This is the very unlikely, albeit true, story of how we saw our house the very first day we went out looking for houses with our realtor, put an offer on it a few hours later, won the bidding war and moved in three months later. Pretty undramatic for house hunting in LA. However, the day we saw it, we were so excited and caught up in the moment that we forgot to take any photos and so were left to look at the listing photos over and over and over again for the next three months. However, there was no photo of the kitchen and my memory was failing me. I remembered the black and white tile but not a single other detail. We decided that it must be awful for them to opt out of putting a photo in the listing, but were pleasantly surprised when we finally saw the house again three months later. It was new enough, simple and didn't need any immediate updates. Over the last three years, though, all of the white began to get monotonous and I've been dying to make it my own and spice it up with color! In lieu of totally gutting it and entering into a renovation that would have cost tens of thousands of dollars, we did three small projects that made a big impact!
First, it was time to add some color. I have been dreaming of adding a backsplash to the kitchen for some time, but could never quite find what I was looking for. The choices at the big box stores can often times be a little lackluster and my trips to the big tile and stone wholesalers were overwhelming. One serendipitous night I was googling kitchen tile and found Modwalls. You guys. This online tile boutique is a total game changer. It's a precisely curated selection of modern tiles, so there's no digging through the riff raff and each tile has so much personality! I chose this 3x6 glass tile in Surf and am obsessed with the color! It instantly brought so much life and energy into our kitchen! See for yourself:
Project number 2: As soon as the backsplash was complete, suddenly the shiny chrome hardware on our cabinets was giving me a retro diner vibe that I couldn't handle. I knew they had to go, but didn't want to invest in thirty new knobs, so I invested in a can of copper spray paint instead and got to work. Five dollars and one hours later, I was pretty thrilled with the result!
Lastly, the kitchen needed some accessory updates to bring the whole thing together. I repurposed a lot of things I already had that were hiding in cabinets like the cookbooks, the blue colander, cutting boards and ceramic vases and then picked up a few new things from West Elm like the copper bowls, wooden scrub brushes, and new white silicone utensils. Oh and I swapped out our neutral dish towels that we've had since our wedding with these brighter ones.
Here's the pre-accessorized kitchen and some of the items I used:
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Photography by Melissa Valladares
Tile for the backsplash by Modwalls-- the absolute best source for tile!
Melva says
Lv it, I'm using those colors in my guess bathroom ,the green is a overfol from the bedroom/office.great
Annette Wyper says
Looks fabulous
Ashley says
What type of spray paint did you use? Just wondering how quickly it fade or chip off. Thanks!
Lymari Navarro says
I love this kitchen. Those knobs!!!!!
Tanya from Dans le Lakehouse says
Your kitchen is gorgeous! I absolutely love the aqua tile!!! I long for an aqua backsplash but I painted my kitchen cabinets aqua so it might be a bit much, haha, but one day I'd love a sunny white kitchen with this backsplash. Pinned to Pinterest!
NDuke says
More important than the changes is the simple act of turning on a light. Tbe changes are nice but the light gives the greatest impact. Design pics do this. Lighting low in "before"...high "after". This one if way too obvious and gives the reader pause.
Jen Pinkston says
It's true the lighting is different, albeit unintentionally. I just don't pay a professional photographer for the before photos, I typically take them myself. The pros are much better with light!
Glorianna says
Love this! We JUST bought hardware for our kitchen cabinets, there weren't any before, and it was about $130 on the cheap! This is a lovely idea for when we want to refresh or change it up!
Jamie says
So, you have the best kitchen, and my dream floor! One day I will have a checkerboard floor in my kitchen, and there will be lots of dancing on it.
Linda says
Simply Beautiful
Chel says
Love it Jen!!!!
Rebecca Lonergan says
Love what you've done with our tile! You kitchen redo is perfection!
Anna @Annabode says
It looks great! Your 'before' kitchen definitely needed some color to break up all the white--love the backsplash you've chosen. And I'd never know your hardware was spray painted! Beautiful job.
Marla says
I like it!! I'm wanting to redo my floor, do you like your black and white tiles on the floor?