Picking a Cabinet Color- Kitchen Island Edition

What?

You say, "Amber, didn't you ALREADY pick a cabinet color?"

Why, yes. Yes, I did....I wrote about my process for picking a cabinet color and I also talked about the plans I had to finish up the space when I showed you the reveal of our freshly painted cabinets....

BUT....

(there's always a but...isn't there?)

After finishing our island counter top something just felt off. (more about the counters later this week!!)

It was feeling a bit disjointed, and in all honesty, when I painted the island the first time, I knew I might be painting it again, but I needed to calm the space before I could make a big decision about it.

So, in attempt to make a decision about the island, I played around with the Sherwin William Color Visualizer & Photoshop to give me an idea of what my top two color choices would look like. FYI, this not a sponsored post with Sherwin Williams, I just love the color visualizer tool!

So first lets review the island as is (these pictures are pre new counters, but it should give you an idea of the space)...

As you can see, its white right now. I love how light and bright it feels, but with the new wood top I'm having trouble relating it to the other half of the kitchen with the concrete counters.

My gut is telling me to paint the island dark gray/black.  I pulled EVERY color sample you can imagine and laid them out on the new counter.

I weeded out the non contenders right away. Too gray, too green, too light, too dark....you get the idea! I kept coming back to the color Iron Ore by Sherwin Williams.

Next I uploaded a photo of my kitchen into the Color Visualizer and selected the area I wanted to change to Iron Ore. I'm totally smitten with the color! What do you think?

Obviously real life it will look different, but I love the dark two toned look of the island area. I'm even thinking of painting the pantry door in the background - well, all the doors in the house actually, - the same color. Or maybe that will be too matchy matchy...oh, the decisions!

Now, as much as I love the dark gray, people keep suggesting I paint the island a fun color. I hesitate mostly due to the fact we plan on listing our house for sale in the next 6 months and I'm not sure a colored island will have mass appeal. I also don't necessarily want to pigeon hole myself in to a color scheme, but since I do love color, I decided to do a Photo-shopped version using the same color that I painted the laundry room cabinets. Since it was an "oops" paint I don't have a name for it, but I do have the color code:

Here it is photo shopped onto my cabinets...

KINDA loving it....like A LOT.

Gah!  What do you think about it?

I won't make a decision until I finish the back splash, so in the meantime I would love you all to weigh in on the topic! You might want to check out my Kitchen Redo board on Pinterest to see what I've been pinning, but other than that, lay it on me! I really want to hear your opinions!

paint. all. the. things. - One Room Challenge Spring 2015

Wow.

Where does the week go!? 

I'm doing my best to stay on track with this room, which means each day I try and tackle a little something.

Currently the state of our room is a bit sad...

Just screams "Pin Me!" doesn't it! Oh, goodness, clearly I need to rethink keeping that fan. Its terribly boring, but oh so useful during hot Idaho summers!

Picking a Cabinet Color + how to prep for new hardware

What looks good from a distance, but up close is a hot mess?

Yes, a Monet (haha, Clueless anyone?), but that's not what we are talking about today.

We are talking about these...

...can everyone give me a collective, "ewwww" ...

That's my reaction every time I get close to my cabinets.

I want to love them, but I don't. 

So, while my husband was at Army over the weekend (and progress was stalled on the fireplace makeover) I decided it was high time I decide on a paint color for my nasty cabinets.

From Left to Right we have: Caribbean, Flagstone and Tailors Chalk.

I thought for sure putting them up against our "yet to be finished" concrete counters would surely leave me with a clear winner. 

Nope.

So, I pulled out the secret weapon that I hinted at when I showed you our new schoolhouse light.... 

I totally thought my new hardware from Build.com would help make up my mind...

I chose the beautiful Heirloom Silver 5 inch pulls .
It's classic hardware and guess what?

They look amazing next to every color!

Well, that's not very helpful, now is it!?

Seeing the hardware made me just as stumped as ever. I even sent pictures to my mom and sisters for their opinions. 

Really that just made me even more confused. 

I like them all. I can envision them all working. 

So then I started thinking about accessories and how I wanted the room to function. As well as how the kitchen relates to what we are doing on the fireplace and the already finished laundry room. 

Finally I had a clear winner. 

 Any guesses on what I chose?

I'm going to be totally mean and not tell you yet, but I WILL tell you how I am prepping for my new larger hardware!

You might be thinking, "but Amber, they aren't too different are they?"

Well, other than being larger, they also sit out further from the cabinet front, so I can actually fit my hands around them. Also I will be using them on all the drawers as well as the doors! So no more knobs! Yay!

First, I took off the old hardware on just the drawer fronts. (lucky for use we get to use the existing knob hole for the handles on the doors)

Then, I used this stuff...

and squished it into all the old screw holes. Its a little bit stinky, but it works great and sands down perfect.

The drawers got filled on the island too.

Now I have to let it dry and sand everything down. Then we will be ready for PAINT!!!

 This post is a review of Build.com. 

I was provided with items from their website and asked to do a review of their website/product.  As always, my opinions are 100% my own and are no way influenced by my sponsors.

Living Room Changes + Finishing Trim

Way back when (circa 2013...) this is what the living room looked like.

