Kim’s Color Conundrum
As soon as we laid eyes on Kim’s adorable adobe kitchen, we knew we could reinvent the space with a few perfect paint color pairings. Here’s her letter:
We live in an adobe house in Santa Fe and need some color help in our kitchen. We can paint the walls of the kitchen as well as the crazy blue kitchen cabinets (which look like they were done in a hurry). I’d love for the new color palette to work with the existing floor, backsplash tile, and the counter. I LOVE taupe, chocolate, lime, and turquoise but would like to stay away from orange, red, purple, pink, gray, and white in the kitchen. We love earthy colors since we live in an adobe but we have a pop of color in every room. Thanks so much for your help! – Kim
We’re seriously loving Kim’s warm tile floors, stainless appliances, and that sweet patterned backsplash. So we put our heads together to find a few fabulous wall colors & cabinet hues to flaunt all of her adobe kitchen’s fantastic features:
Here’s the color scheme breakdown.
1.The first color palette option is earthy and neutral with a dash of color. We’d suggest painting the base cabinets a rich chocolate brown (try Glidden’s Le Chateau) while painting the upper cabinets a nice taupey-tan tone (try Glidden’s Sand White). After priming the cabinets with oil based primer, painting the cabinets in semi-gloss latex paint should do the trick, and before you know it the whole kitchen will be transformed. And to inject a bit of the fresh lime green tone that Kim adores, we hunted down the palest, most subtle lime color with a bit of yellow and gray to ensure that it works seamlessly with the yummy cabinet colors (try Glidden’s Celadon Green).
2. This second palette is cozy and neutral with a splash of the turquoise color that Kim also adores. She can’t go wrong by painting all the cabinets a tan-taupe tone (try Glidden’s Sand White) while adding a bit of blue dazzle to the walls in the form of a light and happy turquoise color (try Gentle Breezes by Glidden, which has just enough green and blue to create the perfect light turquoise hue).
3. Our third palette is a bit more adventurous, but we love the idea that even a rich vibrant tone can be tempered with a neutral hue to strike a delicate yet dramatic balance. For the base cabinets we’d suggest an oh-so-chic deep greeny-blue (try Glidden’s Estes Park- it’s like a glittering turquoise sea after sunset). Then for the upper cabinets we’d recommend the palest turquoise tone we could find (try Autumn Mist by Glidden). To temper the dark toned base cabinets and ground the light and airy top cabinets, we think the perfect tan tone on the walls (Glidden’s Sand White) will finish the whole look with polish and earthy adobe style to spare.
And for even more pops of color, Kim can introduce fun accessories like a bright lime pitcher or a cheerful turquoise tea-kettle, depending on the palette that she selects. We can’t wait to hear what you guys think- and of course get Kim’s read on all of our suggestions. Happy painting…
Update: Kim sent us her amazing kitchen after pictures and they’re nothing short of spectacular! Follow this link to check out her space after a simple paint makeover- it doesn’t even look like the same room!
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Delicious suggestions! You totally nailed Kim’s taste (this is her sister btw!). Awesome.
Just got home and was thrilled to see my horrible cabinets on the site! My sister actually caught it first as she now checks your site daily. I can’t wait to get to the paint store as I love all 3 suggestions- I think I need to do some test areas. Awesome job! Thanks!!!
Hope you post Kim’s results — it’s so hard to visualize these things, especially when you’re as creatively challenged as I am!
Hey Kim,
Wahoo! So happy you’re happy. And you know we’re dying for after pics so be sure to send them our way when you get around to all that priming and painting! It’s definitely going to be a major transformation.
xoxo,
Sherry (& John)
Do I HAVE to use oil based primer? I hate the clean up!
Kim
Fabulous question Kim. We’re here with good news and bad news. The bad news is oil primer is necessary. But the good news is that we’re hopfully saving you a few coats of paint & primer (and a possible ulcer) by giving advice that we didn’t heed ourselves at one time and it was a NIGHTMARE!
