Oh my goodness, how time flies. When did it turn October?! (yes, I know it was eight days ago) Needless to say, I am way overdue to share more info about Eugenia’s renovation.

When we first started talking about her style and possible approaches to the space, Eugenia and I kept talking about keeping things light and bright. The more I thought about what to propose, I just kept feeling like it would be so fun to do the base cabinets a darker color and have the counter and top cabinets white. I don’t know why I kept thinking that, but you know I’m all about not asking questions and just trusting my intuition and wouldn’t you know it… some of Eugenia’s favorite ideas were just that – yay!

Here are some of our favorite inspiration photos.

We looked at several different counter finishes and – so. many. paint. colors.

This isn’t even all of them. Not joking. But you have to have just the right color, and I’m sure everyone who’s painted any room – ever – knows exactly what I’m talking about.

We were literally taping up paint samples and painting other ones on the walls (and cabinets) to figure out just the right colors for her, which honestly I think is the best way to make sure you get the right color for your space. The worst thing ever would be to get a whole room painted and then realize you don’t like it – which has happened to me in my own house (suck!), but thankfully it was my own work (and re-work, blech) and I hadn’t just written a check to someone only to have to ask them to start over – which would have been so much worse. Lesson learned on that one – for sure.

Here’s the palette we ended up with for the kitchen – the overall living room paint color, the kitchen cabinet colors, countertops, hardware and backsplash tile. There were a lot of moving parts and a short timeline to finish the project so that we could get the work done before Eugenia and her family moved in. But even if it means you have to work fast, it’s easier to do a renovation project – and is in a lot of ways less stressful – if you don’t have to live in the middle of the construction.

Paint colors: Living Room Walls: Sherwin Williams Stonington Grey; Kitchen base cabinets: Sherwin Williams Slate Tile; Upper cabinets: Ben Moore Chantilly Lace (their brightest cleanest white); Countertops: Zodiaq Quartz in Snow White; Hardware: a steal from Home Depot! Backsplash: White subway tile, Century Tile, Dorian Grey TEC grout.

Next up – the transformation in progress!