More Painted Kitchen Cabinets...That Didn't Turn Out

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I finally, finally found the time (and maybe the motivation I needed) to paint the cabinets on the peninsula side of the kitchen.  FINALLY.  FFFFIIIIN...ok, I'll stop.  You get the point.  It takes me awhile sometimes.

 

My camera angle hides the fact that I have yet to paint the lower cabinets on the other side of the kitchen.  Soon.  Very soon.

The paint color I used on this side of the kitchen is Peppercorn by Sherwin-Williams.  It was between that and Grizzle Gray but I am a sucker for names and Peppercorn + a kitchen just jive, right?  I usually have it mixed into a Valspar paint but I got nervous this time while I was standing in the paint aisle, hemming and hawing at Lowe's (all the kids with me) and ended up going with this Sherwin-Williams paint...and I 1000% regret it.  I love Valspar paint but the (expensive) cabinet paint I used to paint the other side of the kitchen took forever to dry.  But, because they were white, I could paint them under our carport without worrying about tiny paint particles possibly getting everywhere.  It's almost all white out there anyway so who cares?  But since I was going dark this time, these would have to be painted in the backyard in open air where there are more bugs and stuff so dark paint particles didn't get on our house.  The longer it takes paint to dry, the more bugs, weather, mother nature is liable to ruin my progress.  PLUS, I was so set on this paint color and nervous that the color wouldn't translate over to Valspar as well.  I've never had that problem before but this is a big, tedious job I didn't want to risk having to redo so I just went the safe route by going with the paint brand that made the color and one of their better paints at that.

How I wish I could say, "Hurrah, they're done and they look fantastic and I'm so happy with them"...but like I said, there's regret there.  First, I used a satin sheen just like the satin sheen I used on the Valspar painted cabinets but apparently Sherwin-Williams satin sheen has more shine to it.  I really, really, really don't like shiny cabinets so I'm going to sit on the fact that ours are and try to come up with a solution to dull them.  A clear, matte top coat?  A light sanding with a super high grit sandpaper?  I don't know.  Any ideas?  More work of course but I dislike the shine so much that I'm here for the work.  The other thing that didn't pan out like I wanted is that the paint isn't super smooth like the Valspar side of the kitchen.  The SW paint I used is very thick (because the thicker it is, the better the coverage) but even though I sprayed the cabinets with my paint sprayer* and diluted it a tad with Floetrol, the paint looks stippled as if it were rolled on with a napped roller.  I noticed it while painting but thought it would level out as the paint dried.  You can imagine how much my heart sank into my toes when it was still stippled when fully dry.

I've got to rectify it lest it drive me crazy so again, a light sanding with a high grit sandpaper might help might knock out two birds with one stone but I'm not sure.  I'd rather not paint the whole thing again so I'll see what I can do and keep you posted.  Takeaway, don't use the paint I did to paint cabinets.  👎  

I went through the same process to paint these as I did painting the other side of the kitchen except this time, I only used my sprayer to spray the front side of the cabinet doors.  I love the smooth texture you can achieve from spraying but on the back sides of the doors where that ultra smooth texture isn't seen much, it was just easier to roll on paint with a foam roller.  And to be honest at this point, the backs look even better than the stippled fronts...ugh.  

The only other complaint I have about this paint project is that the blue floors are really cramping my style.  With the cabinets more shiny than I'd like, they're reflecting the blue of the floor, making the paint look more navy than it is.  It's supposed to be a pretty true gray and so it looks right now that I was way off on getting my paint color to compliment the color of the counters.  No worries though, we won't have to live with blue reflections much longer because last week we finally bought new flooring that will go throughout the whole house, minus the bedrooms and bathrooms.  Just to add a little pep to the peppercorn, I laid down a few planks quick just to get a visual.

Here's what the cabinets plus the floor looks like now:

But here's what they'll soon look like together:

The new floors are a light oak vinyl and our patience in finding them paid off because we got 1300 square feet of 7mm flooring for around $3800.  That seems like a big number but if you look at the price of flooring for that large of a space right now, it'll knock your socks off.  More details after we lay them...ourselves...hopefully in time to set a Christmas tree atop them.  We're excited!

I've got to run but I'll leave you with one more before and after.  I had the foresight to snap this right after we closed on our house, knowing we'd eventually take down this wall.  

So now we can revel in the fact that the wall is gone, everything is wide open and painted and looks oh-so-much more 21st century.

Sometimes I feel like we move like turtles in the home progress race so pictures like this keep us running.  We'll get to the end someday...if there even is an end.  ;)

Have a great week!

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