Update: Kitchen and Laundry Room Project

Yesterday, I revealed the finished – well, mostly – laundry room (click here to see the laundry room reveal).

All that’s left for the laundry room is to finish the doors. I painted them with a brush with a primer and semi-gloss paint, but the paint didn’t cover and the underlying paint job wasn’t good in the first place (which became more pronounced with white semi-gloss paint!). I’m going to sand them down and paint them again, but this time with a paint sprayer (more on that to come soon!).

Can’t wait? See the finished doors and my five favorite tips for painting six-panel doors here.

Many moons ago, it seems, I compiled this list for what I wanted to do in the laundry room and kitchen. I thought, given the reveal of the laundry room redo yesterday, I’d update the list.

I’ve crossed out everything I’ve already done.

• Clear off shelves in kitchen and remove from walls. Why? Because I’m going to paint the walls and ceiling, too, while I’m at it. I decided to paint the walls Benjamin Moore Decorator’s White, which is a bright white with some gray that will complement the gray cabinet paint. You can see the finished painted kitchen here.
• Take down pantry sliding door (required to paint door frame) and patch pantry door frame (from where old doors were).
• Sand trim in kitchen and laundry room.
• Sand chalkboard paint backsplash. I know – I like the chalkboard paint backsplash! But I’m going for a lighter look in the kitchen, so – I think – I’m going to cover the dark chalkboard paint. I have plenty of chalkboards elsewhere, honest. To see what the finished, non-chalkboard backsplash looks like, please click here.
• Prime trim (this is a third of the way done) and chalkboard paint on wall.
• Paint the kitchen ceiling. Why? Because the ceiling is darker where the upper cabinets used to be and I want it to look clean and even.
• Paint trim – Benjamin Moore semi-gloss in white. Click here to see the finished kitchen white trim.
• Paint walls –
  • Laundry room: Violet Sparkle by Benjamin Moore
  • Kitchen: Decorator’s White by Benjamin Moore.
• Finish laundry room:
  • Install countertop above machines.
  • Install tile backsplash on back wall behind machines. – I decided not to do this, at least for now.
  • Put it all back together.
  • Sand down and repaint the doors. See the finished painted doors here plus my tips for painting six-panel doors! (It only took me two plus years to get that done!)

So that’s where I am with these projects! Tomorrow, I plan to continue priming and painting trim in the kitchen. The hard part is coming up: painting the trim on the window above the sink, including the frame of the window.