Update: One year ago today...

...I painted my Formica kitchen countertops to look like marble. 

I have received a lot of questions about how it was holding up over the past year so I decided to show you (and also I realized how many changes my kitchen has undergone!)

Here is my Ikea Docksta table I also painted today.

This surface has the most wear since it used for homework and eating. There are a few permanent marker spots I can't remove, but I figure I can paint them out...

 Here is was a year ago...

 The counters one year ago...

 And today...

Upclose now... 

 I do have a few mystery marks I can't remove.  A Mr. Clean Magic Eraser takes off most marks and stains though. For those that are stubborn I will eventually paint them and add a fresh coat of polyurethane to the entire counter. That is the secret to keeping them looking new.

 What I found entertaining was all the changes. 

Yes. It is a well known fact I like to change things up and I might be 

crazy when it comes to all things decorative. 

 To me paint is like underwear and I change mine often.

I was one of those kids that rearranged their room monthly, so this has been going on for a long time and I don't see it ending soon. I also get bored easily and am way too visually stimulated. 

In one year the kitchen had:

4 wall colors (turquoise, white, pink, and blue)

3 light fixtures

2 tables

2 types of chairs 

2 different curtain panels

and we replaced the dishwasher, refrigerator and faucet.

Phew!

(the pink, orange and purple kitchen)

(the "pink for a day- then the men in my life had to have opinions" kitchen)

 And the present kitchen.  Got my pink in little punches.

 The only remaining original appliance is the Brady Bunch ovens. 

The top one broke, so they too will be leaving soon.

 The one thing that hasn't changed? 

The orange mudroom...

"I HAD a pink kitchen." or "Testosterone, you need to chill.""

Being the only woman in a house of men SUCKS sometimes. 

Example A:

my newly pale pink kitchen with yellow and orange happiness-*heartsandrainbows*

makes me happy & want to stay in here and cook scrumptious meals filled with love...

According to the testosterone in the house its *daggersintheeyeballs*

Look at the sadness to left now of paint swatches and crap. BOO, testoterone, BOO!

F*ing KILLJOY!

Never Ending Story and some Good News

Finally picked a color for my kitchen, against the male judgement in my house. C2-Mod, a light lilac/pink number. Its getting balanced with lots of charcoal and browns and orange. I compromised. My husband hated my big limed oak table. Said it was gross because the kids constantly trashed it, and all their food stuck in the grain. He was right in the practical sense (what is that?), so I switched the DOCKSTA back in for him and I picked the color. I'm a girl and I'm the primary kitchen slave. I need to be happy. So here it is in the beginning stage...

(ignore the hot mess throught the door, that is getting a mini-lift this weekend)

In other news.... guess what is going on O'verlays later tonight?
Big ass 20" squares and....

.
you all have been so patient... (thank you)... BIG ASS greek key..

and some wee key too...

("I might be tiny and only 2" tall, but watch what I can do!")

Check back tomorrow for the done-did ups, good stuffs.

I'm a painting fiend right now, off to stick stuff on a RAST.

Meet my new addition, the "Ice Queen"...

I took a work break today to try to get something off my "home" to do list.  I decided I would install my new chandy I found a few weeks ago at a thrift store. It just came back a few days ago from being rewired. (I know I'm busy when I don't immediately hang something the second I bring it home.)

So meet the Ice Queen...

All those lucite prisms make her one heavy girl. 

I switched her out because although I loved my old lucite spaghetti pendant, when I added some leaves to my table and made it bigger it got lost. (I'm working on new seating for the wall side, currently I threw a bench there but am designing a built in.)

 See... excuse the mess, I was doing my best just remembering to get a before shot.

The new chandy is an oval, so it balances it nicely.

And I love the extra sparkle it adds to the space.

One more thing off the list. Now if I could only decide on a color to paint the kitchen, although I really don't mind the white. 

More painted $h*t

 After painting all my cushions, I got the crazy idea to paint an rug.  Why not? Its not like I have boatloads of client work, or piles of laundry and dirty dishes to do. They can wait. I need to make a freaking rug!

 This kitchen will never be finished because I keep adding stuff to my list.

I hate myself, but I love my new rug.

I took pictures of how to do this, will post them later.

Basically a dropcloth wraped and glued to an ugly old flatweave rug.

Add paint and poly so its wipeable/washable.

Thats it. Off to do my real work.

The Flip Side

So yesterday I showed you my drip drip fabric, here are the other sides of the cushions. I decided to do a different pattern on all of them, making for 8 total patterns for endless self enterainment.

First, for any of you with Eiffel chairs, here is how you make a cushion...

Cut a template out of paper that fits the seat, next trace on fabric and cut.

Sew together leaving a 4" opening along the back edge.

Cut some thick batting to size.

Holding the batting (or pin it to the fabric) turn the whoel thing inside out and sew the open seam.

Done.