In our experience painting cabinets it seems that oil based primer is the only way to guarantee that no oils/stains/grease will come through and ruin your paint job (which is definitely a possibility in a grease-filled kitchen with blue stained cabinets). As much as oil based primer sucks (oy, the clean up is TERRIBLE, we know!) it’s really the only way to guarantee that you’ll get great coverage and great results (and having to do everything all over with oil primer after trying things with latex is even more annoying, which actually happened to us on a recent table-building project).
So hopefully one coat of oil primer followed by two coats of latex paint will be better than a coat of latex primer followed by two coats of latex paint followed by an hour of pulling your hair out when blue starts seeping through the new paint color followed by a coat of oil primer followed by another two coats of latex paint. Whew. Our fingers are crossed for a quick and painless paint job!
xoxo,
Sherry
OK OK
Thanks for the info.
Kim
Hey, I have a question. My husband and I have an ongoing debate about the brand of paint that is best. He insists that only Benjamin Moore will do, and I notice that you often recommend Glidden paints. Is there really any difference among paints? I think my husband is worried that all our hard work at prepping the walls/cabinets, etc. will be totally wasted if he puts a “cheap” paint on them. What do you recommend? Help!!!
Hey Jani,
Good question! We usually recommend Glidden because we’ve found success with their colors in our own home, but your husband is right that “cheap” paint can require extra work when it comes to getting good coverage. Benjamin Moore will definitely do a better job than Glidden in that department, so we often recommend finding a color you like (from any paint brand) and taking it to your favorite paint store to have the color matched.
I can’t say we’ve tested enough paints to definitively say which is best (and help you settle your debate once and for all), but there definitely is a difference (see Erin’s comment, for instance). And your husband will surely feel like your time is less wasted if you go with Benjamin Moore.
Hope that helps!
-John
One more question- what finish of paint do I use for the cabinets????
Thanks
Kim
I love your countertops in the kitchen. We are remodeling our white kitchen and would like that look. Could you share the name of the granite?
Thanks,
Heather
Hey Heather,
Good luck with your kitchen! Our counters are Stonemark granite from Home Depot called Pashmina. I’ve heard that they’ve discontinued it but there are other similar versions available through Stonemark and any local stoneyard should be able to match it exactly since they have an extremely wide selection (ask to see anything light with veins and granite colored specs). Hope it helps!
xo,
Sherry
Do you know what color Kim used for her cabinets? The after is beautuful!
Hey Leslie,
Kim painted the base cabinets La Chateau by Glidden and went with Stonington Beige for the upper cabinets (a shade darker than the Sand Beige that we recommended due to the lighting in her kitchen). Doesn’t it look amazing? Hope it helps!
xoxo,
Sherry
Your website is so inspiring! I came upon it when I was trying to get some ideas to paint my very outdated 70′s kitchen cabinets.
I really like the idea of painting the base cabinets darker than the upper cabinets, but I have a tall cabinet that go from floor to ceiling that are attached to both upper and lower cabinets. Do I paint this vertical cabinet the lighter or darker color? Or should I keep the cabinets all one color with this issue? Thanks!
Hey Aileen,
Good question! I would go with the lighter color for the tall cabinets that go floor to ceiling- and we think it should look great because things like dishwashers interrupt the bottom cabinets so it stands to reason that a slightly lighter shade of paint on those will still look fab). Hope it helps! And good luck!
xo,
s
I have the same floors as Kim.. where can I find the ‘after’ picture? I am so excited to see it. Thanks!
Hey Jenny,
Here’s the link to those after pics for ya:
http://www.younghouselove.com/2008/10/kims-color-conundrum-solved/
Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I’ve got a quick question…
You said that the Le Chateau by Glidden is a rich chocolate brown, but it doesn’t look so brown in the pictures. In fact, it looks more green than brown to me! Why might that be? Am I colour blind??
Thanks!
Nope it’s just a lighting situation (sometimes photos aren’t perfectly color accurate) and your computer monitor might also be a bit off (they’re never all the same). Just grab the swatch and see what it looks like in your house in your specific lighting situation. Hope it helps!
xo,
s