I’m at a bit of a pause on the kitchen.  I laid out a bunch of options (here) that I was trying to decide between, and haven’t completed my decision making yet.  I’ve finished the wall color, but have yet to do the cabinets.  I did what I always do…I narrowed down my top 2 – white walls, dark lower cabinet and dark walls, and white lowers.  Thought about it, thought about it, and then thought about it some more, and then on a total whim I went in a completely different direction…

Here was my before…all white.

As I previously mentioned, the one downside with the white was that it made the cabinets look dingy.  So the white was out.  But I still wanted to keep the option of dark lowers, so I went with a light green with some grey tones.  Benjamin Moore – Healing Aloe.

The Healing Aloe was a bit light, almost like it wasn’t really a color…or it wasn’t enough of a any color.  Does that make sense?  With all the light streaming in from the windows, it was super washed out.  And then this popped up on my pinboard.

The Palladian Blue was so close to what I was going for!  Here they are side by side:

So I thought, let’s get all 2014 trendy!  (I’m never trendy!)

The Palladian Blue seemed like a good step toward being more of a color, so repainting I went!  Luckily, I hadn’t done all the edges or behind the refrigerator.

Can you tell the difference? :) Hard to tell.  Definitely looks darker facing the dining room.  I’m liking the color quite a bit.  It’s a happy color.  I don’t tend to go with happy colors, but I like this one.

And as for the cabinets, I will have to wait until the spring to complete that.  It’s so cold out that paint isn’t drying in the garage.  While working on the play table, I’d bring it inside between each coat to fully dry.  I don’t think I want to deal with that with a dozen cabinet doors.

And then there are the concrete counters, DIY’d here, back in September.   I’ve gotten a lot of questions about how they have been.  I am still undecided.  I originally did about 3 or 4 coats of the feather finish, and then 3 coats of sealer.  Within weeks, everything started soaking right into the concrete.  The counter space along the stove top is the worst.

And then there was the night that we decided to use a deep fryer to make tempura.  As the night progressed, it turned into fried Oreos, obviously.  So, we are now left with this.   It’s totally fine.  I knew this was experimental, and this was bound to happen.  And to be honest, it doesn’t really bother me.  It should, but it doesn’t…you live, you learn.

This is the one spot that still looks good, mainly because it is where I usually have a towel laid for drying pots and pans.  It doesn’t get much action. 

So…what I am I going to do about the counters?  I have more feather finish that I was planning on mixing up and doing one more thin layer.  There are a few spots along the edges that didn’t take, so I was planning on getting it out and rebuilding those areas anyway.  And then I just read that John and Sherry are going to be attempting the same thing in their kitchen.  I think I am going to wait and see what sealer they use.  I also got some great suggestions from readers, so I am going to look into those as well!  That’s probably why I am not super bothered by the oil stains.  Plus I look at the counter and have fond memories of sushi, sake, and fried oreos!

That’s what’s going on here!  While the kitchen is on hiatus, I’m going to move my focus upstairs!  I’ll be back next week with the mess that is our upstairs!