The PAINT color WHITE .

It always makes a showing and my guess is that choosing the “RIGHT WHITE” is what drives the

most

people crazy. Am I white? I mean right?

A FEW YEARS AGO – We wanted to update our kitchen but were not in the place to do a “GUT

REVOVATION” .

AH yes, that would have been nice, but like I always say – my greatest moments of creativity and

ingenuity has been born of a BUDGET!!!

HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS OF OUR KITCHEN WHEN WE MOVED IN

The first step in our KITCHEN RENOVATION was to replace the cabinet doors...( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

….somehow I knew that if the Doors and Drawer fronts were updated….the lines cleaner…more contemporary – I knew that YEARS could be taken off our 50-year-old kitchen…

And so we began. 

Stage one of the facelift involved installing new cabinet doors and drawer fronts. The old cabinets were installed in 1967, but the ORIGINAL FOOTPRINT  WORKED and to tear them all out, only to replace in the SAME PLACE – would not be a wise use of our dollars. WE decided to replace the doors and drawers with a 1″ overlay, almost covering entirely the boxes and making them look like almost new. I researched doors and carpenters online and settled on a great guy in Kentucky. Hunter’s woodworking. Ask for Charlie. He has the patience of a saint!
Measuring out the doors and drawers was huge undertaking, especially for me, but after much obsessive measuring and check-double checking, I got it done, the numbers sent off and the doors were made.

While measuring each door and drawer was tedious work – it paled in comparison to

…choosing the RIGHT WHITE color for the cabinets!!!!!

ONE MORE – MOONLIGHT WHITE was a close runner up had a grayer undertone.

THE other Colors I tried were: “GLACIER WHITE”, (too grayish (FOR ME),  “CHANTILLY LACE” ( a GREAT “PERFECT WHITE” but I wanted a bit more depth in the kitchen) but it is gorgeous and I ended up using it on ALL my interior trim,  “ SIMPLY WHITE” ( I LOVE but has a gold/yellow undertone – making it perfect for our HOUSE exterior which is where we used it), “MARSCAPONE” was ALMOST perfect but still a tad too yellowish – white, “DEEP IN THOUGHT” almost, but too dark. “WHITE DOVE”, “CLOUD WHITE” AND CLOUD NINE” were all very very CLOSE to perfect  ,  but in the end their undertones did not work.

What I came to realize is that in my 130 year old house, a too white white looked incredibly out-of-place, like it landed there from outer space. But too “yellowed” look contrived and old….I needed an in-between clean white – with a very neutral undertone.

SAMPLES! ALWAYS TRY YOUR SAMPLES OUT IN THE ROOM!!

CARE TO Guess which one I chose?

THE TIPPING POINT WAS A SUGGESTION  BY “TRUE COLOUR EXPERT”  MARIA KILLAM WHO RECOMMENDED “MOUNTAIN PEAK WHITE”   AS THE PERFECT WHITE  WHEN PLACED NEXT TO  WHITE SUBWAY TILE WHICH I KNEW I WANTED TO EVENTUALLY USE FOR THE BACK SPLASH.

CHOOSING COLOR CAN BE A DAUNTING EXPERIENCE AND CHOOSING A WHITE COLOR CAN TAKE DAUNTING TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL…AND YOU WANT ALL OF THE COLORS TO PLAY NICE WITH EACH OTHER!!!!

TAKE THE TIME YOU NEED AND SPEND THE LITTLE BIT EXTRA $$$ TO TRY SAMPLES…TAKING GREAT CARE TO PAY ATTENTION TO GRAY, BLUE AND YELLOW UNDERTONES. THE UNDERTONES ARE WHERE IT IS AT…AND WHILE THEY MAY BE SUBTLE IN A SAMPLE…BUT WHEN YOU MULTIPLY IT BY A WHOLE ROOM THEY CAN DOMINATE THE SPACE….

GOOD LUCK!!!

FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME lsdevito@gmail.com with any color questions – I will do my best to help!!!