Dark trim.

A window without trim ...that one there with the curtains...

Dark wall paint...

and a big huge black vortex of a TV.

Living Room & Dining Room Paint Progress

I've cleaned up *most* of  Christmas decor and now I can finally really see the results of our big push to finish the living room and dining room paint before our company came! If you remember last week, I shared our new schoolhouse light and I promised you I'd show you how it looked in the whole space as part of our goal list for 2015.  Well, I haven't finalized my goals yet (super excited things have thrown a bit of a curve ball in them!), but I still wanted to share the latest happenings around here! Or least some of it. My battery died on me as I was taking photos, so I will be doing a follow up post to my follow up post.  Stay with me here...  If you remember our living room and dining room area, used to look like this...

Upstairs Paint Before & After

We spent Labor Day weekend painting and painting and painting...no vacations or camping for this family. 

Since then I have been organizing and re-assembling my office.

Lets refresh on what the space looked like before...

 ...and here it is now....chair is just temporary (in case you were thinking I thought it looked good that way).

Here's a before shot of the other end of the room...

and here's part of the after (the other wall is holding a pile of yard sale stuff that isn't staying..) and you can see the newly painted credenza has found its home!

The consistent wall color is one huge improvement to the whole upstairs. Before there was an awkward line on the ceiling where the paint transitioned from the brown in the hallway to the blue in the office.

It was weird!

Here's a before of the hallway with it's much darker paint...

Here is the after. You can see the difference in paint if you look up by the light fixture. We found this light AFTER we painted, so I have some touch-ups to do.

#keepingitreal

More about the lighting upgrades to come.

I love this shot looking towards the bathroom. It is so light and bright now!

The color we used is called Sandpiper by Martha Stewart mixed in Glidden Duo Eggshell from Home Depot. We used the same color in Ellery's Room, the Kid's Bathroom and the Laundry room.

The upstairs is getting close to done. Just a few more things to do in the bathroom, a little decorating to do in the office and then we can move the DIY party downstairs (or maybe to the stairs...hmmmm)!!

Vintage Metal Cart Makeover

Do you pick things up off the side of the road?
I do.
Shamelessly.
Nothing beats FREE!
Like this...

a vintage rolling cart!

Awesome chrome legs and a sadder than sad paint job on the rest.

It was missing a few bolts to hold it together, but that was an easy fix.

A couple coats of spray paint later ( in my fav Krylon Jade...like I used on my metal army desk!) we have this...

my original plan was to use this in my office for my printer, but I couldn't resist dragging it outside....

...and styling it up with some vintage glasses and tea towels...

...now I just need to make up a batch of lemonade...

or finally learn how to make sweet tea...  

....what do you think!?
Do you have any road side finds you've given new life too?

DIY Ottoman for Under $100

For a complete tutorial go

HERE: DIY Ottoman Cut List and Instructions

If you saw my House Goals 2014 post, you may have noticed a certain item on the list.

We have been on the hunt for an ottoman for our large sectional.

Burlap and Sweater Stocking {tutorial}

I am super duper excited to be linking up with Naptime Creations today in her "A Crafty Christmas" Blog tour! I'm part of the Gifts/Wrapping - Sewing , so I decided to dust off an old post, take some new pictures and share with you what I feel is the ultimate in gift wrapping- THE STOCKING!

Seriously, its the FIRST thing most kids open up on Christmas morning...at least that's how it was when I was growing up...and then we would wait and wait and wait until our parents got up so we could open everything else! 

Tape Measure Growth Chart

We finally got new pictures of his tape measure one year after I originally posted,...he's getting so big and its fun seeing how much he's grown! So enjoy this post from the archives!

Playhouse Makeover Reveal!

Its time! I can finally show off the playhouse makeover! If you remember this is what it looked like before...Playhouse Makeover BEFORE. Super cute on the outside, but just plain messy and cluttered on the inside! 

A Special Sign for a Special Girl

As many of you know, my older two children passed away from Mitochondrial disease, because of this I have become part of a very large "community" of families who have given me much love, support and knowledge during our journey.

One of these families contacted me about doing a custom sign for her daughter Isabella's room. It was inspired by a very unique and totally amazing charity they are starting, called Isabella's Aviary. 

Practically FREE Office Desk {part 1}

I said I would share my office makeover with you and guess what!? Today is the day!!

A long while back I scored some amazing hardwood floors that had just been torn out of a old Victorian in town. My husband and I decided we could totally build an office desk with it. This was kind of a shoot from the hip project...no, we had never built a desk...nor did we even really know where to start.

This is the room before...with this lovely lovely border...

good riddance!

Office Chair Makeover {before & after}

As you know we have been working on our office...and it is SOOO close to being done. Since I know the suspense has to be killing you, I thought I would share a sneak peek at one of the projects I did for the room. 
Since my taste is a little on the expensive side, but my budget is clearly not I had to again get creative with an office chair solution. Luckily I scored some new{old} dining chairs over the summer so I could retire my old ones. Originally I tried selling the set on our local yard sale Facebook page, but then the more I looked at them I realized I was missing an opportunity to use them in the office!

Here's the before-

Blah...