Painting the Kitchen...Twice :(

Well, I'm not afraid to admit defeat. I haven't posted many photos of our new kitchen yet because it has honestly been the hardest room to wrap my mind around. Not because there aren't things to be done in there...mostly because I am not sure exactly what I want, where to start, and of course, am lacking sufficient funds to do most of it right now. That leaves me to the things that I can do, one of those being paint. So we did. Twice.
I should back up for a second to the beginning- here is the kitchen on the day that we got our keys:

To start off, I have got to mention that one of the most challenging parts about this kitchen is the lighting!! You can see from the pictures that it is really hard to get a decent picture due to the lighting challenges, so please hang with me as I try to get the most accurate images that I can with my limited abilities.
Basically, we inherited a kitchen that isn't the worst kitchen in the world but it is by far a vast difference from our last kitchen (which I loved). It has a few saving graces: lots of storage, large-ish in size, and lots of counter-space. The negatives are the dated cabinets, countertops, floors, hardware, and appliances. Let's face it, everything could use a little love. While we will probably do something drastic down the line, for now, we are going to try and make this honey-oak wonderland work the best that we can. So we started the ball rolling with paint.
My sweet mother came over and painted the kitchen while I was at work (when I was still working) the day after we moved in. I had chosen Cooled Blue by Sherwin Williams for the wall color. I had actually chosen the entire palette for the new house before moving in- which in retrospect was a bit gutsy- but luckily, most of the colors turned out to be spot on for the look I was going for in each room....except this one. I remember getting a text message from my mom the day that she painted it asking if I was sure about the color, and at the time I was. But sometimes you just have to live with something a little while to realize that you might need to try something new.
Here's the kitchen in Cooled Blue. This one was taken at Asa's first birthday party :).

The color overall was not bad. In fact, I liked it much more than the original blue. The original blue wall color had a lot of gray in it and while I like cool colors, it was bit too murky for the room. The Cooled Blue helped to brighten up the room a bit BUT it was also a bit too warm. Honey oak cabinets tend to look warm on their own and do not need any help from an overzealous wall color. Another thing that bothered me about this color was the way it coordinated with the adjoining rooms. I haven't posted about any of those yet, but you can see the transitions a bit in the pictures below. These were taken the day that I painted. I will hopefully get around to posting about those rooms soon, too :). One thing at a time!
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Those pictures might give a better feel to exactly how bright that wall color could get. I took those at night because that was when I painted, so of course, the lighting is terrible, but alas, all I had to work with. Again, the color wasn't all wrong, I was just sure that it could get better. After living with our home the way it was for a while, I determined that the wall color in the living room would probably work well in the kitchen, too. Ironically, it isn't THAT different from the original color BUT if you look closely there are a few major different. It is called Watery by Sherwin Williams, and if you made me choose one color to paint an entire house, it would hands down be this one. It is calm and relaxing with just the right about of warmth and light. It also adds color to the space but in a subtle way that the Cooled Blue did not.
It took me about two hours to complete, but I was definitely sore afterwards from contorting my body to fit into all of the awkward spaces. Hopefully I will not want to paint this room again for at least another six months. I guess the best part is that we didn't have to spend any money on the new paint color because I had enough left over from the living room.
Here's the kitchen in Watery the next morning:

Can you already see the improvement in the overall color balance? Somehow this blue seems to cool the cupboards down enough without making the room feel drab. I'm pretty happy with it so far.
I haven't added the rest of the images of the new color because I have another post coming up (tomorrow) that will showcase the other side of the kitchen along with the open shelving we are going to try for now- a bit of a diy post :). Make sure to check back and see that soon!