Kitchen update!

We have an Ikea kitchen, which I very much like. The white laminate doors are getting kinda weary, though, ten years on. It's impossible to get the lower cabinets clean, particularly. 

I surfed Pinterest for ideas... Sanding them all wasn't really high on my list of things to do ... Laminate paint is expensive ... But chalk paint! You can make it from plaster of Paris plus water and some regular latex paint, and all those ingredients were in the basement. 

So, I mixed up some plaster, added blue paint from the leftovers from one bedroom and some green paint from another bedroom and stirred until I liked what I saw. 

I tested it on a piece from under the sink... First coat is all smeary and it seems like it won't stick but after it dries you add the next coat and just keep going until it's solid. 

It took a lot of layers, probably six or seven ... But I love the finished look. 

The upper cabinets will stay white... The darker lower cabinets seem to make the room feel more grounded, somehow, less industrial and more calming. 

It's all curing now, in a day or two I'll add a top coat of wax polish to protect it and help it last longer. 

Yay for Pinterest!