When it comes to painting the interior of a house, I tend to be attracted to polar opposites -- bright colors and creamy whites. When Jonathan and I bought our first home, the very first thing we did -- even before the furniture was moved -- was paint the rooms yellow, orange, turquoise and mocha. The colors felt beachy and were exactly what I wanted after two years in a bland apartment. After a few years of staring at those loud walls, I started to feel boxed in by my color choices. Jonathan hates to paint, but I convinced him that a switch to an all-white house would be a good idea. I started by painting our red adirondack chairs the white we selected (Dover White by Sherwin Williams), and a few weeks later, we started on the house. The hallway, living room, dining room, sunroom and bathroom were all Dover White by the time we finished. The space felt much bigger, and having a single color throughout made touch ups so easy. When we listed our house for sale less than a year later, the white walls were a huge selling feature because they were ready for any color and they looked fresh and classic. They made our 1,100 square foot cottage seem big, which isn't easy to do!
After all that paint work, it has taken me almost a year to convince Jonathan that we needed to paint our new house Dover White. Our new house, which was built in 1984, lacks the charming details of our 1950 cottage, but I knew white would still be a great choice. It makes any house seem timeless and more open, and it brightens dark spaces. Of our 3,000 square foot house, we knew the kitchen -- formerly painted a periwinkle blue and finished with a shiny, "Venetian" plaster -- would be the worst room to paint. We weren't fans of the color or the finish, and we spend quite a big of time in our kitchen, so we decided that's where we would begin. It was a monster project that involved lots and lots of sanding, even more cleaning, one coat of primer and two coats of Dover White. Because we are a bit crazy, we also painted our hallway at the same time. It was actually already painted a very boring flat white, and it looks so much better now that it's Dover White. Once I finish painting the frames on the gallery wall, I'll post some new photos of it. Here are some photos of the kitchen:
There are some things about this kitchen that we probably wouldn't have chosen ourselves, but overall it is a really efficient space that works well for us.