Botanical Kitchen Revival: A Rental Kitchen Makeover on a Budget

Transforming any space is fun, but transforming your lifelong BFF’s space is a special kind of fun. When Frogtape reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in being a designer for their annual Paintover Challenge, it came at the perfect time. My friend, Kristina, had been talking about wanting to update her kitchen in the rental home where she lives with her husband and son, and I instantly pitched her the idea of doing the paintover challenge in HER kitchen. We talked to her landlord, who gave us the greenlight for the proposed changes and we got to work!

This makeover was primarily achieved with paint, with some honorable mentions from a few other design elements. I traded out the old overhead track lighting for a pretty new light that not only looked gorgeous, but offered way more illumination (which is a godsend come those dim PNW winter months). In lieu of taking out the meager tile backsplash and doing new tile (which probably would’ve required some drywall repairs, and a significant budget bump) I opted to keep the existing strip of tile, and add beadboard on top to fill the blank space between there and the bottom of the wall cabinets. Then, we painted it the same color as the cabinets and the walls, for a delicious tone-on-tone vibe. This basil color is super pretty, it feels lush and sophisticated.

The big, unexpected showstopper ended up being her basic old fridge, transformed with a bit of removable stick-on wallpaper! Since we kept the existing cabinet hardware and painted it brass to match the light fixture, we did the same with the fridge handle to tie everything together. I used Rustoleum Vintage Gold spraypaint to paint both the cabinet door pulls and the fridge handle.

Another thing we did was add a whole wall of open shelving to give her a ton more storage. We painted those shelves the same green as the rest of the kitchen, but kept that wall white to give some contrast. Now she has a bunch of space to store all her pretty jars of dry goods, cute mugs and, of course, more plants.

And one more fun little detail: we put a chalkboard area in for her toddler to use! That panel is access for the water heater, so it was just an unfinished wood panel before, so we framed it out to match the shaker style of the cabinets and did the center panel in chalkboard paint so he could draw and have fun!

Projects like this have all the elements of what makes me most excited about design and remodels. Making a huge impact for not a huge amount of money, coming up with creative solutions, and doing really fun and out of the box elements (I’ll never get over that fridge).

I’m so thrilled that Frogtape brought me in on their Paintover Challenge this year so I could do this amazing project!

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Paint
Spraypaint
Light fixture
Removable wallpaper
Rug

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New T-Shirts! Rep the DIY life!

In an effort to not turn my entire wardrobe into paint splattered, sawdust encrusted DIYing clothes, I decided to make some cute (and, okay, a little kitschy) DIYing shirts for me and you! If you need a little somethin to throw on for your weekly— or if you’re like me, daily— Home Depot run, this is it right here.

Scroll down to check out all the new designs!

Elevating interiors using the senses

Thank you WoodWick Candles for sponsoring this post.

Finding inspiration for the design of a space is all about creating a mood.

Taking your design to the next level means creating a space that makes you feel a certain way when you enter that space, not just putting together pretty things. It's that design je ne sais quoi, you know?

Including WoodWick Candles in my home has elevated the spaces I've worked hard to build and style, it's like the cherry on top of all the other design elements. I love the scents, but also the soothing crackle of the wooden wick. It's such a lovely added ambiance that helps my house feel like a home.

Something that I like to think about when I'm designing is focusing on the senses. How does the space look, yes, but also: how does is sound? How does it smell? What do the materials feel like when I touch them? What quality of light is there?

When you design from that perspective it informs how you choose your materials, your finishes, your styling. You don't put fluorescent lighting in a cozy bedroom. You don't buy a firm couch for a room where you're going to curl up and read a book for a couple hours.

One of the things that helps me create a solid vision for a space’s design, whether I’m doing a remodel or simply the decor, is creating a mood board. You can do this digitally, or IRL by gathering swatches and elements of your design. This way you can see how all the different elements interact with one another before you commit to them. How does that tile look against the cabinet finish? How do the paint colors compliment the textiles? Does anything clash? Is there too much of one texture that it’s feeling unbalanced? Mood boards are a great way to give you the confidence to fully realize a design.

Great interior design incorporates all the senses, and scent is a particularly strong element for us psychologically so I try to incorporate some element of fragrance into each room I create. These WoodWick Candles not only have amazing scents, but they have a wooden wick, which crackles softly as it burns, creating an added element of ambiance, which I love.

I chose the Seaside Neroli candle for our bathroom, which elevates the space so beautifully and gives it a subtle spa-like vibe which is exactly the feeling a bathroom should have, and the Melon Blossom candle has such a bright, fruity scent that has been perfect for the kitchen in these spring months.

For this WoodWick Shoreline Trilogy Candle, I wanted to create a mood board based on the candle, taking inspiration from each of the three scents. This mood board is definitely very organic and natural, with a bright and fresh feel. It’s got the pink and peachy colors inspired by the Melon Blossom scent. Then, there are some more beachy vibes, like the wood tones, shaker cabinet door, and textiles, inspired by the Coastal Sunset scent. Then I brought in some bohemian elements inspired by the Palo Santo scent, with the rose quartz and macrame elements.

Having a mood board like this lets me have an anchor when I’m choosing things like tile, throw pillows, rugs, linens, etc. It’s kind of like a design litmus test: does this element fit in with my mood board? If yes? Go for it!

DIY Painted Faux Tile Backsplash

My ultimate plan for our kitchen backsplash involves a gorgeous black zellige tile, but I knew that it would be a while until we got that tile project underway. In the meantime, I decided to have fun with a hand-painted backsplash that gave the effect of a faux tile look. I absolutely love how much depth the dark backsplash adds to the space!

Hand painting isn’t for everyone and there are other affordable but less tedious and time-consuming ways to upgrade your backsplash, like stick-on tiles, removable wallpaper, and paint stencils. You can even get a stencil that mimics this hexagon design!

For my process, I used chalk to trace the hexagon shape onto the wall, then used a straightedge to draw the lines inside the hexagons with chalk. Once that template was on the wall, I used a small craft paintbrush to paint interior latex paint along those lines. Definitely tedious! But I did this in the midst of the post-election madness and a tedious project that needed a lot of focus what a pleasant distraction, haha.

How to make edible paint with Everclear

Let’s be honest, parties are all about being a little EXTRA.
There are tons of occasions for making pretty desserts so I wanted to figure out a way to make something super fun that would stand out from the crowd when it’s sitting on the table, so I decided to make a brushstroke cake! Did you know you can make edible PAINT with Everclear and food coloring? Amazing right?

To make edible paint that you can brush on with a regular paintbrush, all you need to do is put a few drops of food coloring into a small bowl, and then pour in a bit of Everclear (use more for a more “watercolor-y” look, then dip your brush into your mixture and paint directly onto your frosting (in my case I used fondant icing).

The Everclear evaporates, leaving the food coloring behind! Since Everclear doesn’t leave behind any odor, color, or flavor, it’s the perfect medium to make your edible paint. It was a perfect technique for my brushstroke painted cake.

I love how many different ways you could utilize this technique: making a watercolor cake, an ombre cake, painting iced sugar cookies, or even painting a scene! Please enjoy responsibly.