Canterbury Cottage Kitchen Redo Part 1

I posted a little on my other blog about my redo in my kitchen and doing it on the cheap. I thought I would post the entire process here as inspiration and info for other DIY-ers. I get a lot of my inspiration from photos in magazines or on the web and from several blogs I read including http://theletteredcottage.blogspot.com and http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com

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Let me explain first that I live in a single wide mobile home which is 15 years old and that my chosen decorating style/theme is medieval/renaissance/pre-raphaelite. If you can't envision that then think vintage country meets ren fair. When I first acquired the Canterbury Cottage 9 years ago this month it had received new dark green carpeting and a lovely fresh coat of flat white paint. Every room except the kitchen and laundry room that is. Those 2 rooms had a (choke, gag) H.I.D.E.O.U.S. wall paper in a dark green and dark red stripe. I'm not a fan of stripes on my wall anyway, but check out the first picture here and you decide, is it hideous or not?

Yes, folks, that was my kitchen. This is the last almost hidden bit that will soon go away forever. I took care of the main kitchen walls within the first year and have been pleased with them, but I am moving toward the more warm neutrals rather than trying to match the faux wood cabinets you see below. The walls have a peach/fleshtone shade. I also textured the walls after I removed the strips (mobile homes are paneled with wallboard sheets and where they are joined there is a 1 inch wide strip tacked on top. It would leave a crack when you moved the house if they didn't do this, but I hate them and would rather patch the crack if I move it one day.)
The window is over the sink.

This is the other half of my cabinets, please excuse the pressure canner and food processor, I snapped the picture before I put them away that day. One thing you will notice in this picture is that I have a huge collection of red handled utensils. Funny it started with only 1 potato masher...... Anyway, it has been feeling way too claustrophobic and I wanted to change colors anyway. 8 years of one color is enough.

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I've been emailing with a friend who went to design school and told her of my thoughts on color changes and that I wanted to do something different with the utensil collection and she agreed with me and said why not stick them in glass crocks? Well, I didn't have any but I did have a gallon jar from my grandmother.
But that only holds the small items - there's about 20 in there. I had thought wire baskets would look period enough and still show the red handles. I looked at every thrift shop - all 6 in my area and no one had any that would work. I went to Hobby Lobby just to look and they had their garden stuff marked way down, 80% off of 1/2 price. I got the baskets in the next 3 pictures for about $7 total!

This one was actually a votive holder.

I've added the wooden butter paddle and little wooden spoon to this group.

Ok, one hurdle down there, 3 baskets and a jar and they hold all the utensils.

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Next I played with some color. The color on the cabinet is a test to see if I like it so it's pretty slap dash. You can see in the picture below where I dry brushed the warmer golden tones right on top of the previous wall color so I don't have to totally repaint and glaze.

The block pattern is part of the texturing I originally did. Here's how. Using a broad knife (a wide putty knife essentially) I slathered sheetrock mud on the wall. Do not be perfect, you want highs and lows but not really marks from the knife. Kind of like frosting a very large cake. I worked in small sections and using various sized plastic containers I had and some I bought at the dollar store, I pushed them rim side down into the mud while it was still wet to get a grout line effect. It does not have to be perfect, it looks better if it is not. After it dried I painted and then glazed or antiqued with a thinned down darker color. You can use glaze if you want but I used the cheap route and just thinned it with water. Paint it on with a brush haphazardly and then use a rag to wipe off. The darker color stays in the grooves and cracks. If you use water be aware that it is runny and will drip on everything, but it washes off quite nicely if you clean up the same day.

Here's the wall completed with new/old decor on top. I'm thinking now that I need to go darker on the cabinets. My plan was to use a black undercoat, the golden brown on top and then sand and distress in what should be wear areas. I don't want chocolate brown cabinets but I think a shade darker will pop more. So far I have spent about $12. The sample of the golden brown was $3.98 and the $7 baskets. I also used some of the free quart of paint I got from Glidden's giveaway last month.
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I have plans to do away with the mint green countertop as well, it never even went with the hideous walls! I have several options and we'll get to those later. I was planning to get this all done while I was laid off but it looks like I may have a job so progress may not be as fast as I had hoped but it will progress.

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And here's my ginger beer bottled up and delicious! I made the labels using vintage graphics I found online and utilized paint and irfanview on my pc to customize them. After I printed them out and cut to size I had Office Depot laminate them so the labels will last indefinitely. I just used packing tape to attach to the bottles.