Chalk Paint Kitchen Cabinets - KITCHEN EVOLUTION UPDATE

It occurred to me today, as I walked through the house for my much needed coffee, that I had never actually done a proper post about my experience with chalk painting my cabinets. So, there's no time like the present. Here we go.

I'm actually glad that it's taken me so long to do this post, because I can also address the wearability and longevity and staying power of this project.


Ok, so let's go back - way back - to 5 1/2 years ago, when Aaron and I got the keys to this house for the first time. If you haven't seen my KITCHEN EVOLUTION post, now might be the time to head over there and read that, to get all the details.  But our kitchen was majorly outdated, and in desperate need of a facelift.

The cabinets had been UNTOUCHED since the house was built in the 50's, and so all things considered, they were in great shape. The fridge was a disaster, it wouldn't even stay shut, so you had to kick it at the bottom to get it to seal. It worked fine for when we were working on the house for keeping cokes and bottled water chilled and for any snacks we might have.... and that was usually Subway.

The tile was mostly perfectly fine. It had been installed when my father in law purchased this house (remember, this is actually his house, we rent from him) he ripped the carpet up and uncovered our gorgeous wood floors, and replaced the old linoleum with this pretty tile. The stove could have worked for us, but we decided to replace it, since we were replacing the fridge anyway. And that avocado range hood had to go.

Have you ever seen anyone more tickled to be ripping down a wallpaper border than this gal? It's my first home, and I'm so proud of what we've done to it.


Ok, so we worked pretty steady for about 3 months, September to November. And we got married on the 12th of December. So we used those twelve days to move and get everything set up and put away etc etc.

So on December 20th, when we came home from our honeymoon and officially moved in (we did not live together before we got married, but because our house is right next door to Aaron's Dad, with whom he was living at the time, Aaron did spend a few nights in the house after we got all of our stuff moved in, just for safety's sake. It was so weird living at my Mom's house with literally nothing in my bedroom except a bed, a suitcase of clothes (since all mine I'd moved here) and my gigantic wedding dress taking up all of my closet for almost 2 weeks) this is what the kitchen looked like.

We painted the walls green, replaced the countertops to the black ones, painted the cabinets dark brown using oil based paint, we got new (actually scratch and dent) stainless steel appliances, we replaced every light fixture in the house.... I actually kind of regret getting rid of that table. It was a PERFECT size for the kitchen, but I do love our current table. Because now we don't have to buy a huge dining table when we buy our forever home.


Ok, so.... fast forward to September 2014. I decided I was freaking tired of the green walls and was longing for something that was a bit more bright and airy. My style was changing. No more was I into the dark colors and the modern influenced things.... I was going towards the bright, airy, country influenced, antique inspired looks. So I thought, to avoid painting the cabinets, which I felt like was going to be a huge undertaking, I would paint the walls and go from there.

Read my post about it HERE. I completely re-did the kitchen for under $80. I ended up using contact paper on our countertops to brighten up that space and for a while, I loved it.

And let me get brutally honest with you.... when the new wore off I kind of felt like my cabinets and countertops looked really cheap. Sort of like a badly manufactured mobile home. Some mobile homes these days are amazing, for reals, but this just had the feel of cheap cheap. But I loved the color of the walls and I loved the lighter countertops, but they were contact paper, it was obvious. And even though it was a "granite pattern," it was a sticky paper. C'mon. But it can be done. And it held up amazing for a year.


So I finally decided, you know what, I'm gonna paint my cabinets. I'd regretted painting them so dark almost from the beginning, and I just felt like something brighter fit us better. And I am all about your home fitting YOU.



April, 2015. I'd been doing lots of research  on chalk paint. I spent pretty much all day every day looking up chalk paint and learning all about it. And what I discovered was that DIY chalk paint was just as effective as Annie Sloan chalk paint. Plus it's WAY cheaper.

So I decided that the absolute cheapest way I could paint my kitchen cabinets was to DIY chalk paint them.

The recipe is so simple.
1 part flat (no primer) paint in the color of your choice - mine was Valspar "Gypsum."
2 parts Plaster of Paris
enough water to mix it all together

I ended up officially using two quarts of paint, 4 cups of Plaster of Paris and around 2 cups of water. You want to mix your PoP and water together separately, and mix it until it looks like pancake batter. Then add it to your paint. I actually bought a plastic bucket at Lowe's when I bought the paint, that had measurements on the side so I dumped my paint in there. (I mixed the rest of the paint into chalk paint a few weeks later, and it keeps pretty well if it's sealed really good.)


