Revere Pewter Kitchen Walls With White Cabinets
So I recently repainted the walls, cabinets and table base in the kitchen and added hardware to the cabinets…
I don't actually have a compulsion to paint everything, but after a year with the painted kitchen cabinets, I was a little dissatisfied. The bottom cabinets were just a little too dark for my liking…I used Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter originally, but for some reason (which I will get to in a second) the outcome was darker than all the photos I'd seen and fallen in love with on the internet.
I loved the white on the upper cabinets, but using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint wasn't a great choice because it doesn't hold up well to oil and dirtiness – the paint tends to absorb any stains that get on it instead of letting the stain sit on top until you come along to scrub it off with a sponge. I knew this would likely be an issue when I originally painted them, but since my aunt had given me a free can of Pure White and AJ and I weren't too keen on spending more money on the kitchen, I went with it anyway.
Finally, I just felt 'meh' about Benjamin Moore Super White (a soft, blue-green, off-white), and I felt like I wanted something that was a more definite 'colour' without having it be too dark or dramatic, because it's an eat-in kitchen that faces east, and I don't need to give the floors any more help making the space feel like a '70s prison. But at the same time, I wanted it to feel not-too-casual, because the table is in there after all, and I'd like the versatility of a space that transitions well to a fancier feel when people come over or I'm having a party. We all have our delusions.
As you can see, I threw a million colours up on the wall and cabinets. The large swath above is Benjamin Moore Nimbus, which I would have gone with, had I not decided to be cheap about paint.
The colour being used above on the wall that is partially painted is Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter at 50%.
The cabinet decision came rather quickly, as it was readily apparent to me that only white would do for the cabinets if I wanted to keep that space feeling light. I went with Behr Premium Plus Ultra in Semi-Gloss in Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace. I absolutely love the colour, and highly recommend it as a neutral, pure, undertone-less white.
For my original post about how to add trim to and paint your kitchen cabinets, see here.
For the walls, I hemmed and hawwed. Everything seemed darker than I wanted, so eventually I decided to go with the living room colour, Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray (since I already had over half a gallon left and because I adore it) tinted to 75%. Thought that was too dark, so tinted it to 50%. As it turned out, the colour was lovely, but looked HORRIBLE next to the Chantilly Lace cabinets…Stonington Gray at 50% is pretty cool toned, and the pure white of Chantilly lace just made everything seem very very cool and cold in a weird kitschy, unattractive way.
So naturally, I decided to go for none of the colours on the wall, although I would have picked Nimbus if I didn't decide to be cheap about paint again. I decided that since I was DIY tinting my paint colours, I might as well give Revere Pewter another go at 50%, since I kind of hated it at full saturation and since I had almost a full gallon. [heavens open, angels sing] Mkay, so as it turns out, please don't listen to all the fools out there who for some irrational reason, advise against tinting paint to some percentage of its original saturation level.
Tinting paint is the shiz, and I'm obsessed with it. Basically, it's just diluting a paint colour to some % of its original concentration. This is done by buying an un-coloured can of paint of thesame baseas the paint you want to tint. Then you can measure out quantities of the paint you want to tint and mix it with the uncoloured paint to achieve your desired color. For any colour tinted at 75%, mix 3 parts paint colour with 1 part un-coloured paint. For a 50% tint, mix 1 part paint colour with 1 part un-coloured paint.
Anyway, I tinted Revere Pewter to 50% using a matte base because my original gallon was a satin base, and I wanted to end up with an eggshell finish for the walls, and then slathered it all over the walls because I was so tired of looking at paint samples and desperately just wanted to have the walls painted. And it looks freaking amazing. All the green-leaning undertones that I detected in the original concentration are gone, and it reads as a beautiful, neutral, neither-warm-nor-cool gray, that definitely reminds me of pewter in certain ways. It compliments the Chantilly Lace cabinetsbeautifully and hits my sweet spot of coloured walls that aren't overpowering but are still clearly present and lend the room a beautiful, polished feel.
After this was done, I went ahead and re-painted the base of my table in Benjamin Moore Silver Fox in a satin finish, because I forgot to seal the original base with Polycrylic, so it had gotten dirty and paint was the minimal-effort solution to making it look new again 😀
At this point, I turned to hardware. I hated the original hardware…maybe you can see it in the 'before' photo above.
I knew I wanted a warm, patinated, unlacquered brass, but my first love for pulls and knobs were too expensive to justify, despite their incredible beauty. So I went to Home Depot. I found an awesome compromise for knobs: the Liberty Antique Lancaster 1-1/4 in. Round Cabinet Knob. At $1.28 each, the price was kind of unbeatable, and on top of that, while they aren't real brass, they had a fantastic, tumbled patina and unlacquered finish that make them look almost like the real deal. These would be my second choice, but I couldn't find them in the store and they are more expensive.
For cabinet pulls, I chose the Richelieu Hardware 3-3/4 in. Regency Brass Pull, which is only available for order online. I love these as well! They are a little warmer and more golden-orange-toned than the knobs, but it's not all that noticeable. These also have an 'unlacquered' feel to them and also feature a mottled, antiqued, patina, which I love. Again, not real brass, but a great price and design!
I drilled the holes and filled most of the old cabinet holes with wood filler…hilariously neither the 1″ nor the 1.5″ screws that any of the hardware came with fitted the cabinets and drawers. So I ended up running to Home Depot again and picking up packs of 8-32 1.25″ stainless steel screws, which worked perfectly! Lots of people complain when the screws don't fit their doors, but it's really not a big deal, and screws for all the drawers and cabinets ran be about $7.
I also added shelves made from a 6′ long x 7.24″ wide pine board from Home Depot that I measured to fit the space and then cut using my Japanese bakuma handsaw, which I'm obsessed with. I nailed some 1.5″ finishing nails into the countertop for the boards to rest on top of, and voila! More counterspace. Not sure why I didn't think of that ages ago…
Lastly, a little note on one of my favourite, recently acquired touches: the annealed steel wire basket hanging from a jute rope was made by the incredibly talented Dave Charest, of Charest Studios. He does incredible work and was really a pleasure to work with! I commissioned the basket based on a similar one that I saw and haven't been able to get out of my head ever since. I love everything about it from the aesthetic to the functionality, and Dave was able to produce one of my own to my exact specifications. I love the way it looks, and it's just as functional as I imagined it would be!
I am so happy with the way the kitchen has turned out. It is such an amazing, inviting space now, even more so than before. I have a few more ideas up my sleeve for additional changes I plan to make, but I think I can safely say I'm done with painting, probably until we move somewhere else! Xx
For my tutorial on adding trim to and painting kitchen cabinets, see here.
To see the evolution of my kitchen, see here!
Sources:
Walls: Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter at 50% in Eggshell finish (Glidden Duo & Behr PPU)
Cabinets: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace in Semi-Gloss (Behr Premium Plus Ultra)
Table Base: Benjamin Moore Silver Fox in Satin finish (Behr Premium Plus Ultra)
Revere Pewter Kitchen Walls With White Cabinets
Source: http://bygeorgiagrace.com/2015/10/kitchen-new-painted-cabinets-walls-benjamin-moore-revere-pewter-chantilly-lace-html/