Hello! Last week I had a wild hair to paint our kitchen’s center island, so after talking to the hubs and getting his AOK I called my favorite painter, Tony, to see if he was available. Turns out he was just finishing up a job and could come on Monday! So then the challenge was to pick a color, FAST! I knew I wanted to do a blue, but I wasn’t sure what shade. Tony likes Home Depot’s Behr paint, (especially their top of the line Marquee) so I went to Home Depot and got sample pots of a bunch of blues. The samples cost less than $5– SO worth it!! I figured I could paint the pots and plates above the kitchen cabinets, which had been a muted shade of green, and decide which tone of blue by doing that. (I could have painted samples on the island itself, but there was limited space and I wanted to see the colors during the different lights of the day.)
This is what the pots and plates looked like in the Very Navy (the dark blue ones) and Marea Baja (the turquoise ones in front; this is actually a Sherwin Williams color). I must have painted over them in five different shades of blue!! Very Navy was my favorite, and my husband Ron liked it too.
I was inspired by Pinterest to do this. Here’s my inspiration photo:
Isn’t that kitchen gorgeous?
The before of our kitchen is simply a white kitchen with a white island.
I like the white, just ready for a change. Tony came with two workmen. (I also had them paint the downstairs bedroom and an accent wall in the master, which I will share in future posts. Thankfully hubs was on board for all of it. I’m lucky to have a husband who trusts and agrees with my decorating impulses!). Best of all, Tony and his guys got everything done in ONE day!!
Here’s what the island looked like after one coat of Home Depot’s Very Navy by Behr, Satin Finish, Marquee paint:
Eeegads, it looked awfully bright!! But Tony assured me it would look good after the second coat. If you’re like me, you want to change up every new paint color mid job. I have learned that you need to trust the process and wait until the job is finished before deciding if you like it. More often than not, you will.
Here’s the finished island.
For the top of the island I happened to have placemats in a matching tone of blue. (See my table setting post, here, for more on these placemats that I got at Walmart.) I put two placemats together to extend their length so they would be in scale with the size of the center island, and topped it with a bowl of lemons for contrast. Love how the yellow lemons pop against that navy!!
I also styled the cookbooks by organizing them by color. (Thank you for the idea Home Edit gals!). I knew I needed lots of white to offset the darkness of the blue. The dog treats canister on the island’s top shelf was a perfect white.
Details matter so I spray-painted the beige pot on the bottom shelf (see above) with a white spray paint I happened to already have. Love that detail, especially because the price tag was nothing!!
Here’s what the pots and plates look like in their home above the cabinets.
Our family room’s accent color is also navy blue, and it is open to the kitchen, so that is another reason I chose the Navy paint. This is a shot of the throw pillows with the kitchen in the background.
Well I hope you liked this tour of our ‘new’ kitchen. The cost was reasonable and was SO worth it. Paint makes such a difference and is one of the least expensive ways to make dramatic updates. Let me know what you think in the comments!! And if you enjoyed this post and haven’t done so already, please subscribe to my blog!! Thank you!!
xoxo
Cheri
#bluekitchenisland
Laurel Davis says
Thank you, Cheri. Very inspiring! I love your blue accent ideas such as painted pots and throw pillows.
Cheryl Myers says
I’m glad you like it, Laurie!
Cheryl says
I love this! And your home looks so beautiful and inviting. Thanks for the blogs, they are inspiring!
Cheryl Myers says
Thanks, Cheryl! That means a lot coming from you, Sis!
Cynthia Griffith says
I like yours MUCH BETTER than the inspiration photo! The blue is much more vibrant and your floors complement the blue and bring out the warmth of each. I’ve been thinking of doing the same to our kitchen island. I love this “almost royal” blue. We have the same wood floors! Just beautiful. So many houses are boring with no warmth. Yours makes ya want to snuggle up with a book and a cuppa tea! Well done, my friend!
myers.cheri says
Thank you SO much, Cynthia!! I’m glad you like it! You are the sweetest and I wish you were closer so we could catch up with that cuppa tea. If you do decide to paint your island, please send me pics— I’m so happy I had mine painted!! Xoxo