior Alkyd Paint by Benjamin Moore®
Even without taking labor into consideration, Daniela and Andrew were hesitant to repaint their kitchen: They felt the white on white made the room feel clean and airy. They chose to bring in color with a beautiful, personal collection of art and textiles instead. After painting — Blue Echo AF-505 in satin by Benjamin Moore Advance (cabinets) with Simply White OC-117 in matte by Benjamin Moore Advance (upper walls) — they found the color made the room come alive and made their decorations feel even more like “them.”
Which isn’t to say labor wasn’t a concern.
“You can never get it right,” Daniela said about her concerns of the process. But on the other hand, she and Andrew didn’t want to commit to a full kitchen renovation. They got married, bought the house, moved in, had one kid and then another, and now, they wanted to “just be.” For them that meant cooking together as a family — burgers and fries are a favorite — and embracing the mess that came with it. Which is why their cabinets at least needed some reinforcement.
Benjamin Moore developed Advance to apply and perform like a traditional oil paint, but made it waterborne so it cleans up easily with soap and water. This cutting-edge, alkyd technology gives projects like refinishing kitchen cabinets and painting furniture a durable, high-end finish.
Despite their reservations about repainting, Daniela and Andrew were happy to get the feeling of a new kitchen to carry their family through the next phase of their lives, the phase where you can just inhabit the home you’ve built. (They were even happier to do this without replacing their fixtures.) As for the maintenance, their kitchen has held up as a room where kids can be “happy to make a mess.”
And now, the four are enjoying their kitchen and all the messes they make in it and, as a family, “catching their breath.”
This post is sponsored by Advance® by Benjamin Moore®.
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