In 2008 former Apartment Therapy writers Wes and Kayla decided it was time to ditch the dark wood cabinetry in their Boston brownstone kitchen in favor of something more modern. The wrote a step-by-step tutorial to painting kitchen cabinets, the results of which were on full display in their 2009 House Tour, shown above.
Wes and Kayla were fortunate to live in a rental apartment with a landlord who reimbursed them for home improvements. (Why can't all landlords be like that?!) The previous tenant installed a installed a blue glass tile backsplash, and although they weren't crazy about the blue, they went along with it and chose a pale blue paint color for the cabinets. The total cost of the kitchen facelift was $250 and that included purchasing high quality brushes and an orbital sander.
A FLOR tile rug, IKEA butcher block, partially-open cabinetry featuring only the prettiest dishes, and a black pegboard complete the transformation.
See the full tour: Wes, Kayla, and Bacon's Brookline Remix
(Images: Wes and Kayla Schwartz | Apartment Therapy)
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BACON!
Someone had to say it :)
A wonderful improvement! I painted my tired old dark cabinets a few years ago. Used white oil based paint because I thought it would be a harder finish and the color would hold up well. They came out very nice but yellowed very quickly. Is it better to use latex?
Marilynch, you need primer. The varnish on the original cabinets will discolor the white paint. Talk to someone in a good paint store and you may need to add a coat of paint that has primer in it as a third coat.
Miss Bacon :-( (Wes and Kayla too!)