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I’m a wee bit excited to share this little happy makeover with you!
Several years ago, we had some updates done on our kitchen, and when we changed the color of our kitchen bar, I decided we might as well go for painting the mudroom too. That summer we changed the paint, granite and backsplash in our kitchen (mostly because I do lots of video and photo shooting in our kitchen, and I needed a brighter countertop space to work on to make my work a little easier)!
Sneak peek . . . our kitchen wasn’t bad at ALL ~ the countertops were just dark and hard to photograph on, and apparently when you change the countertops in your kitchen, you usually have to change the backsplash too!
The Kitchen Before
The Kitchen After
When we bought our home, we picked the least expensive granite, because it was all we could afford at the time. It worked perfectly, and was absolutely the best decision then for our family then. (Even though I begged my hubby to upgrade our granite at the time, he knew we didn’t need any unnecessary financial burden as we were anxious about moving and our finances during that season.)
Looking back I’m so thankful we waited, because it allowed us to get what we really wanted ~ the financial freedom of a paid off home!
The big bonus there? Now we get to have the kitchen I was dreaming of, and it’s so much sweeter after waiting a bit.
So after paying off our home last summer and having a little more wiggle room in our budget, this was an upgrade I’d been dreaming of (especially to just make photography easier in our kitchen!)
Now for the Mudroom Makeover!
Our mudroom is sort of a catch all space combined with a little recessed area I use for a coffee nook.
It was covered in dark stained wood just like the kitchen, and while I loved how it hid any flaws in the wood (especially with kids slinging backpacks around . . . ), it always felt so dark and dreary. The cabinetry was dark, there’s no light in that area of our home, and it just was always a dingy feeling space.
So since we were painting everything else anyways, I decided I might as well go for it and paint the mudroom too.
I am in love.
Mudroom Before . . .
Mudroom After.
Coffee Nook Before
Coffee Nook After
View of Both Before
View of Both After … (um, clearly. just cleaning was the mess in this one!) 🙂
Success.
If you are feeling overwhelmed
Sick and tired of being at home.
And just need a little project today.
GO GRAB SOME PAINT IF YOU’VE GOT ROOM IN YOUR BUDGET.
It’s pretty cheap.
(You can even buy the mismatched paint at the store).
It will change the way everything looks.
And might just brighten your space too.
Have YOU done anything to brighten up your home lately? I’d love to hear about it ~ leave a comment to share. (I love hearing from you!)
I struggle with this post each time you make it. Your new kitchen is gorgeous but it was also so gorgeous before…Your first kitchen was basically my dream kitchen. The new one does seem to work well in photos. I am glad you are enjoying it.
Hi Sabrina – thank you so much for your message! This was our original kitchen (and looking back – goodness after a little paint I loved it too!) My only real message here is that paint can do amazing things (I feel like we’ve painted anything we can get our hands on for 26 years now – whew) 🙂 Hope that makes sense – I definitely love our space and am so thankful for it! https://passionatepennypincher.com/our-first-home-and-how-this-whole-2019-home-checklist-began/
Blessings!
Laurie
Your mudroom before picture is great. Shows the reality of life. Our house is over a 100 years old and does not have a mud room so our mud room ends up being our dining room table. It’s a mess of books, backpacks. I will miss it when it’s gone. Only a year and a 1/2 until the last one leaves
It’s so sad to see them go (we have a few more years until our youngest leaves!) I do love our mudroom and definitely will miss the real life that’s there one day (maybe not tripping over the shoes). Thank you for sharing (and soak up this season with your kiddos at home!)
If you plan to paint any more cabinets or furniture I highly, highly recommend Heirloom Traditions Paint: https://www.heirloomtraditionspaint.com/ Their paint is a GAME CHANGER! You can get a free sample and once you try it, let me tell you, you will be hooked. We painted all our kitchen cabinets and island this summer. I can’t tell you how many compliments we get. When the contractor came to do our bathroom he asked who did our custom cabinets. I said, “ You mean our 30 year old honey oak builder grade cabinets?” He was amazed. I have since painted my dining room set and love the new look. I am current working on an update of one of our guest bathrooms. So much nicer than icky chalk paint that leaves furniture looking cheap and dull. They have a FB group and people post amazing pics of their furniture and kitchens. Just had to share my find in case you are looking to update more around your house. Love your update. It’s gorgeous!
Beautiful!! I love it all! What is the color on the kitchen walls?
Hi Allison! Right now they’re Sherwin Williams Snowbound – hope that helps! 🙂
I love what you did! The paint color is beautiful!
I built a board and batten wall in my foyer and I love it. Now I am trying to decide on paint color for my kitchen cabinets! That is a really hard one!
It’s so hard to decide -good luck!
Hi Laurie!
We’ve been wanting to paint our kitchen but not sure what method or paint to use. Would you mind sharing your experience and methods to help get us on our way. Thank you!
What paint color did you use in your mud room ? Looks great !!
The walls are Sherwin Williams Snowbound, and the blue is Sherwin Williams Foggy Day 🙂 Hope that helps!
