Inspired Kitchen Palettes

Painting your kitchen is a wonderful opportunity for flexing your design muscles: a place where you can create a unique color scheme to mirror your personality. If you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, you'll be glad you lavished time and attention on getting the colors just right. If you want to update a drab kitchen, paint is the fastest and most economical way to breathe new life into your cooking space. Check out the following kitchen decoration ideas.

Grease Resistant

Start by choosing paint formulated for kitchens. The paint should resist grease and stains and wash well, too. Look for paints with at least a bit of gloss to them, for instance low sheen, semi-gloss or glossy finishes.

Consider whether you'd like to use a combination of paint plus a wallpaper border. Make sure you have samples to work with when choosing compatible colors and patterns. If time is a consideration, you may prefer adding faux touches to mimic a wallpaper border on a solid-colored wall.

You may want to just paint the kitchen walls and ceiling or perhaps just the kitchen cabinets. Then again, you may decide to do both, by painting walls and cabinets using complementary paint colors.

Soften The Look

Consider how the colors you apply will look in tandem with your countertops, too. For instance, you can soften the sterile, industrial look of stainless steel with powder blue walls or cabinets. Consider stenciling borders or motifs to add personality to the room.

*If you've got a plain white tile backsplash, you can inject some character by applying some color with stencils or even wing it with some freehand artistry.

*If you have boring bead board in your kitchen, this too can be spiced up with some paint color.

Faux Tiles

*Got a damaged kitchen floor? Choose a dominant color from your overall kitchen color scheme and use it to paint faux tiles atop your flooring.

*Mismatched kitchen furniture? Paint it all (tables and chairs) one great uniform color.

*Add your personal touch to kitchen chair-backs by using stamps or stencils with the design of your choice.

Dated Colors?

If you have horrible avocado green cabinets or appliances that date back to the 1970's, you may not have to do away with them. Try updating the color by adding touches of more modern, complementary earth tones such as hot cinnamon, rich mustard, or an arresting shade of deep cranberry. You can use these accent colors by creating a border of leaves just above the countertop.