surprise room

[chyna]

Have any of you done a room that started out that it was the worst in the house and now you just really like? This would be my kitchen at my house. I've hated that room since the day we looked at the house, the cupboards were ugly and peeling (birch from ??? with the copper hinges and handles), the floor is this faux pine vinyl that is lumpy and stains, the ceiling is this dark green that I refer to as the green black hole of the universe, the overhead light was a shop light (one of those long ones with the flourescent bulbs), counter from ????, awkward set up. You name it and I had it in there on top of more of that ugly fake wood paneling. We've tried to do things over the last 5yrs or so to make it more presentable. Moved the stove back to the original location, pulled some of the cupboards down, pulled down the paneling, painted it twice (!!!!!!), replaced the light and painted the cupboards and it still was just a room to hurry thru.

Well with pink paint the whole thing has flowered! Things now make sense and look charming and once the ceiling is finished it may just be one of the cutest rooms in the whole house. And we can thank a couple quart cans of rose blush paint. Amazing!:eek::p

[annielinz]

Chyna, my family room was also the black hole.
It had one wall of the ugly dark paneling that just sucked the light from the room. It was my very first foray into painting and transforming. I think I had watched an episode of Lynette Jennings and I was so eager to try it out. My DH was mortified I was painting this wood (albeit it was faux wood). Trying to convince him was my biggest undertaking. This was my first foray into painting and transforming and I've never looked back. No wood has been safe from me and my paint brush since :D

[One Woman]

Chyna, it sounds so charming! I hope you can share some photos soon!

[Danske]

Would love to see pics of your kitchen - sounds like quite a transformation!

[chyna]

Adding to the pleasant surprise, my parents bought me a hope chest when I was in high/middle school. Sort of an ugly thing if you ask me but guess I've never been into stained pine. Anyhow I've done everything I could to keep it looking nice, waxing, oiling, etc but it just kept getting more and more scratched up and I've liked it less and less. Came to me the other day, paint it!!!! So I sanded it down, added a wood carving, primed it and painted it a creamy white then last night Lizzie and I put on some rose wallpapers cutouts. It is so cute now! I'm just hoping that my mom doesn't get upset that I did this or hurt because I didn't leave it the stained wood. It isn't an heirloom but one of those put together kind (they left the labels on it when they constructed it:rolleyes:) otherwise I would have just kept on doing what I had been doing and maybe just put some shellac on it to repair the scratches.

What really brought on the paint thing was that I had one of those paint sample jars of a soft green color and I was scoping out the house on what to paint with it.:o I chickened on painting the hope chest but the new color is going to be awesome in my bedroom now. I just used the sample on a music jewelry box dh got me years ago that the pickling was peeling off of. I didn't like the color of it either. This was a good excuse. :D

[annielinz]

Whoa Chyna, you don't tease us with the kitchen AND hope chest with no pictures. Come on girl get us some pics pronto :D.

I bet the hope chest looks so refreshed...tapping fingers and waiting.

I have my MIL's in the garage that she had painted blue. One of my projects is to tackle that for my DD.

[Gigi]

I second- Chyna pictures!!!! I bet it looks so charming!

[CohenCottage]

I demand pictures too!! We also HATE our kitchen...painting the cabinets helped, but it still doesn't have enough storage. The baskets are up but are still empty. Will let y'all know how that works out. It should free up all of the cabinets under our island (where the china currently lives). Any ideas on what to do with our now displaced pottery collection? It used to live on top of the cabinets...

[Gigi]

Displayed pottery collection? Enough room for a glass cabinet to hold your pottery-or replace one kitchen cabinet with glass for display?

[Zuzu's Garden]

I think I may have hurt my little brain cell trying to remember when Chyna last posted a pic. :confused:
Zu

[Breezy]

I think I may have hurt my little brain cell trying to remember when Chyna last posted a pic. :confused:
Zu

Ha ha ya had me laughing there Zu ~ I don't think I EVER saw a pic posted by Chyna/Tanya over at CL ~ Chyna we need pics of that pink kitchen quick!:D

[One Woman]

Chyna, good for you for painting that hope chest! I think that as long as you have it and it's yours, you might as well enjoy looking at it!

I have a piece, too, that my grandmother gave me when a couple of years after I got married. It was an old serving table and made of solid as a rock cherry. It's stained but was in storage when she gave it to me and the finish was a problem. The heat from the attic had caused some of the old finish to become tacky and besides that, there were several scratches and dings, etc. I knew it needed to be stripped and restained and I started on it when my oldest was a baby - over 14 years ago! I never got to finish stripping it and everywhere we lived, we lugged that serving table with us and stored it somewhere, in a closet or garage, wherever we could hide it away. I'm not big on stained furniture anyway so I think I lost motivation to work on it in all these years. And my mother told me not to paint it.

But you know what? I decided earlier this year that I *am* going to paint it. My grandmother (who died a few years ago) gave it to *me* and I would love to bring it out of hiding and use it in my home finally. I want it to work for me and my home and love it just as much as my grandmother loved it when it was hers (my mother used it, too, when she was a young mother). I know it may be like a sin to some, but it really is beautiful in form and I think it would be very pretty painted. So I'm gonna do it!

Good for you for taking the plunge and making it *you*!

[cheapdiva]

Our kitchen was very dark when we moved in - cheap, dark cupboards, a solid wood door going out to the porch, ugly paint color and crappy border. The following summer we painted the cupboards white, painted the kitchen 3 shades of pumpkin/spice (walls one color, beadboard another and ceiling the lightest), installed new countertops and sink & faucet and dishwasher, replace the solid door with a french door and full hide-a-way screen door.

We did all this for under $2,000 and have been very pleased with the results. We are about to re-do the kitchen because of another project we have going on in the laundry/bath that backs up to the kitchen. We'll be able to open a window that was plastered over and is behind our fridge right now. Get more counter and cupboard space with the re-do. People tell us frequently how much they love our kitchen. And it is a pretty space - completely different than how it looked when we moved in.

I love the colors in there now but may change them with the remodel.

[Gigi]

Cheapdiva~ I adore pumpkin color! I haven't used in our home-but my oldest son has- it is so warm and welcoming. Love to see pics of your kitchen!