I told you about my customer/friend, Nancy, in an earlier blog post. Early in 2020, she discovered she had bone cancer and was unable to walk for a while. Stuck at home, she had plenty of time to mull over her current kitchen design and plan a new one. Coffee-colored tile, overly busy granite, dull cabinets, and black appliances brought her no joy. It felt heavy compared to the rest of her home. The kitchen functioned; nothing was old or worn out, and I didn't see the need to spend money on something that didn't need fixing. Boy, was I wrong!
Nancy’s kitchen with black appliances, beige tile, and popular but busy granite.
Being young at heart, Nancy dresses in bright, clean colors like aqua, hot pink, and red (aqua being her favorite). It was no surprise when she said she wanted to paint her cabinets and walls pale blue. Because ceramic glazes are one color when you apply it and another color fired, I'm pretty good at imagining things finished, but all I saw was blue. She was confident, and the rest of her place is beautiful. I chose to trust her process watch her happily plan her new kitchen.
Nancy chose quartzite over granite. You can get it in any color and it is non-porous, making it almost impossible to stain and it’s impermeable to germs and bacteria.
Nancy started by purchasing the countertops. With a sample in hand, she picked the colors for the walls and cabinets. For the backsplash, she chose white tile. Then onto my studio to pick the colors for the mural over the sink. I've never seen a customer choose colors with such confidence. In three minutes, she had about thirty colors on the table. Then she was gone.
Off in my world reimagining the studio for teaching, I'd lost touch with Nancy's progress – when she texted me this image of the painted cabinets.
Here the cabinets have been painted and the appliances replaced. Nancy is big on not wasting things so all the appliances were donated to Habitat for Humanity. The cabinets were repainted with petroleum-based paint using a foam roller for a very smooth and easy-to-clean finish.
Her picture painted a thousand words for me, uplifting words like cheerful, open, and joyful. Now the room looks big. There's a lightness about it like you're in the clouds. She changed one color, brown to aqua, and the whole mood shifted.
Nancy created small stations in the corners of the kitchen. One for coffee, cooking utensils, and a place for the fruit bowl.
Over the sink kitchen backsplash, with a garden, wrought iron fence, and garden shed, 20” x 24” .
We used a series of 2” x 2” decos to line the wall behind the stove to add color and cheer. Using elements from the murals no two are alike.
The current trend is white and gray kitchens. I have a hard time imagining people laughing in them. Food is so colorful it almost looks out of place on white. Even the contractor mentioned that it was nice to be using color; he'd done so much white and gray of late. It's delightful to see Nancy in her new kitchen; she followed her style and created a colorful kitchen where she can enjoy her bold and precious life.
Big on chandeliers, Nancy found this old French candle chandelier, had it repainted to fit her decor and wired to use electricity.