Time to Lighten & Brighten
Molly
4 years ago
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Molly
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Attn: all smarty pants! lightening a video?
Comments (2)You can do it to a certain extent with a video editing program. You would have to buy one or download a free one. They usually have a brightness and contrast feature....See MorePainting cherry cabinets to lighten up kitchen -- long post, sorr
Comments (27)As a few people have mentioned before, posting a picture of your current space would really help! Painting your cabinets is, of course, an option (milk paint and chalk paint are two durable low-VOC options). However, I'd try a few simpler strategies first. 1. Backsplash. Try cutting sheets of beadboard to fit in that space. If your current backsplash is anything other than white, white beadboard will brighten it up quite a bit. 2. Mirrors. Do you have an area of wall where you can hang a mirror? To outsiders it may seem vain to hang a mirror in your kitchen, but reflecting what little light there is can really make a difference! 3. Appliances. Someone mentioned it before - black appliances will make the space seem darker. 4. Window. If you have any valances or window hangings, take 'em off! And check outside, too, for anything that's blocking light. 5. Upper cabinets. If you have ample storage space, consider removing a section of your upper cabinets. This is especially true if they're hanging over a peninsula or island. Other options in this vein include removing the doors on a couple sections, using glass inserts (frosted if you're worried about keeping things tidy), or replacing a run of uppers with open shelving. Or you could paint them. 6. Lowers. Cherry darkens over time/exposure to light, so it might be possible to lighten the tone by refinishing them and then sealing without a stain. 7. Counters. Replacing perfectly-good granite would likely be as expensive or more so than for professionally painted cabinets, but I think it would yield better results. Not an ideal solution, but still keep it in mind. 8. Flooring. Short of replacing your floor (what is your flooring, by the way?), try a couple of light-colored throw rugs. 9. Connections. How does your kitchen connect to the other rooms in the house? You mentioned you are in an historic district, so chances are you don't have an open floor plan. Do any of the adjacent rooms have natural light to spare? "Borrow" light with French doors or transoms above. Or remove a door completely (where it makes sense, of course), leaving a cased opening. 10. Declutter. A lot of extra stuff can make even a well-lit space seem claustrophobic. However, a few well-placed objects (especially reflective surfaces like a silver platter, or a small lamp for a dark corner) can brighten the room without having the overhead lights blazing. Let us know what you decide to do!...See MoreBrightening up our house and giving it curb appeal
Comments (6)Removing those two trees closest to the house (the ones that appear to lean toward it) might be helpful in opening things up and making the front brighter. The board and batten style siding and the "X" trim on the porch give a very rustic cabin-like feeling. If you'd prefer white, you'll get more of a farmhouse look. It may work fine with the natural brick. Much depends on roof color. Very popular look now is all white with black windows. I would probably ditch the shutters if going for a more contemporary farmhouse. If you like rustic, you might keep them....See MoreNew home, want to lighten up kitchen on a budget
Comments (21)I'd leave the cabinets alone right now not because they're OK but because you want to eventually remodel and painting is NOT an easy quick fix. It's a ton of tedious work for the homeowner with probably poor results and/or $$$ to have it done professionally. A DIY paint job can result in textural probs, paint wearing off, cracking within a year or so depending upon the finish, the prep, the products used and the technique/exp employed. I've done my share of painting cabs including our current one and I'm OK with it but it's not a pro finish so I try hard not to stare too hard! I will say I've never painted NICE cabs such as yours and I probably wouldn't. We wanted to gut our current kitchen but a new heating system and several other more critcal redos bounced it out of our top 5 projects so we settled for DIY new cabinet doors/drawers and paint. My second comment is based on the fact you just moved in. You're going through the normal "I want to" thing we all go through initially after moving in. Your wife is in the dream stage because she's already thinking of gold rose hardware...lol. But, please take it from someone who's lived in and remodeled/gutted 6 homes. If possible I have never redone a kitchen or made major paint decisions in the first year of living anywhere and it's always, ALWAYS been the right decision (unless I throw some white paint on a crazy color wall) What I think intially is much different one year later and a lot of that has to do with exposure. Do you realize right now, that June is the darkest this kitchen will appear? It's the summer solstice and that means the sun is high...therefore not coming in the windows as much as when it's lower. Decidious trees will also shade the house. Concentrate on the cosmetic and take some of the advice already given re: lighting, the backsplash perhaps (I wouldn't bother to replace with tile though...go cheaper) We supplemented our undercab lighting with IKEA inexpensive LED tape lights that plug in so you might try that first if there's none currently. And congrats!...See MoreParker Murphy
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