Painted Kitchen Island

I'm excited to share a little project we have been working on the past few weeks. We decided to give our kitchen island a new life with a coat of paint and some new trim.

Years ago when I first started blogging, Farrow & Ball sent me a paint deck that I have browsed through time and time again. Their paint is pricy, but there is something about their colors that keeps bringing me back to them. Since then, they also opened a retail store in our area and I have been looking for just the right project to try out their paint. I lamented about the color for weeks earlier this summer and finally narrowed it down to Card Room Green and Oval Room Blue. I knew I wanted something that was blue-green and could work in all seasons with my decor.

So after much debate (I literally asked every single person who walked into my kitchen what color they like better), I decided on Farrow & Ball Oval Room Blue. But before we even got started with paint, we decided to add some molding to the island to give it more of a furniture feel. Here is the before:

Our kitchen is now over 10 years old and I remember clearly that the thing I wanted most at the time  was a cherry island. It felt timeless and was probably the easiest choice for me. So it's kind of funny that the island was the piece that seemed to be dating our kitchen the most. I remember being more concerned with granite and stainless appliances - both of which have stood the test of time. Although I would absolutely change the granite if it wasn't such a big ticket item.

So just to give you an idea of how very "fly by the seat our pants" type of DIYers that Billy and I are, I will explain the process we went through. First, we knew we had the paint, so we took off all the doors and hardware and realized we needed more primer. Oh, and wouldn't it be cool if we removed the toe kick from the bottom of the island and added trim? What about corbels? And adding some bead board would certainly give the kitchen more of a cottage-y look. So off to Lowe's we went. The trim aisles at Lowe's and Home Depot are truly 2 of our favorite places to be. Also, I should mention that this was our 22nd wedding anniversary so we did fit in a dinner out in between.

We finished up late that night. Something felt off to me but I was kind of afraid to tell Billy because it meant another trip to the store and pulling apart all the work he did that day. But 22 years later, he knows me well, so he could tell I had something on my mind. I asked him if we could possibly extend the pushed out toe kick around the island (except for the back side which is where we actually work at the island)? 

And the next morning I woke up to him having already been to Lowe's and installing the new molding. It was finally time to prime (we used Zinsser) and then 2 coats of the Farrow & Ball paint. The paint was great to work with, by the way. We finished up painting and then left for a week's vacation the next morning which ended up being great because the paint had a bunch of time to cure before we put everything back together and started using it.

I am thrilled with the change. You can see in the picture above how we wrapped the base molding around the the sides but still left the toe kick open on the side of the island where we stand when cooking. I wasn't willing to give that functionality up for aesthetics. And I should mention that every single member of our family (yes including me) has stubbed their toes on the new molding at least once. I keep telling them they will get used to it in time (I hope!).

I added a towel rod from Ikea to the end of one side of the island to tie in the metal on the stools. Now I have a new fun place to style in the kitchen. I also added a new runner from Lowe's.

Did you spy the other change to the kitchen? I added a skirt to the cabinet beneath our farm sink. Billy removed the doors and attached a cafe rod using double stick tape. Then I cut down a $7.99 window curtain from Christmas Tree Shops and our sink has a whole new look. I am already planning how I can change this for Christmas.

Here's a wider shot of the whole kitchen. I really need to freshen up those Ikea bookshelves that we use for kitchen storage. I'm thinking they need some bead board on the back of the shelves at the very least.

I'm especially loving how the new paint color goes with the copper pots hanging on our pot rack. There will be a tutorial about our pot rack soon! My apologies to those of you that have been waiting for it.

Of course changes in here led to wanting to make changes on the other side of this space in the living room and dining area. Stay tuned! I have Billy home full time for another month or so and he doesn't ever like to sit still for long.

Sources:

Kitchen Towels - Amazon

Sink Skirt - Christmas Tree Shops

Fresh Flowers Sign - Target Dollar Spot

Dish Rack - HomeGoods

Stools - TJ Maxx

Enamel Bread box - Amazon

Caged Light above Sink - Target (old)

Towel Rod in Island - Ikea Fintorp