Kitchen Island Goes Grey

Love the finished piece!

In case you haven't noticed, grey is the new beige and its everywhere. I have a wonderful young client with 3 young kids, and a newly purchased home. We started off in her home a year ago and did bold pink and white stripes in her girls bedroom above the chair rail and a metallic grey brushed plaster below. The master bedroom has a focal wall of horizontal grey and silver combed strie. And this spring we were called back to check out her kitchen island. The island is about 5 years old, perfect condition, and stained cherry. It just wasn't what she wanted, and once she got her GORGEOUS table from Restoration Hardware, she knew it had to change.

The before shot. Of course I didn't save my original shot!

Originally my client was thinking to paint it like the rest of kitchen, cream with a brown glaze. I decided I had to show her some more options. I always feel like, if you are going to change it, then make a big change! I gave her a few samples to look at, a black base with layered greys and distressed edges, a simple grey glaze over charcoal base, and a very cool grey driftwood type of faux wood grain. And guess what she chose?? The very cool grey wood grain!!! I was ecstatic, something fun, different, and beautiful.

Becuase of our hectic schedule we finally got in to do the work two weeks ago. She was so patient in waiting for us to get there. For this project, we began by degreasing the cabinet with TSP, and used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint as our base. It's a great product and I knew it would bond well with the cabinetry. After two coats, we were ready to start. We began by taping off corners on a mitered angle, just like you would see in real wood finishes. I made a custom glaze of black and white tint, and brushed it on. I used a regular chip brush to pull through the glaze to create the graining. By holding the brush and pressing down on its bristles in uneven pressure, you are able to get a variety of different types of effects.

First coat of ASCP

Mitered edges, and the grey brushed grain.

See the board leaning on wall, that is my sample door.

Once a section is dried overnight, we tape off the opposite angles and glaze the same way. After this is all dry, we adding a toning layer of dark brown glaze, this warmed up the grey, and added more depth.

On the right side, how the brown over glaze warms up the color.

Two coats of poly were brushed on, and hardware reassembled. We happened to do this right before Columbus Day, so we were able to let it dry and cure a few days before putting the cabinet back.