Two weeks ago I said I was painting the kitchen.

I painted.

Judging by how long it has taken me to post about painting the kitchen should be an indicator as to how it turned out. Not awful but not exactly thrilled either.

I love the color. It turned out exactly how I pictured, almost better than the sample that I painted on the wall the week before. It clearly looks yellow in the pic, but in person it took on the "grellow" tint I was wanting after seeing the Petersik's kitchen over at YHL. I was super excited to unveil my handy work to the boyfriend but unfortunately his reaction was a tad underwhelming. ("Can you ever just be whelmed? I think you can in Europe.")

His exact reaction was, "That's bright." as he passed through. He was less than thrilled which in turn made me doubt the new color choice, because overall I want him to like the space we live in as much as I do. Funny, how when I was choosing the color he kept saying, "I don't care, it doesn't matter." And as soon as I get some paint on the wall, here come the opinions.

Anywho, what is really bugging me is that maroon tile. It just doesn't go with the new yellowy walls. The plan was to paint the tile border white. So after applying two coats of high adhesion primer, I slapped on some white bathroom and kitchen enamel paint.


As you can see, it is way whiter and brighter than the rest of the kitchen tile which in turn makes the other tile look dingy. Also, I don't like that the grout lines disappear. After looking at it for a day I scrubbed it all off with a Magic Eraser. (The box is serious about not using in areas with latex paint, I barely scrubbed the painted area and all 5 layers of paint - 2 primer and 3 coats of enamel came right off).

Take 2.

After cleaning and priming the same spot under the window sill, I tried black enamel paint.


Pros: Grout lines remain in tact. Color contrasts nicely with the other white tile.

Cons: Way more labor intensive. I had to use painter's tape on the bottom and top of the tile AND I had to mind the grout lines. If I go this route it would probably take days to precisely paint each tile. I just don't know if I am up for that.

So as of right now, my kitchen is painted but the tile remains as you see in the picture above...sigh.

There was one really great thing about this paint project...the Premium XL Tight Spots paintbrush. If I could marry an inanimate object this would be it...talk about a game changer. The YHL'ers had mentioned it before and I meant to pick one up when we moved and painted every room in the house but never got around to it. My bloggie friend, Katie, mentioned it again on my Facebook page when she saw I was painting. I am so glad I made trip to Sherwin Williams. I didn't even have to use tape on my ceiling because this thing was so amazeballs. If you plan on painting anything, this brush is a must!

So back to the issue at hand...what should I do? Choose a new paint color that could complement the maroon tile or just leave it be?