Tag: Inspiration
A Fresh Kitchen Makeover
October 15, 2021A dated and uninspiring kitchen is transformed into a fresh cooking and entertaining space in this remarkable kitchen transformation. The original kitchen did little to encourage people to spend time in the space or inspire home-cooking or hosting. To liven up this kitchen and create a welcoming space, we focused our efforts on a simple yet powerful paint job and some key design upgrades.
For this makeover, we chose KILZ 3® Premium Primer because it offers adhesion and a mildew resistant finish on the primer film, ideal for moisture-prone areas like kitchens where water, steam, and even tough liquids like oils are commonplace. This primer is also high hide, meaning you can apply it directly over old colors (even darker ones!) and still be able to paint a bright white topcoat to finish.
Once the primer was applied and allowed to dry, we top coated with Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines® paint in True White to add a fresh, renewing sense of cleanliness to the space. In providing a stark blank canvas, it allows everything else in the kitchen to shine. It is calm and mindful and creates a sense of renewal.
With the walls reset, our focus shifted to the overall color palette for the room. We chose a neutral combination of white, brown, and black. Dark colors were kept to a minimum, with a few mid-century modern accessories – including soft metallic pendant lights, low-rise barstools, a modern drink cart and simple white ceramic food canisters– providing welcoming aesthetic accents in key areas of the room. And to allow for more entertaining in the space, we brought in a larger dining table with additional seating.
This kitchen makeover is proof that a simple color change with primer and fresh coat of paint can be the perfect foundation for a stunning transformation.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.
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Inviting Entryway Makeover
September 20, 2021A drab and functionless entryway transforms into an inviting and inspiring multi-use space in this entryway makeover. Plain, dated, and without focus, the original entryway neither served the homeowner nor did much to accentuate the natural views outside. To brighten up the space and make the area as useful as it is beautiful, we chose a fresh white hue for the walls and created a functional mini-mudroom to add much needed storage and a pop of color that we also tied in with the front door.
DIYers often overlook entryways and hallways when remodeling their homes, thinking of them simply as connectors for other rooms. Yet, these spaces can be among the most important in a property and can impact both how your home feels and functions. Keep reading to find out how we created a minimal yet practical space in this entryway using KILZ® Primer and two different paint colors – a fresh white and a nature-inspired deep green.
Entryways see some of the greatest foot traffic in a house, and for that reason, it is important to choose a primer that will help your final paint job last for years to come. KILZ 2® All-Purpose Primer was the perfect choice for the paint job’s foundation here, with its stain-blocking properties that help to hide stains and cover the old drab color.
Starting with KILZ 2 as a base for any surface (you can even use it on brick, wood, and drywall), the next step is to choose a color palette that freshens up your space and draws out its best features. Here, we chose KILZ® Tribute® in White Modern for the walls because the color white elicits a sense of calmness, purity, and order. Whether you are heading out for the day or coming back home, a white entryway can help to reset your mind and refocus your attention on whatever is coming next. In our makeover, the white walls act as the perfect canvas for the windows, drawing the eye outside and inviting in the natural colors of branches and leaves as they change throughout each season.
With the white paint providing an airy base tone, and a darker color for the new front door, the mini-mudroom creates a striking yet clean contrast. KILZ® Tribute® in Typewriter is a deep and almost industrial color, yet it has subtle shades of green that add the perfect pop of nature-inspired color.
The mini-mudroom unit itself offers plenty of storage space for shoes, coats, and outdoor equipment, making it easy to keep the whole space tidy and organized. Adding storage boxes in the bottom section for shoes also helps to keep mud and dust off your floors, which means no more dirt trailing throughout the house.
Finally, we chose a handful of stylish accessories like a caged light fitting, a potted plant, natural-colored rugs, and contemporary framed artworks to finish the transformation. These small accent pieces work in harmony to ensure warmth and welcome in an otherwise clean and cool space.
If you are considering ways to update your home, a relatively simple entryway transformation project could make all the difference.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.
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Turn a Bland Bathroom into a Serene Spa
May 11, 2021Who wouldn’t love to have an elegant, relaxing spa in their own home? If you’re in need of a little extra rest and relaxation these days, we hope you’ll be inspired by this next transformation – where we took an outdated and sad-looking bathroom and transformed it into a bright and spa-like retreat. The essential first step? You guessed it, primer and a fresh coat of paint!
