Budget Kitchen Updates! {Accent Wall and Faux Painted Backsplash!}

The daunting lighting situation was finally resolved and cleaned up, and I had a glimmer of an idea to paint something special on this one wall! I toyed around with lots of different ideas. But in the end, I decided on this subtle swirly pattern. I chose flat paint for this one wall, and bought the same color (Pittsburgh Paints in Deep Emerald) in high gloss... I'm sure you could use a clear urethane and get the same effect. I just love the way it turned out. And it was super easy... took an afternoon to complete.

I photocopied a swirly pattern (stock photo) onto a transparency, and using an overhead projector, blasted the image up onto the wall and traced it with a pencil! If you try this, be sure to use a pencil that's close in color to the wall paint. Otherwise you'll find yourself having to do several coats just to cover up your blasted pencil lines. Does it sound like I learned that the hard way? Well your right.  Below is a copy of the swirly image I used! Feel free to copy!

And I only used this much paint for the whole project. Too bad they don't sell paint by the tablespoon!

Okay Okay, here are the after photos. It may not be a 'remodel' since all we did was paint the walls and backsplash and put in new lighting, but we feel like it's a huge transformation! The cabinets, appliances, flooring... all the same as they were before. But man, changing the lighting to recessed can lights made a HUGE difference. Yes? I feel like my kitchen glows!  

We'd love to eventually replace our unfortunate kitchen appliances, but that may never happen with us being all frugal and whatnot...and when there are sites like  PartSelect.ca that make replacing appliance parts so easy and affordable, well it's kinda a no-brainer for us to just live with 'em!

If you decide to try out a tone-on-tone pattern project, be sure to send us pics! We love to see what other creative minds come up with!

You can click on these pics to see the 'before and after' larger!