Kitchen painting
Ever have one of those projects that stares you in the face for years, needing to be finished? I don’t have one. I have like 15.
One of those I-need-to-just-get-it-over-with projects is painting the back splash in my kitchen. Why have I been dragging my feet? Many reasons:
1. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to tile the back splash or do some other treatment.
2. I don’t like painting, especially areas where there is a lot of cutting, especially areas where there is a lot of cutting and it is highly visible when you mess up.
3. I am lazy/have no time. When I do have time, I don’t want to spend it hunched under a cabinet painting.
Do you know what kind of kick in the pants you need to get these kind of projects done? Guests coming to stay, of course! We have friends coming in August, and while I know they won’t judge me for my grease-stained back splash, it is kind of embarrassing. I could play the whole full time job/baby card, but even I can see through that one.
Back to painting. “Why paint?” you ask. Let me clear my throat for a long winded explanation of why paint. First of all, paint is already there. Flat paint. Uhm, I would like to know what the builder was thinking, but then again, I guess he wasn’t. Look at all these little grease splatters behind the stove…
(Of course we have Disney salt and pepper shakers. If you have been reading this blog for a while you know we have a bit of a thing for Disney. I promise we are normally functioning members of society!)
Cooking + grease + splashes of lots of yucky stuff + flat paint = it looks like I never clean my kitchen. It just doesn’t look good. We have looked at tile, priced tile, brought samples home, but I can’t make a decision. Mostly because I am not entirely happy with the rest of my kitchen. I want to completely redo it someday. I want white cabinets and touches of teal and red and yellow. Basically I want a vintage modern pretty kitchen. So I figured if I am going to redo the kitchen some day I didn’t want to spend the money/time on doing tile and take the chance of not liking it later. See? Long explanation for why I just painted.
So, after thinking about it for about as long as I have been rambling about this, we took a trip to good ol’ Home Depot to pick up paint and stuff.
Here are some great tips I learned when it comes to tackling a paint project like this:
- Quality is key! I know lots of bloggers and crafters are bargain hunters, which is great and perfect in most situations! But I don’t think I can say enough that your life will be a million times easier if you bite the proverbial home improvement bullet and buy name brand quality. See below for what I use.
- I use Behr paint all. the. time. I will never go back to cheaper paints again. It has great coverage and is just an easy paint to work with. For this project, I used a semi-gloss for wipeability. No more grease or food stains for me. I can just wipe them away.
- For a cutting brush, invest in a good one! I used a 2.5″ Purdy brush made for all paint types. It cuts like a dream, and I am willing to pay $12 for some sanity.
- Before painting on a wall that has grease or other stains, use an oil based primer sealer. It will keep the stains from seeping through over time and messing up your nice clean paint job. When applying this primer, you will want to use a throw away roller. Don’t use your nice, new Purdy brush for oil based paint! You could, but oil based paint is a monster to clean off.
Here is my backsplash (and a view of my kitchen) after all the painting is done. It really brightened up the space and it looks so much cleaner.
Overall, I am glad I just went ahead and got it done. I learned some new things along the way, and it is one more thing marked off of the never ending, always growing to do list.