The Chalkboard Pantry Doors

Last summer (2009) I found this picture

at Better Homes and Gardens, while searching for kitchen inspiration pictures. Of course, I must admit to wishing my pantry was as big as this, but it is what it is! It doesn't mean, however, that it has to be either ugly or boring! ;)

(Which it was.)

Here is a "before" picture of our pantry doors. I actually finished the doors last February, and posted on them at my other blog, Nest to Keep. BUT, I learned something important:

If you use green chalk, and then, while trying to clean it off, smear it on the white trim, it makes the trim green. Permanently.

So being the perfectionist I am, I repainted them. So here they are, "take two"!

There is a "grooved" design around the edges of the cabinet, which separated the chalkboard from the "trim" around the outer part, which I painted white. It is really difficult to make a clean, crisp edge between the two colors.

But that's where this came in:

Have you seen these paint pens you can buy?
They saved my life. Practically.

I used the black, medium tipped ones and they were able to make a clean line dividing the chalkboard paint from the white part. (It was a lot harder to do with the doors already hung up. It was a cleaner and crisper line the first time around when I painted them while they were laid flat on a table, but I eventually just had to call it "good enough".)

And then I hid all the green chalk.

Here below is a better picture of the doors, although I don't think it's the best picture of the kitchen itself! You can see all I am still working on, including the crown molding! And our very ugly stove to the left of the pantry...but the good news is my husband is just about to start rewiring our "new" vintage stove we will be installing! (Hopefully this fall, if everything goes well!)

Oh, and yes, I changed my mind about the bead board on the back of the upper cabinets...

(Again.)

I am repainting them white, and I love it so far! It feels so much cleaner and open!

I am linking this to:

Under the Table and Dreaming

Between Naps on the Porch

Domestically Speaking

The Shabby Nest

Tatertots and Jello

Well, that is all for me for now! I sure do hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Thank you for taking the time to stop by!

Blessings,

Sparrow