A New Coat of Paint
November 9, 2020
It is impossible to overstate how important home is. Feeling like your home is a sanctuary, a place of safety, and a place to thrive is absolutely critical to our overall wellbeing. When I was looking to purchase a home earlier this year, these ideas were always stuck in my mind. I looked at dozens of houses, all of which were servable but none that spoke to my life needs and gut feeling that this would be home. Eventually, after months of indecisiveness, Saturday open houses, and eventual declines, we on a chance arranged a walkthrough of a house whose contract suddenly fell through. The house on initial impression seemed to be designed with Crayola colors in mind. To say that the paint and furniture in this home was aggressive is an understatement but as we walked through, the home started to show its strong, and workable bones. After much deliberation, it was settled both me and my paint brush were moving in.
My first task after walking through the front door of the place was paint. Every green, purple, black, turquois, mustard, and pink wall got covered with an off white paint. The house was automatically brighter, cleaner, and aligned with my taste. After this initial uplift, the house was livable to me and so in came the furniture and a few months of life. Slowly projects that were identified when the house was purchased were being completed, new beds in the guest room, paint and hardware for the front door, cleaning up the backyard. With each project completed, I knew that the time to paint the built in was getting near. The built in cabinet off of the kitchen was honestly one of the draws of the house. The problem is that it was in serious need of some help. Although it was in fairly good repair the hardware looked antiquated, the paint color was faded, and the stain of the wood underneath was leaking through leaving a yellow tint on the whole cabinet. In short, it needed to be redone.
We find that one of the hardest parts of tackling a home task like this is making a decision on a direction. What color paint should I buy? Should I get new hardware? Do I have to primer first? All of these decisions are as frustrating as they are hindering in getting a project like this done. This is especially true when you are like me and could spend hours looking at cabinet colors and be attracted to countless styles. When I got overwhelmed about what decisions to make, I turned to the house to give me a direction. In this case I looked around and noticed the subtly blue glass tiles that make up my backslash in my kitchen. This automatically sparked an idea, paint the built in blue. I am going to be honest, this thought was quite shocking to me. I typically prefer clean colors, natural materials, and muted tones so the idea of painting the cabinet blue was out of the ordinary.
In this instance I took inspiration from the colors in my kitchen but also French country style kitchens. I picked a light, almost pastel blue to reflect the tiles in my kitchen and to give the room a light bright uplift. You don’t have to take this direction when choosing a color for your next project. Feel free to pick a color that speaks to you. If you are struggling with choosing something, look for colors that attract you, find inspiration in something that brings you joy, or in a photo of a home that speaks to you. Now it is possible to even pull a picture of something that resonates with you and take it to the hardware store for them to match the color. I will say, as difficult as this process is I would try not to have it prohibit you getting started on your project. I could spend all day in the paint section trying to find the exact blue, or I can grab one that looks right and take the plunge. The wonderful part about painting projects is that if you hate it, you can paint over it.
On that note, let’s address the power of paint. I depend endlessly on painting projects for creating an incredible change in my home with little cost and little effort. I have painted entryways on Friday nights to brighten up the walkway, I have spray painted bed frames to give them a new life, and I have changed the color of my front door like I change my shoes in the morning. Paint can change the size of a room, define areas in your home, and make something like an old yellowed built in look like new. Once we picked a paint color for this project, we tackled the uplift head on. Once it was primed, painted, and put back together, the whole room looked like new. The blue looks both modern and rustic tying in the aesthetic of the kitchen and the sitting area with ease. The color even allowed for the use of the old hardware which seemed to be given new life with the change. I was fortunate enough to have many of the paint supplies already on hand so the entire project was the cost of paint and the time it took to complete. It is truly an uplift for the cabinet, my home, and my spirit.
On a final note, we have done countless project around our home like this and have found some principles we depend on to make it doable. First and foremost if possible find some help. Good supportive help will make the project enjoyable and finished with ease. Trust us, painting a room with two people instead of one is exponentially faster. We also strongly believe in being as organized as possible. For instance in the case of the built-in, each door, drawer, and piece of hardware had to be removed and it starts to get very confusing very quickly. We labeled all the doors and hardware to keep track. For any project, you don’t want to go searching around for your Philips head screwdriver or you painters tape. Keep it close and your space organized. Many of these projects may also feel overwhelming or like they will never get done. I frequently get halfway through a project and fall into despair that I will have to stare at a half painted room for the next decade. Remember that each project is just a sequence of small steps to accomplish the whole. Just chip away and keep going. You will get there. Lastly and most importantly, don’t let perfection be the enemy of completion. As with the paint color, hardware style, or the edge that is not painted perfectly don’t get stuck here. No one will notice and your project result will still be incredible. Projects like this make us feel confident, accomplished, and surround us with the beauty we deserve. Don’t hesitate to give that to yourself for just the cost of paint.
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