There will be an intro into our home and projects in the near future but until then, wanted to share a long overdue painting project tackled this weekend.
We have been in our house for about four and a half years now. This whole time, four and a half years, there has been a hideous mauve color above our cabinets. I luuurrrve my kitchen granite-wise and size-wise but there are some dated issues obviously, namely the cabinets, trim, appliances, and the mauve. I have painted all of the bedrooms, bathrooms, living room wall, and some trim in that four and a half years. But not the mauve. We have the dreaded pickled oak cabinets and this mauve makes them seem even more pink, especially at night when the lights are on. Don’t get me started on the pickled oak cabinets, that’s a whole other beast.
Anywho, last week I got the itch for another painting project (I LOVE to paint so this happens frequently every once in a while) and tada! the mauve was on my hit list. Plus, it helped that Sherwin-Williams has 30% off this month. I knew I wanted something that will work with our river rock backsplash (which I do love), work with the dark gray accent wall in the dining/living room, and have the effect of minimizing the pinkness of these cabinets, so I honed in on the gray/greiges – my favorite color arena anyway :)
I scoped out some possible colors on their website then went at lunch to get swatches, but only about half of them were on the floor. I asked the associate if they had a paint deck I could use for the others and after the third one of him trying to flip through and find, I just asked how much they charged for the deck (so I didn’t have to wait anymore), to which he replied “Oh we give them away”. Whaaaaa?!! I said “really? that would be awesome!” and he gave it to me. Therefore, after which, I spent the afternoon playing with it and finally decided on my color, Functional Gray. It’s a lighter shade of what’s on the living room wall so it will tie them together, a close color to the grout and some of the rocks in the backsplash, and cool enough to tame the cabinet pinkiness.
Why, oh WHY did it take me this long to paint them??? Now the stupid cabinets and stupid white appliances are all that dates my kitchen, but I can tolerate those beasts for a while. Not a huge fan of the track lights either…
And I promise, I will work on learning how to take big-girl, non-iPhone pictures someday :/
Looks great! Way less pinkishness! ;)
Gray is a wonderful improvement. Looks mighty nice, Em!
Beautiful color! Have you considered painting your cabinets white also? I don’t know how you feel about white kitchens. But then your appliances would disappear. I do believe I read that stainless steel appliances are a fad and will go the way of chevron stripes (oh please, chevron go away!). Anyway, just a thought. I think white appliances are classic and will always be around.
Oh yes Karen, sure have! I love white kitchens!! After I did the guest bathroom cabinets I wanted to tackle the kitchen until I counted 37 door/drawer fronts, then I rethought it :(. So yes, if we were staying here long-term they would be on my hit list but we hope to move in the relatively near future so it just doesn’t justify doing so much work. There are still days when I look at them too long and almost go grab the brush ;)
The house we just purchased has the EXACT same cabinets, I”m thinking of painting this color, are you still liking it? Im thinking about the next shade darker “Backdrop” by SW!! Your kitchen looks great!
Yes!! I do sometimes wish I had gone a little darker with mine because ours is pretty close to the color that is on our feature wall opposite the kitchen, but as far as how it’s changed the feel of the cabinets it still blows me away. In our space, Functional Gray is pretty true-gray, versus the more brownish tint it shows online (at least on my computer screen), so do some tests to make sure it’s gray enough for you…that’s the ticket to de-pinkifying in my opinion :) I’d love to hear how you like it!!
I have the pink cabinet dilemma also, and I have had the Functional Gray paint chip taped up to my cabinets and have been leaning toward it for the past week.
I’m glad to have read your blog post, our thoughts are along the same lines. Feeling good about ordering this paint now that I’ve seen your finished job.
By the way, what color is the accent wall in your living room you mentioned, that goes along with the Functional Gray?
Hi Kristen! Sorry to hear you have the dreaded pink cabinets too, but the gray walls DEFINITELY helped get us by until I could paint the cabinets (which I did last year, see them HERE). The accent wall in the living room is Valspar’s “Bell Tower Stone” which was maybe a tad darker than the Functional Gray. Good luck in de-pinkifying!
Can we see the cabinets and what you painted them ?
You can view our updated kitchen at THIS post.
Goods great. I also have the pickled oak pink cabinets, hate them! I am thinking of a shaker beige from BM that would bring the tans out of cabinets. Hope it works.
Good luck! Doesn’t hurt to do a test area to see how they work against that color. You just never know how their pink tone is going to act :/
One more question back splash name?
The backsplash was here when we bought the house so I don’t have the brand or source information unfortunately, but I have seen a similar one HERE
Hello I guess my previous comment didnt post. Can you share brand of paint? Also did you paint the other room from same paint card? Functional gray you mentioned was color? Thanks
Yes, the kitchen paint was “Functional Gray” from Sherwin-Williams and the gray on the living room wall is Valspar’s “Bell Tower Stone”.