Writing on the Wall -- Katherine's Kitchen

Here is more on Katherine's Kitchen, a DIY project.

Wallwords -- also called wallstickers, vinyl stickers -- are becoming popular and I used a version of the art form in Katherine's kitchen on her soffit.

I cut letters from paper, positioned and adhered to the soffit using a forgiving re-positioning glue found at most stores selling scrapbook supplies. The glue makes the paper act like a "post-it-note" to allow you to reposition the paper. Left in place it adheres permanantly. The cost for the wallwords was under $3, that included paper and glue.

Wow, that is a lot of bang for the buck.

To create the letters I choose a font on my computer and printed each letter to be 4 inches tall. Next I placed a blank paper on the bottom and cut around the printed letter using it as a template. You could use any color paper. We choose white to complement the white cabinets.

This project takes a steady hand and some time. If you don't want to attempt this yourself, there are plenty of online sources for wallwords. Check out Uppercase Living or do a search on Etsy for wallstickers.

Send me a photo of your "writing on the wall".

Makeover - in St. Louis Magazine AT HOME

Katherine's Kitchen Before

Katherine's Kitchen After Makeover

My project to remake Katherine's Kitchen is featured this month in St. Louis Magazine AT HOME. Ten designers' projects were highlighted. You can read the stories online, or if you live in St. Louis, pick up a copy of the special "design issue" at your local grocery store or Walgreens.

I have copied the article about my project for your convenience:

Picture This: The Kitchen
Designer: Dana King, Dana’s Design Studio

It began with unpalatable pink ceramic tile and a problem picking out just the right color paint.

Now, Katherine Bish’s rejuvenated kitchen is like an alarm clock on the first day of school, ringing out reasons for her sleepy South County home to wake up from its 30-year nap.

Ms. Bish, a photographer whose work appears in several magazines including St. Louis Magazine and AT HOME, bought her home about a year ago. The kitchen was the first to be tackled.

On a limited budget, a wish and an unusual request for the designer, the project moved forward—ready or not.

“Katherine called me and said the painters were ready to go, but she had been called to Chicago on a shoot. She wanted me to pick out the paint colors for her kitchen,” says Dana King of Dana’s Design. “I had never picked colors when a homeowner wasn’t there, but Katherine said, ‘I trust you, I trust you,’ and I knew paint is always easy to fix.”

What inspired Ms. King was the very feature that troubled Ms. Bish. Decorative tile with a pink floral center covered the countertops and backsplash, and that pink definitely needed toning down.

“There was terra cotta and green in the tile, so I chose a khaki green color for the walls,” Ms. King says. “It almost made that pink in the tile read the same color as the terra cotta.”

Ms. King then brightened the dark wood cabinets and the wainscoting with a fresh coat of white paint—a project that demanded only a good primer and a steady hand. No sanding required.

A coat of leftover khaki paint and a bit of roughing on the edges gave an old dark wooden table a perfectly distressed look. Black chairs given to Ms. Bish were the final touch.

Ms. King framed a montage of Ms. Bish’s photos in $6 white frames and then hung them, as well as adding a funky red lamp that Ms. Bish discovered in an antique store some time ago.

An iridescent copper bowl was placed on the island, and a few more accents were added, bringing the entire project cost to $900.

I will blog more about Katherine's Kitchen. You can also learn more about the makeover in my previous post, click here.

Katherine's Kitchen - a study in color and design

How do you bring a kitchen forward in time on a tight budget?

Paint it!

We did several things to bring Katherine's kitchen into the new century; paint was key to making the project affordable!

Before, Katherine's kitchen had dated wallpaper and dark cabinets that seemed to close in the room. Her breakfast nook (pictured below) had a dark wooden shelf that ran around the top of the room, making the ceiling feel as if it was coming down on you.

Photo courtesy of Katherine Bish Photography

Look at the difference now (pictured below) with the shelf removed and the ceiling and woodwork painted a crisp white and the walls painted a rich terracotta.

Photo courtesy of Katherine Bish photography

Stay tuned to watch the transformation of Katherine's kitchen.