Turning my white laminate builder grade kitchen into a green and white two-toned kitchen
After my last post (click HERE) where I mostly shared my dining room makeover, I wanted to show more photos of our new green and white two-toned kitchen which you can see today. To see more photos of our old all-white kitchen you can click HERE and HERE.
You can also find my counter stool makeover HERE.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved our all-white kitchen. I’ve had it since we moved in in 2000. The one thing that drove me crazy was the foot prints on the bar area and I frequently repainted it.
And, for those of you who’ve been following me since the beginning of my blog, you might remember that our kitchen used to have a half wall which you can see in the next photo. I hated it so much!!! Whoever came up with the idea to put such a useless contraption into a home. I cut it off myself one day when I had enough and it is my all-time favorite home update by far. It was a game changer for how we use our kitchen and dining room. You can see that post HERE.
I also used to have laminate countertops in a black marble look. The below kitchen photo was taken in 2012.
Before that, it was all brown and beige and I managed to dig up a really old and bad photo.
The biggest splurge in our kitchen has been the quartz countertop and marble backsplash after the half wall removal and it was worth every penny. But besides that, the only thing I needed was paint whenever I felt like a change. And this latest change makes me love my kitchen more than ever and cost me a bucket of paint and a bucket of varnish. I will share more details about my tips and painting process in my next blog post.
Green and white two-toned kitchen
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Today, let’s look at some more photos of what it looks like now as a green and white two-toned kitchen. The funny thing is that I used to really dislike green for our home. Hey, my parents have that same shade of carpet in the upstairs bedrooms and I grew up with it. I would have never believed that one day I would paint my kitchen in their rug color. But… I sure did.
You might ask why I decided to paint it this specific shade of green and not my regular choice of black or maybe blue? The reason is our vintage settee that lives in our dining room and which we all love. I just showed you a couple of weeks ago how I raised it to dining room table heights which you can see HERE.
I was looking for a tone that complemented the color of the vintage sofa without being too matchy-matchy. The sofa/settee is silk velvet and changes tones according to how the light hits it, so I could have chosen several different tones.
I think I could have done a blueish gray too but since I had so much gray in our house before I wanted to pick something different.
I think the color I chose is the perfect shade and it shows in the photos. It’s not too green, doesn’t have a lot of gray and isn’t too dark either.
I had to dig up an old photo of our dining room from 2012 when the painting was hanging in the same spot. This is why I don’t like throwing things out and rather move them to different spots or store them somewhere in the house because chances are that I will like something again.
Find out how I hung the wall moulding HERE.
And if you were wondering about our table setting, here is what I got.
( I need new lenses, the dark corners in some of the photos drive me crazy by the way)
Remember how horrible our cabinets were before? The wear and tear was so bad from my last paint job which wasn’t because I did a bad job but because our kitchen gets used and abused. I had partially peeled some of the laminate off in areas that were cracking and peeling but not everywhere (read the post HERE). It is also a 19-year-old kitchen and I’m pretty proud of the fact that I made it work for so long.
We bang into the cabinets with pots, pans tools, and utensils and occasionally some of the drawers got stabbed with a knife when rushing while putting them away again. Just ask my husband, he loves rushing around.
This view is the before of my under sink cabinet which always gets the worst use and damage:
Look what it looks like now:
In case you are wondering about the tassel, it is old and I’ve had it for about 20 years. I think I bought it at good-old Bombay company when we had a store at the mall. Man, I used to love that store. I’ve never seen one like it since. And the area rug is one of the rugs I brought from my parent’s house.
Also, you can find my woodbead pendant tutorial HERE.
I also found a wall weaving on Pinterest that inspired me to make this giant version for our home. It isn’t completely done yet though. I love that it mimics the woven seats of the wishbone chairs and the woven seats of the counter stools. This is my unfinished copycat version and you can find your own in this Etsy shop HERE.
Like I said in my post yesterday, I love when the sun shines into our home now.
I purchased the above faux plants for our kitchen and dining room and love them. That back corner on top of the fridge is so dark and I can’t grow any plants up there. Our cats actually like sitting on top of the cabinets (yup I don’t care) and would eat the plants and get sick. So faux ferns it is for me right now.
Our Green and White Kitchen Makeover
Oh, and I have to mention that we adopted another new family member with no name yet. We can’t agree on a name but isn’t he handsome? His foster mom named him Walton because his mother jumped a truck from Walton Georgia to our area. She gave birth to him and his siblings 4 days after she was found in the truck bed but all the kittens died except of him. My husband and son don’t like the name and my son thinks that he should now be allowed to name one of our cats. He wants to name him Norman which is cute.
I will definitely post more about our cute new family addition.
There is a new model in the house and hopefully, Willy is willing to share the limelight.
My next post this week will be about some of my painting tips and tricks when tackling cabinets because I did run into some issues and managed to work through them.
Tschüß,
Love your kitchen and I love your new family member even more! I had a black tomcat named Oscar for 16 years. He was the love of my life. 🙂 Can’t wait to see more pictures of both him and Willy!
Thanks Alison. This little guy is very special too and love the name Oscar.
I like the new colour. Its a perfect shade of green. This post gives me ideas. Thanks again for sharing. Congrats on your new addition!
Thank you Tammara! I love that it is giving you ideas.
Love the color and the new look it gives your kitchen. Gotta love the Power of Paint 🙂
Thank you Diane.
