Kitchen Refreshed
February 23, 2010
My friends, it took me a week, but I finished painting over my yellow kitchen ! You know how you just want something new after a few years of the same old look? That was the story of our kitchen. Hub and I just decided last fall that we’d grown tired of the butternut yellow on the island and walls. I debated whether or not to do it because I did like the previous color, but eventually we just decided to go ahead and make the change.
I was inspired to transform the space into a palette that would compliment the adjoining family and dining room, so we painted the walls, and I painted the island, a gray green color by Benjamin Moore called ‘Camouflage’. I also replaced the valance and changed up the accessories.
Welcome to our kitchen, refreshed. Come on in and have a look around !
I even hung a mirror. In a kitchen.
Just cause I think it’s purty.
As you know, I’m a complete Francophile. I like white. I like white ceramics. I like white spray paint. And I like gardens. When you combine a love for all French décor with a love of white, and spray paint, and gardens, you arrive at this !
. . . and this
. . . and this
Here’s a peek at our unadorned paneled refrigerator.
Panels or no panels, in our house you’ll find the refrigerator doors filled with these kinds of artistic creations. They make me smile whenever I go for a snack.
We do enjoy our secondary sink by the side door.
Kids + dirt. It comes in handy.
I find most of my ceramics at the Goodwill, like these canisters I found last year.
I primed and painted this island all by my lonesome.
Details to follow !
The cut glass on this chandy feels very old fashioned to me, in a really good way.
My favorite thing about my kitchen ?
The garden window.
It’s a magical little spot where I grow all sorts of things.
Right now, it’s this indoor herb garden.
Here’s a few more thrift store finds.
With a teenager + her friends + a hungry husband + two munchkins, it goes without saying that we go through fruit very fast, so I try to keep it around in pretty containers.
And just to keep it real, here’s a glimpse of what our kitchen looks like in real life.
My ordinary daily mess:
Every morning, I need good coffee. And butter. And bread.
I might need to brush his hair, but I confess I like my boy’s bed head. Even at noon.
He likes carrots, she likes lemonade. I like them. 
And I’d like to formally thank my hub for spending his Friday night doing this with for me.
It’s sure nice to have a handy man around. Especially when I can kick back for once and watch him work while I talk nonsense and drink Syrah.
I spend a lot of time cleaning this kitchen, but I still love it so very much. It’s like they say, the kitchen is the heart of the home ! It certainly is the heart of our home and where we spend most of the hours in our day with friends and family.
I hope you like the new color ! We certainly do ! It’s very calming. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask and I’ll try to answer them in a follow up post.
Tags: kitchen
“Fresh” and “light” are definitely the words that come to mind. Love it!
your other kitchen was pretty, but this is a million times better! great job:)
LOVING your new kitchen! Love how much light pours in!
Beautiful, Kate! So very gorgeous. I love it already, but this new green is very pretty. Did you only paint the island, or all of the cabinet doors?
Oh, and I absolutely love the mirror!
I’m in LOVE! I really like what you did over the stove with the mirror. I love everything…So nice!
Your new kitchen looks so crisp and clean. I just love it!! Lucky YOU….
Your kitchen is beautiful! I love all the white. I collect milk glass, so you know I love your white pieces. Love & blessings from NC!
Light, fresh, airy, serene, clean…LOVES!
Spectacular…I am so very jealous!
wow this looks incredible! great work
Beautiful! I love how the light and airy feeling of the whole space. Well done!!
I thought I was looking at a magazine spread….seriously, this is some kind of gorgeous, you should be very proud of yourselves! It looks like a place you could practically live in!
Judy
Love the colors! Your kitchen was to die for before and now it is even more beautiful!
Gorgeous! Love all the French/non-traditional details.
I love it! It’s beautiful!
Heck.
So jealous.
Love the kitchen! The style of your cabinets is very similar to mine. My cabinets are cherry & I think they would look fab in this color. Could you please share the paint colors w/ us? Also, I love the countertops~are they granite? Very, very pretty!
You have my DREAM kitchen! Ug, I want it so badly. Maybe in my dreams (hence you having my dream kitchen). I am about to embark on a kitchen remodel, me painting my cabinets. Please, any advice would be VERY appreciated
Totally GREEN with envy over here! I think if I had your kitchen I’d never leave it
What a lovely warm wonderful gathering place you have created!!
Niceeeeeeeeee!!!! Love it. Thank you for sharing
)))
xoxo,
Raru
I absolutely love your big bright and beautiful kitchen. I first loved it on RMS and it is so good to see it again on your blog. I recently started a blog just for fun since rms is not fun anymore. Your children are so cute and what a great hubby to help you out. I have a handyman hubby, too. They sure come in handy! I all the attention to detail in your kitchen. Great idea placing the coffee maker and sugar bowl on a tray. It just dresses up a plain ole coffee maker. Great big wonderful bay window with tons of bright light. How nice is that!! Have a great day….Kim
Refreshed indeed! I just love how welcoming it is. When can we all move in? I like carrots and lemonade, too!
xo,
- e
Love the heck out of this new color and look. The kitchen itself is gorgeous, but the touches you’ve added make it perfect.