2 quarts of paint was all it took for three coats of paint on my cabinets. I had maybe half a cup left over when I was done. The paint is very runny, but you only need to barely dip your brush into the mix. Back brush all you want, get in there with it and use some elbow grease. Don't sand, don't prime. 
Literally slap the paint on. That's the amazing part about chalk paint. It's so easy to use.

I took all my cabinet doors off and all my drawers out (I just put my drawers on my countertop to paint them) and painted the base of the cabinets first. Chalk paint only takes about 20 minutes between coats to dry so while that was drying, I put my first coat on my doors and drawers.

Ok, so you've got the first coat done. And holy crap, you've ruined your cabinets. I should have taken a picture. It was terrifying. It looked like I'd done a really "crap-tastic" job of painting a primer on. It was splotchy and nasty looking. But I was already too far gone, so I just went with it.

The second coat covered up all sins. It started looking really amazing then.

I ended up doing three coats, just because it's a kitchen and I felt like it needed the extra stuff.

Now, once your done, you need to wax the cabinets to seal it all in. I used Minwax in the natural color. Just use an old lint free rag (I used one of Aaron's old cotton undershirts) and applied it in circular motions until my thumbs hurt.

It took me from 10am to 5am the next day to get everything painted, dried, put away and cleaned

THIS was the finished product.

Ok, so this shot was taken with me shoved up in the corner by the window, but it gave me the effect I wanted, entirely. As you can see I took some doors off and made some space for open shelving for our dishes and my antique glass. 

But look closely at this picture...... it STILL looks pretty dog gone cheap. And I couldn't understand why. So I got on Pinterest to look at photos of kitchens with white cabinets and I noticed a reoccurring theme. Black countertops. So after supper that evening, I asked Aaron what his opinion was. And he was pretty adamant about ripping that cheap contact paper up. "It looks like a bathroom!" He exclaimed. And when I showed him a picture of black counters and white cabinets from Pinterest, he got up, stomped into the kitchen and took out his pocket knife and started scoring the contact paper so we could rip it up. 

Ok. Aaron wins this one. It looked so much better that I could hardly contain myself. NOW I was in love with it. 

And here is what our kitchen is looking like today! Sorry for the crappy pictures, I was taking these for the #cleankitchenatnight challenge and they were just gonna get edited in Instagram anyway before I posted them.

As you can see in the above shot, I also swapped out the globes on my triple fixture above the sink. These were just $3 a piece from Lowe's and I LOVE them! They're bubbled glass, but clear, so it gives so much more light to the room! I also worked really hard to eliminate the clutter that was accumulating on top of my fridge. Since we don't have a cabinet up there, it tends to catch lots of random things. Now all that's up there is our air filter and two pottery pieces that were my Mom and Dad's. The cereal boxes you see peeking at you are actually on the top shelf of the Non-Pantry.

My kitchen is so much so my happy place these days. I love the look and the feel of the room, and love how country it is. Aaron tracked down an antique shop one afternoon and brought me home a box full of goodies so that I could decorate with them and I love it.

The only thing left to do is switch out my rugs and replace them with something a bit more country, and they're on order from Amazon. Be sure to follow me on Instagram to keep up with the latest, cause I'm always posting there! The trick to spicing up any space is keeping your overall color - i.e. wall color, cabinet color - pretty neutral and using accents to bring in color and personality. We have lots of aqua blues, some yellows, some pewter here and there, but this space is absolutely ME. And that's what I love about it. The kitchen is the heart of the home, it's the central space, it's THIS woman's domain. And I love it.

It's been several months since I tackled this project all on my own. The paint has held up great. I have nothing to report. I cook at least two meals a day in this room. And it's just as perfect now as it was then. Over time, should it get some wear on it, I'll be fine with it, because I like that look. And everyone loves it. I've had several girlfriends tackle their kitchens since I did mine, and each one with sparkling results. 

So don't be afraid to mix up a little chalk paint and go to work. Since then I've chalk painted some other pieces of furniture in my house and I am trying to resist painting more. I do love painted furniture. 

Verdict: I LOVE IT, it's EASY to mix, it's CHEAP to mix, and it looks SO GOOD!

Disclaimer: Painting is hard work. Painting cabinets is a time consuming process, don't think your gonna have this done in a few hours, cause your not. Plain and simple truth. 

I love y'all!