IN PROGRESS - Kitchen Walls Facelift

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I love, love, love the functionality of my kitchen.  It has ample counter tops and the perfect sink, stove & fridge trianglular workspace.  But... It's decor fights with the rustic feel of the cedar cabinetry and is completely outdated.  Time for a facelift.

BEFORE - wall 1:
Love the built in hutch!  But the 80's wallpaper, chair rail & stencil?  Uhmmm, no.  It's gotta go.
(I forgot to take a picture before I took the chair rail off)

Time for fun!  Rip the icky paper off.  

Spray the residual paper & glue with "wp chomp!"(this stuff is amazing!)  Wait a couple of minutes.  I used a wide spackling knife with an easy touch and the remaining paper came off like a feather. 

Wallpaper gone.

I used kilz primer on the walls and built in hutch.  

Then the walls got a fresh coat of "deer park".  

The hutch was painted casually with rough brush strokes.  I used "dried tomato".

I'm totally in love with the dried tomato color.  But to fit with my rustic house, it needs to be aged a bit. I sanded areas of "natural wear".  

The dark outer wash was made by adding a little water to a water based dark brown paint. 

I used a brush to wash across the red followed by dry brushing to blend it.

The corners got a second coat for added darkness.

AFTER - wall 1

A different angle shows the wall color better

So happy with this

BEFORE - Wall 2

Wallpaper gone

Kilz & paint on the wall and outlet covers.

I drew up a pattern to put on the backsplash area.

Using "dried tomato" to tie in with the hutch color.

I penciled on the grid pattern & started hand painting the checkers.  Talk about tedious.  Why oh why didn't I buy a stencil?

Pattern in progress.  Notice the new handles on the cabinets?  New hinges will follow.

I got the idea to use a spigot handle as a towel hook off of pinterest.

The stars are done... finally.  

I don't want this project to turn into a cutesy country look, so I painted the stars to give them dimension.      Then I'll age the whole thing.

The whole pattern was aged with a brown wash, a shop towel and elbow grease.

All I have left to do here is to put sealer on.

You call yourself a baseboard?  I'll get to you later!

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