It’s breathtaking, Kate. I especially love the herb garden…I’m attempting something similar in my little kitchen corner window
A lot of comments but I can’t resist adding one too. Your kitchen is a dream! Ours is still outdated, old farmhouse meets 1980s. It’s on the list and I hope the results are as beautiful as yours.
My future kitchen- I LOVE IT!!
Looks beautiful – what a lovely, light filled kitchen. I love that window overlooking your garden x
Lovely. Need I say more? I think the window is my favorite part! I love a lot of light.
I love your garden window! What happened to the little rose bushes though – they were so adorable. Everything in your kitchen looks so – spiffy! I love it.
Your kitchen is truly lovely and inspirational, and thank you especially for the ‘keeping it real’ photos! Mine is still rockin’ the 60′s-70′s – and not in a good way, lol. Just starting out with the step by stop remodel, so I love seeing photos of welcoming rooms such as yours.
i love your kitchen!! i am looking to paint my drab kitchen. i wanted to use a bm color called wedgewood gray but was disappointed because it was too blue, not enough gray. so i was hoping for a greenish gray color- i’ll have to check out your color-camouflage!!
Love it!
Can you talk a bit about the floor? What is it, and how do you manage with wood flooring in a kitchen with kids?
thanks!
O*M*G*…..I have fallen in LOOOOVE…..with your kitchen!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is perfection to me!!!! Oh I am drooling all over my computer! I just found your blog and will be coming back to see all this lovliness!!!!! I love the new color! Oh, be still my heart!!!! XO, Pinky
Hi Kerry. We’ve had wood floors for many years on the entire downstairs floor including the kitchen and bathroom. Water spills now and then, but we just wipe it up. It hasn’t buckled or bubbled or anything like that. It’s an old fashioned look, but we love it. I believe it’s just plain oak flooring with a natural stain on it. It also got several layers of poly before we moved back in. It gets a little scuffed and scratched, but it’s very easy to maintain. Just a very lightly damp mop every few days, and then I use a wood floor cleaner about three times a month just on the end of a flat square head mop.
LOve your kitchen!!It is so fresh and bright. The window is spectacular and I love the mirror. I have a mirror in my kitchen and even the back wall of the glass cabinets has mirror on it. It brings in so much life, kind of like and extra window. I just did a post today on mirrors in the yard. I do like a good mirror, Kathysue
gorgeous!! that window is wonderful- i had a small one at my old house, and i kind of miss it! however, my new kitchen is SO much better that i think i’ll live without it. : )
pretty pretty pretty- good job!
have a great weekend!
rachel
Your kitchen make-over is fantastic. It’s tough to add any more positives to the stunning review already. So just this – f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s!-!-!
I loved your kitchen before but the paint color looks very nice. Very classy and calming.
Nice job.
Wow. I LOVE your kitchen. It is absolutely gorgeous. It looks like a page from a magazine. I love all the white. Especially the mirror and all the white ceramics around it. Beautiful!
Usually I just skim through these blogs and only read ones that -jump- out at me so I can get new ideas for designs and stuff and yours did just that. Thanks for it – it is actually a real good read! Do you have a subcribe area so I can link to it to read again another day? Let me know – thanks.
Tyler
[...] few weeks ago you all saw the new color I painted in the refreshed kitchen ! Every morning it’s like a breath of fresh air walking into this space, and I’m so [...]
[...] The area rug is from Overstock and can be found right here. The wall color ties in with the greens in the carpet – it is Benjamin Moore’s ‘Camouflage’ just like in my kitchen. [...]
I Love Camouflage – it is the color of my kitchen too. Only my cabinets are Onyx from Benjamin Moore. Someday I will have the white kitchen. Love your kitchen.
Zizette
You are very inspiring! I am back to my “projects” as you provided the incentive.
Question – did you use Carerra marble in your kitchen? How is is holding up? I really want it but am told that it is too high maintance.
Your blog has inspired many rooms during our renovation-I first stumbeled upon your blog when I was redoing my home office (your colors inspired me) then your white cabinets made us okay with the idea of refinishing our cabinets rather than purchasing new ones-i LOVE your ideas, thanks for posting and I’ll be checking weekly!
It looks as though your trim doesn’t match your cabinets? Am I right? I am remodeling and wondering if my cabinets need to match my trim above them in my kitchen. Just like to get your opinion.
[...] a pale green color. It’s a combination of the leftover BM ‘Camouflage’ from the kitchen, mixed with some of the green leftover from these cottage [...]
I was about to paint my kitchen like your yellow kitchen. Now I see you have changed your color that is a close match to mine, now I am in love with that color again. Thank you I didn’t really want to go through all of the work anyways
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