Further Progress in the Kitchen

I decided that a painted backsplash is best for me.  I change my mind too often to choose tile.

Bead board is groovy, but I don't have the extra wire length in my junction boxes to move them forward to allow for the space.  Tin is too shiny.  Mirrors too smudgy.  Yup; paint is just right.

The couple who blogs about their faux tile back splash painting business have a great gallery of finished kitchens.  The 1/4 inch painters tape was hard to find.  I ordered it from Amazon, and it didn't want to stick unless I cursed at it and pressed extra hard.  Measuring and taping took me nearly five hours.



Next, I mixed up various leftover paint and oops paint from the big orange store, trying to come up with shades that seemed just right.



I started with Ash White and Poppy Seed, which are my cabinet colors.  Then I added two shades of gray.  It was hard to admit, after all that work, but I hated the way it looked.

While I painted with colors, I brainstormed about what to do with all the stark black and white "tiles" I didn't like.  Finally, I painted over them.  By this time, I was more than 8 hours into the project and scared to death that it had all been a waste of time.

Peeling off the tape was scary and disappointing.  The Poppy Seed paint had seeped through the edges of the tape, and then sealed itself so the new color didn't cover it along the edges.  Some of the other colors were already dry, so the paint peeled up along with the tape.  I even found one "tile" that I forgot to paint.

Somehow, I refrained from crying.  With as steady a hand as possible, I touched things up, cleaned the kitchen, and drank a beer.  There are still plenty of cosmetic problems, but from a distance, it's fine.

I'm not in love with the results, but it's, even if it's not what I had envisioned.  The colors (to my eyes) are cool, soothing, and lively without being obnoxious, and they compliment the cabinets without being matchy-matchy.  Total cost: about $11.00 to buy the tape and have it shipped, plus a few bucks for cheap paint brushes.  Everything else was on hand.  The best part?  I can re-paint it whenever I tire of the look.

I still might paint the Roman shade, and I MUST re-paint all of my chairs, find rugs, and re-hang artwork.  A friend is already at work making a stained glass door for the cubby above the microwave.  It's all coming together, bit by bit.