Love the changes you made,really brightens things up.We recently redid our kitchen floor,and now we need to agree on a paint color.
I love the kitchen. So bright! Would you tell me what backsplash you used and where you got it? We redid our kitchen a while back and I never could find a backsplash I liked that was in stock.
Love all of it!! Where did you get those beautiful lights over your island. We’re in the middle of a remodel. Trying to decide my island color right now!
Our contractor found them – if I find a link I’ll be sure to update the post! Good luck on your remodel as you go Kelly!
Thank you!
I got the same lights…or very similar from Amazon earlier this year when we did a major remodel of our kitchen! I love them!
Love it! Where did you get your backsplash? What is the product name/design? Thanks!!!!
Our contractor found them – I’m not sure what they’re called but I’m so pleased with how they turned out!
Beautiful, I love how you lightened everything up!
Thanks so much Cathy – I’m so pleased with it!
Can you tell us the paint colors for the cabinets?
Yes Suzette! Foggy Day by Sherwin Williams on the blue – hope that helps! 🙂
Simply elegant! 😉 Any hint to the color of the coffee nook cabinets/kitchen cabinets?
Hi Mary! It was tinted to match our cabinets – I’m not sure what color white they are (so sorry!) Just a pretty true white!
Laurie,
The updates are absolutely gorgeous! You did a great job!
Kim
Thank you Kim!
Any tips on painting oak cabinets?
YES: use good primer!!! We’ve used Kilz primer before and it works great – it is NOT worth penny pinching when painting cabinets because cheap paint won’t stop the oak from bleeding through. Hope that helps!
Looks amazing!! My husband and I have been working from home for the last few months so we decided to paint our ENTIRE upstairs. We had dark wood trim everywhere so we had to paint ALL of the wood trim around doors, windows, baseboards. It was so tedious because it took a couple of coats of primer and then 2-3 coats of paint with primer, but was SO worth it. We previously had outdated gold/red walls and we painted them a soft clay color with white trim. We painted our kitchen, dining room, living room, foyer, stairway to our basement, upstairs hallway (with six doors), and just recently painted our hallway bathroom. We totally redid my sons room as well. We still need to paint our bedroom and master bath and then our basement, but after all of that painting, we are taking a break lol! Paint truly is the biggest bang for your buck as far as transformation!
How fun Sabrina – I bet it looks amazing!
Great results, you did good
Love what y’all have done! We, too, have been working on upgrades to our home. I have always wanted a pallet wall in the bedroom and my husband indulges me when he can. Tried to include the pic but it wouldn’t let me! We are also slowly renovating our kitchen.
Like a faux shiplap wall?? I want to do that in my bathroom. I saw a couple of posts on Pinterest that were done using pallets and they looked amazing! If you do it, please post pics!
I love that Christine – thanks so much for sharing! Good luck as you go (it’s so worth being patient along the way!)
Everything looks beautiful, so fresh and cheery! Cheerful like your personality!
Looks fantastic the new color just look great makes the mud room pop.
Wow!! Everything looks beautiful!! Great job!
Laurie,
The updates came out absolutely lovely! I especially love the color Foggy Day. I’ve always been happy with Sherwin Williams paint. I have a few painting projects on the burner and hope they come out as lovely as yours!
I’m sure they will Linda! I really have loved that color – I wasn’t sure at first but it’s grown on me. Good luck as you start painting!
Absolutely beautiful. As a side hussle, I am a real estate agent. Yesterday, I was advising my client something similiar to your thinking when purchasing a new home. I told them that because of their limited budget at this time, they need to put their money towards structural upgrades first and that they can always change the floor or countertops later. It is much easier to change flooring later than it is to add the 12′ multislide glass doors going out to the loggia. Thank you for sharing because this is another great example.
I love that Lori! YES – you are soooo right. We’ve always said on our homes that we can change somethings easily (granite and paint!) but big things are worth fighting for (in our first homes we couldn’t afford to recarpet or change flooring, so I was willing to buy ANYthing, but always looked for decent carpet because that made it so much less expensive!) I love your advice. Such wisdom there!
Where did you get the lamp in the coffee nook?
Target on clearance for $8!
Sooo pretty and updated! Good job, mom!
What is the new countertop?
Beautiful! Love it. Great job
Thank you Kara!
Wow! What a difference a little paint made!
It all looks so fresh and welcoming!
Thanks so much Caron – I’m so pleased with how it turned out! 🙂
Very nice, love all of the updates you have done!
Thank you Angela – that means so much to me! 🙂
Laurie,
Your have awesome taste! I would love to know what blue you painted the island and what countertops you selected for kitchen.
Would love to do the same to my kitchen!
Hi Susan! The island is Sherwin Williams Foggy Day, and the countertop is marble (which is probably a terrible decision because it’s not incredibly easy to maintain, but I saw it and fell in love!) Hope that helps! 🙂
It does Laurie! TY for sharing!
I love the changes in your kitchen and mud room. Looks very nice . The blue island and lighter counters are a great look.
Thank you so much Jean for commenting! 🙂 I’m so pleased with how it turned out!