Pretty Pantry Paint, Please!



What every well stocked pantry needs...it's own mural!

Remember last week's kitchen with dragonfly tiles?  Well, here's the rest of the project.  Not a lot of paintable walls in a pine paneled chalet-style lake house, so the owner had me paint the mural she wanted in the only spot available...the pantry.  She says the door is always open anyway, and as it's on the way from the front door to the kitchen, everyone passes by and looks in, so this way, there will be something nice to see.   The design of this mural is based on an early 1900's travel poster, with the name of their subdivision fancied up a bit, and the family canoe pulled up and ready to go.

The other part of the face lift was painting the kitchen island.  She had me paint over the mallard green with a white that compliments the tile, then give it a raw umber glaze to antique it.  We sampled a distressed finish, but she really didn't want to see a bit of the green, and without completely sanding off the existing paint, it's nearly impossible to sand off distressed spots, without showing the paint color underneath.  If she liked the original color, that would be absolutely perfect, but then, if she liked the color, we wouldn't be repainting, would we?

Before:  Island in original green painted finish.  Not hideous, but not her taste.

After:  Island in umber glazed Cameo White (Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo) finish.  

The island paint was chosen to coordinate with these tiles, which were featured last week.  If you missed them, scroll down for directions to create your own.

Although they have used this house as a weekend lake home, they find it suits their lifestyle better than their fancier house, so they are planning to move in full time, in the near future.  Tweaking a few details, like we did in the kitchen, was relatively quick and inexpensive, and a great way to save the budget for bigger projects, like bedrooms for the kids, and all that extra fun gear that living on the lake full time will require. 

To see more ideas for tweaking the details in your home, check out my website, theartofthehome.com.

You can leave comments at the bottom of this post, by clicking the word "comments", or you can contact me by email, with any questions at dawnmariedelara@gmail.com.