So here is how I designed them. I was all aboard the crazy train with color and I realized it was time to step off, so I made some black and white patterns ala Madeline Weinrib.

I found the easiest way to get the washy look I wanted was to paint the design with water first and let the fabric paint (see yesterday's post for the brand I used) just bleed...

You can egg on any stubborn paint with a wet paintbrush if it isn't budging fast enough

 .

Wet and drip...

And I did use a Frenchie, and a bit of real fabric over at the desk area...

I should be finished tomorrow.

Easy Peasy Fabric Design

This is a super easy DIY for making your own dotty fabric...

(perpetually in need of a manicure)

Just pick up a little dropper bottle at a craft store for like 79 cents and fill it with some fabric paint/dye.

 I used Dye-Na-Flow by Jacquard.

Drip away.

Good for small areas, unless you have the focus and attention span of a Jedi.

I am going with the Eiffels peeps, and I made little cushions so I can get my fabric fix on.

There is a different design on the other side so I wont when I get bored I can flip them.

I Scotchguarded the hell out of them too.

Kitchen is ALMOST done!

a little peek

I'm still working on my kitchen in spurts. We got some new appliances yesterday and that got me back up on the horse. I primed it white last night, switched out my Ikea table for the old oak one in my sunroom and I'm in the process of making some new art. The white looks so much better.  Also deciding on chairs and fabrics...

The kitchen is right off the orange trellis mudroom and the blue was REALLY bugging me.

I was over it.

(just imagine the first picture in the doorway here, ahhhhh)

 I was inspired by this couch from Furbish, apparently the constant subtle brainwashing of the Dunkin Donuts logo and the big pic I found in the LATimes of the Santa Monica pier...

+

+

= my kitchen

Hope to be done this weekend. What do you guys think? Keep the Eiffle chairs or switch to the French caned ones?

And don't forget to enter my latest giveaway for some fabulous  BLING from my newest sponsor 401s!

Yes please!

When I saw this sofa from Furbish I nearly fell out of my chair. I'm in LOVE. The charcoal velvet, the pink and orange and that BANDING! It has left lots of little seeds sprouting in my head for my kitchen color scheme. If I could fit it in my kitchen and didn't have to fear little sticky fingers, I'd buy the darn thing. Instead I will design a room based on it.

*love you*

The orange trellis in my mudroom is open to the kitchen, so

I definitely think my cabinets are going white, the walls a deep charcoal and maybe some seat cushions in this...

I found an old drawing of mine in our storage space from back in my days of living single.

Its huge, so I think it will hang on the wall near the table.

And I already have white panels with a  2" orange banding, so I might add a 3/4" pink ribbon down the center of it.  Some gray if I'm feeling like I don't have enough going on already.

Ugh... the curse of the Internet and all its pretty little inspirational images.

My TO DO list will never stop growing.

Guinea Pig, at your service

I blogged about this back in August.

Well, I'm finally going to try it. This will be my last hurrah of the season. I figure I'll keep riding my wave of manic spring fix-up frenzy until I eventually crash. (Yes, I will stop painting things soon. I do this every year at this time, and usually run out of steam just in time to get outside in the nice weather.) Then its all beach and mojitos and crazy projects to do while drinking them.

I will be painting my kitchen counters this weekend. It is all part of "The 5 Year Fix". The kitchen is dated, 1964. Its actually sort of cool in a "Brady" kind of way.

 I have flat front walnut laminate cabinets and off white Formica counters that have some burn marks. 

 Oh, and I can't forget the sweet original white wall ovens.  The fridge is dying, so that my be replaced soon.

We will probably getting around to the "real" renovation in 5 years, basically the life of a painted counter.

 Until then I have been given permission to do what I wish with paint and a modest budget. 

So here is my plan:

1) Paint the counters white, then possibly faux to Cararra marble.

 (Nervous about this, I did decorative painting for 12 years but I haven't done this technique in about 7 years. If I fail, they will go back to white.)

2) Paint the "tall" cabinets white or all uppers. I played around with this on Ben Moore's color viewer...

this helps blend my white appliances away.

tried all uppers, leaving a few walnut pops...

and just doors, too jumpy I think...

3) Replace faucet

4) Paint walls. Currently Turquoise. Need to neutralize. No idea what color yet.

5)New cabinet hardware.

6) Fun part. Decorate and accessorize. I have an eat in area that currently has an IKEA tulip table and white eiffel chairs. Want to switch one of those elements out for either an old limed round table or white caned French chairs I have. (I know this sound like a hot mess.)

I've also toyed with the idea of painting all the cabs to a lighter shade like above.

I have no idea. These are some other inspiration pictures...

trying to work with dark wood...

I'm well aware that I can really screw this up big time and I know my kitchen will never look like the above with just paint. I figure I'll start by fixing the counters and work from there.

I welcome any suggestions or experiences with this matter.

 I will try  or do anything at this point. I am here for your entertainment.

XO

Danika