It was a lot of work but so worth it.
I love Norman and the pics of him are great!! The kitchen isn’t bad either!!
Haha, thanks Judi! Cat photos are always better than kitchen photos 😉
it looks so good! i love that color- i just selected a dark green for our bathroom!
Oh love that and thank you
I love the kitchen and the cat! I just finished painting my master bathroom vanity so I am looking forward to what tips you discovered before I tackle the kitchen.
Oh nice! What color did you paint it?
I did it in white. The guest bath was painted in charcoal so I wanted something different from that.
Nice!
LOVE IT! What a beautiful transformation. It looks custom. Jotting down the color for future reference. And your kitty is precious. His eyes match the cabs!
Thanks, yes he has such a unique eye color. I’m not even sure what it is.
I absolutely love it. That is the perfect shade of green and so perfect with your dining area. It looks amazing. Great job.
Thank you so much Marty!
Love how you’ve made the space more accommodating for your family.
I can see where a different family might like the half wall – it keeps some of the mess in the kitchen out of view when entertaining. I have seen homes that have a bar height breakfast bar to accomplish hiding the mess while still increasing the eating area. Personally, I would prefer the openness of your set up.
PS I miss having kitties. It’s just not something I can tackle right now so seeing pics of yours is super awesome!
Thank you!
I really dislike the breakfast bar counters too. It usually invites people to leave their messes and to accumulate clutter instead of finding a space for it. Another reason I dislike a half wall or breakfast counter is because you can’t see the people sitting at the table behind it. With an open counter, I can engage with the people at the table as well. But there are people who rather are enclosed and even half a kitchen that isn’t open at all and where you can close the door 😉
As always, you did a beautiful job with the kitchen update!!!! The color looks great and somehow changes the whole look! Looking forward to your painting tips, Julia!
Thank you Jen!
Love the kitchen! You took down the animal plates! I now have some of those in my kitchen because of seeing them on your blog. One of my kids broke two of my plates by accident one day, I was so mad! I’ll buy yours if you ever put them in your Etsy shop, let me know.
Your new family member is adorable, I love the name Norman.
Thanks Mary, the plates aren’t all down, I should have taken a picture of the little wall where I have my antique marble table in the kitchen. All my favorite cat plates are still hanging there. The reason I took them down on that wall by the fridge is that we bought a new fridge and the handles are huge and bang into the wall when open. I couldn’t hang them the way I had them before and a different configuration just looked really strange. I still love my plates 🙂
Walton/Norman’s eyes match your new cabinet color! He’s so handsome. Love the changes you’ve made in here Julia! It looks so pretty!
Thank you Lisa!
please do a tutorial on how you attach the rings and do The black fringe on that wall hanging! I love it so much ! I love DIYs. I’m going to start a blog soon and I just love your Instagram for inspiration♡
Hi Amber, I was debating a tutorial but feel really icky about doing it since it isn’t my idea and the artist who makes them would probably not be so happy about it. It’s not my idea! Not sure how I should approach this without making anyone angry. On the other hand macrame, weavings and dream catchers are everywhere and all very similar. Not sure what to do 🙁
Your kitchen is absolutely stunning. You did a fantastic job. I also have a black cat named Maxwell Grayson.
PS: Also meant to mention that the wall weaving is spectacular. You do such fantastic pieces of art.
Thank you!
Hi Dorenda, thank you and love the name of your kitty!
Julia!!! It looks amazing! Seriously, I love it.
Thanks Ashley, I should have done it much sooner 😉
Where is that gorgeous dining room fixture from??
I totally forgot to mention that! It is from Dutton & Brown
I’m glad to see the new look. I want to know what finish of paint you chose; is it satin? It is really pretty. I, too, find myself using the colors that were in my parent’s home growing up! I swore I wouldn’t, but I did! Cute kitten; I had a cousin named Norman Nelson. My dad would joke that that was a lot of “n’s”!
I used an eggshell actually.
Love the name Norman Nelson 😉
That shade of green makes your kitchen look so different…the power of paint strikes again!
Love your black kitty…ours is named Tiger (it’s a long story) and she is very sensitive and loves to sniff us…I think it’s her love language! Our shelter here in Southern Oregon says black cats are the hardest for them to re-home…but I’ve always found them so strikingly beautiful!
Mine love to sniff us too 😉 And yes, black cats are generally harder to adopt out which is a reason that I chose a black kitty. There were so many black cats and I wanted them all.
Love that shade of green! Looks great! What a handsome fella, he looks so relaxed and confident. I’m sure he will fit right in.
Thanks Donna,
He is already fitting in very well. He is pretty confident but is scared when my kid’s friends come over. He isn’t used to a hoard of loud teenagers since his foster mom lived alone with her kitties.
Hopefully, he will get used to when friends come over. He does love my daughter though and loves being in her room and snuggling in bed with her. She is thrilled since none of the others do.
Looks really beautiful Julia, magazine worthy, Your new kitty is so adorable!
Thank you Maria!
I love this space so much! amazing job!
Well done Julia! You have lifted your kitchen to a new and awesome level. The sage is a perfect fit and a stunning addition to the lower kitchen cabs! Awesome. I’m loving your newest little man, so maybe as a nod to his roots, how does “George” sound? But Norm is cute too. Have fun with him, and I hope he brings much joy to you and your family. xo heather
I meant to ask whether you would be willing to do a tutorial on that beautiful weaving of yours? xo heather