Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Powder Room Update




We've been both cold bound and snow bound lately,
so I've been itching for a little project.  

On Sunday, I talked Mr. Grand into painting the vanity in our powder room.

It was a good test to see how much brighter the room would be with white cabinets.  
Sort of a test drive for - wait for it - remodeling our kitchen!

We have a lot of eighties oak cabinetry in our house.  
I plan to replace it all with white cabinets,
hopefully before the pendulum swings back to dark woods again! 
I have seen that pendulum swing several times in my 25 year kitchen design career.  
Twenty five years ago, oak was king.
Then along came cherry, then white, then maple and all kinds of washed and pickled finishes,
returning again now to white. With a vengeance.  
I have been pinning lots of gorgeous white kitchens lately 

We have been weighing the pros and the cons of replacing our current kitchen cabinets 
or repainting them and going to Europe, buying a new car and replacing the roof, 
all of which could probably be done for the price of re-doing a kitchen these days!
We are still vacillating.  
To get an idea of what white could do in our house, we decide to start with the powder room.
One little vanity cabinet.  Really just two doors to paint.
Easy Peasy.

You may remember this post from a while back, called Powder Room Peek...
Not as naughty as it sounds....
Anyway, I didn't show you the vanity cabinet in these pictures, 
probably because I was already tired of the oak.

 Here is what the vanity looked like at about 2:00 on Sunday.



And by Sunday night, look at the difference!



Again, the Before....





And the After.




A close up of the paint finish.
One coat of primer and two coats of  Acrylic Alkyd for smoothness.
The paint color is Sherwin Williams-  Crisp Linen.



You can still see a bit of the oak grain but I don't mind the texture.


The granite countertop is Absolute Black 
and the toile wallpaper is by Thibaut.


What a difference a coat of paint makes!


I love it.


Imagine what white paint or new white cabinets could do
for the dark hole that is my kitchen right now....


and let's not even get started talking about the old wood edged countertop
or the soffits.

Hmmmm.....




Linking to:
Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style
Winter Blues Wednesday at DIY by Design
Wildly Original Link Party at I Gotta Create
Thursdays Are Your Days at 52 Mantels
Inspire Me Wednesdays at 733
Treasure Hunt Thursdays at From My Front Porch to Yours
Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustaard Seed
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
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25 comments:

  1. That made a huge difference and mad the wallpaper show up more.

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  2. Luv your wall paper. The new colour on the cabinet really compliments it.

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  3. Wow what a difference. I love the white and it makes everything pop so much more. I would love for you to come and link this up to my Winter Blues Wednesday party going on right now. http://diybydesign.blogspot.com Hope to see you there.

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  4. You made the right choice painting it! LOVE the toile wallpaper!

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  5. Your cabinetry in the bathroom looks so much nicer in white and I love your wallpaper. The white just makes everything seem so much lighter, cleaner and larger.
    Patty at Home and Lifestyle Design

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  6. Oh that is beautiful! Toile and black granite are wonderful to begin with but the painted cabinet made a big difference. That toile wallpaper is a dream to me!

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  7. Huge difference . . . I like the white very much! Quite the job to tackle the kitchen!

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  8. I love the paint on the vanity! Looks great! I, too, am getting ready to paint my dark wood cabinets a cream color and then suddenly - everywhere I look, there are dark wood cabinets!! Oh well...... I am your newest follower.

    Judy

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  9. Oh boy I can't believe the difference! Everything, especially your wall paper just pops against it. Your kitchen would look so good with white, I'd paint, and take the trip and buy the car. Because you could do something more major later on. After the year I've had, you never know, so take the time to enjoy life!

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  10. Wow! The difference is amazing!
    Looks great....and am loving the toile wallpaper!

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  11. This looks fantastic, and you read my mind! I am getting ready to paint our master bath wood cabinets. And my kitchen had wood but we painted those too. What a difference it made!! It really brightens up the whole space. You and I are on the same decorating wavelength

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  12. WOW, what an amazing transformation. Great job!

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  13. Oh I just LOVE it!! And don't even get me started on the toile wallpaper...you are totally speaking my language there. :-) The whole room is beautiful!

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  14. What a gorgeous little room! I absolutely love the toile wallpaper!

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  15. Wow, Erin!! It's gorgeous, what great vision!

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  16. Beautiful. I want to do this to my cabinetry but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Where did you find your mirror? It is lovely.

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  17. I love the white and I think your kitchen will be great in white too! I especially love the toile wallpaper!

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  18. Just lovely - the power of paint - never ceases to amaze me!!!!!

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  19. very pretty! What a difference a little paint will make. Love your toile wallpaper. I have toile in our powder room too. Can't get enough toile!

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  20. You have a beautiful powder room, Erin! I think the cabinet looks great white, especially with the black countertop. Nicely done!

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  21. It looks fantastic ~ completely pulled together now. And if I may say, I am loving good brass fixtures. Classic!

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  22. The difference is amazing! I love it. We had oak in our kitchen and bath also and I hated it! I did the bathrooms first like you and they turned out really well and really were not hard at all as you said. Well the kitchen was a monster!!! It took me several weeks (I did it myself) to clean, sand, prime, 3 coats of darker gray paint, and then the top coat. The weather turned rainy so it took forever for them to dry in our garage. I also painted the walls during all this. I am very pleased with it all, but if I had to do it again, I would hire a professional for the cabinets. No more 80s kitchen and so much less cost than new ones! Good luck with your decisions. Y'all did a great job in the bath.

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  23. Amazing difference. I am redoing a little powder room right now and seeing yours is a real inspiration. I love everything you did and the wallpaper is super!

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