We decided upon a modern Scandinavian-meets-coastal theme to evoke the perfect spa setting and started with the walls, because color is the single component that makes the biggest impact in one’s perception of a room. The right colors can relax the mind while stimulating the senses, and that’s what we were aiming for — the sensation of being relaxed and refreshed, exactly the way you should feel after a spa treatment.
The first step was a coat of quality primer. Our choice, KILZ® Mold & Mildew Primer, has an EPA registered active ingredient that creates a mold and mildew-resistant film that protects the primer film from mold and mildew growth. KILZ Mold & Mildew Primer also provides complete coverage that hides old paint, ensuring the previous butter yellow paint color would be a thing of the past. In addition, it helps the new paint adhere beautifully, so your paintbrush or roller will glide with ease.
After the primer dried it was time for the topcoat paint. We opted for a classic – Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines® paint in Shiplap, which is a creamy weathered white. There’s not a hint of harshness in this white, with the creamy undertones softening the color throughout, even when sunlight fills the room.
We were going for a total overall in this project, so we didn’t stop at the walls. For the flooring, we replaced the outdated laminate with gleaming white marbled tiles flecked with gray. Fortunately, we were able to keep the existing bathtub, because its elongated oval contours provided an elegant counterpoint to the rest of the room.
To enhance our spa look, we choose natural wood furnishings that evoked the Scandinavian theme. For the focal point, we installed a heavy farmhouse-style sink cabinet in warm natural wood with a white countertop, brushed silver faucets and brushed black drawer pulls.
To add to the authenticity, we brought in a natural wood towel stand (complete with spa brushes) and a large seagrass laundry basket. For a touch of Danish Modern, we included a set of handsome mirrors with thin black frames and added a few modern cabinet accessories in black and gold. To complete our spa transformation, we fitted the window with a vintage-style wooden blind that filters the light beautifully and keeps it from overwhelming the room on sunny days.
As you can see from the photos, the airy, creamy white colors, combined with natural wood furnishings and matching accessories, perfectly create the look of a high-end spa, while evoking feelings of calm and relaxation. Decorative touches such as the wooden blinds and towel rack give the room a sauna-like feel, while the retro curved tub and heavy farmhouse-style cabinetry create the ambience of a luxurious bathroom in an expensive resort.
Most importantly, we managed to achieve our design scheme while also paying close attention to important essentials. In particular, we chose a high quality primer that has an EPA registered active ingredient that creates a mold and mildew-resistant film that protects the primer film from mold and mildew growth.
By starting with primer and a coat of paint, you can transform a dreary room into an interior design masterpiece. Just identify the design scheme you want to follow — vintage, retro, contemporary or eclectic — and choose the right colors to reflect the mood you are hoping to create. After that, just add a few pieces of furniture and accessories within your budget — and voila! A DIY room transformation, in sparkling colors that will raise your spirits every time you enter the room.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.
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Magnolia Home: Modern Breakfast Nook
April 19, 2021Gathering with family or friends for a meal is one of the best ways to connect, and the experience is made even richer with a cozy and inviting environment – like this beautiful breakfast nook. A combination of modern tones and natural textures, this space proves that neutral colors can still make a design statement. The muted browns and golden grays in this eating area are a perfect recipe for a relaxing space.
“These grays bring a warm, grounding color to the walls, giving this breakfast nook a modern yet natural feel.” – Joanna Gaines
The impact of neutral paint colors is often determined by their undertones. A white shade with cool undertones might evoke a feeling of renewal or energy, while a neutral hue with a warm undertone can instill a welcoming coziness to a space. In this breakfast nook we used Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines® paint in Gatherings, a golden gray with warm amber undertones, for the walls.
The built-in bench was coated in Reclaimed Wood, a muted smoky brown that added just the right amount of depth to the dining space. Looking for more neutral paint pairings? Explore the palette below of six shades, all picked to coordinate with Gatherings and Reclaimed Wood. And for additional color inspiration, explore all 150 colors in the Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines paint line on kilz.com/magnolia.
Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines paint is available at select Ace Hardware store locations, and online at AceHardware.com and Magnolia.com.
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Transforming a Boring Bedroom into a Relaxing Oasis
April 8, 2021Nothing dulls the spirits more than a boring, dated bedroom design. That’s why we couldn’t wait to lift the spirits of this depressing bedroom with new colors and textures to make it sparkle with freshness.
Color has a huge impact on mood and energy levels; and especially given the stresses of the past year, it’s more important than ever to promote a healthful, stress-free atmosphere in all areas of your home — and most particularly, your bedroom. That’s why we chose creamy off-white colors that create a soothing atmosphere of calm and relaxation, while opening up the space visually so it doesn’t feel as stuffy and confined.
We began our project with the most valuable tools for any DIY makeover — primer and a coat of paint. For this makeover, we chose KILZ 3® Premium Primer, which did an amazing job of covering the old, drab olive-green paint and creating the perfect foundation for the new fresh white paint. KILZ 3 Premium Primer offers excellent adhesion and durability, allowing the new paint to glide on smoothly and adding to the longevity of your paint job.
Next, we added a coat of KILZ® Tribute® Paint in Collector’s White (TB-31). This is a creamy, barely-there white with subtle undertones of greige (gray/beige) to take the brightness down a notch, making it ideal for reflecting the sunlight filtering in from the glass doors in this master bedroom. Because of its cool undertones, we were able to use Collector’s White throughout the entire bedroom, creating a soothing, gently glimmering sparkle without a hint of harshness.
Our keynotes for this makeover were airy, simple, calm and relaxing, and we accomplished these with a streamlined Contemporary Swedish-Meets-Coastal California theme. For the focal point, we chose a modern four-poster bed in gray-toned brown natural wood. We added matching lacquered wood bedtables in a similar brown/gray shade, styled in keeping with our Scandinavian/Danish Modern theme.
We kept the attractive, natural hardwood floor, but added a cozy off-white rug. Other furnishings and accessories — including an armchair, lamps and bedding — were chosen to reflect the creamy white of the walls.
One interior designer’s tip: Pillows and other textiles are a great, affordable way to underscore your design scheme. We choose plump, oversized woven natural-fiber pillows in shades to tone in with the rest of the room, with handcrafted touches such as pom-poms and fringe. We finished the look with two attractive white ceramic lamps, styled in the Danish Modern tradition and topped with pale ecru linen shades.
The overall look is one of natural textures — crisp linens and woven cottons — giving this master bedroom a clean, fresh, inviting look of soothing freshness. When coupled with the bright sunlight filtering in from the glass doors, the impression is of a gleaming, glistening oasis for rest and relaxation — the kind of ambience you would look for in a luxury spa or hotel. And with quality primer and paint, the good news is that this pristine, fresh clean look can be easy to maintain as well.
Anyone can achieve a room transformation like this at an affordable price. The key is to choose colors that reflect the mood and ambience you want to create — whether it’s light and airy or warm and nostalgic. That’s why paint and primer are your greatest tools in any DIY makeover. They’re not only affordable, but they’re also so easy to apply that even a newbie can do it without any help, and with spectacular results.
With primer and a coat of paint, you can transform a dull, outdated room into a showplace. The primer will enhance all your painted surfaces, while protecting them from household dust, dirt and mildew. Likewise, a fresh coat of paint will lift a room into a new dimension of beauty and vibrancy. Just add a few pieces of furniture and accessories within your budget — and voila! You’ve created an affordable, elegant room makeover that will stimulate your sense of color and beauty, while relaxing your mind and spirits.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.
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Fun & Functional Home Gym Makeover
March 23, 2021The way we live has changed in the last year and we are doing more at home than ever before. Instead of time spent at yoga studios and gyms, many are streaming workout classes online and rolling out their yoga mats on the living room floor. Not everyone has an extra room waiting to be transformed into a boutique fitness studio, but if you do have an unused guest room, why not convert it into a custom home gym? That’s what we decided to do with this unused bedroom, and the results are stunning. The secret to our success was our quick and easy wall transformation — executed with a layer of primer followed by a vibrant coat of paint in an energizing color. It’s yet another example of how primer and interior paint can make a big impact and transform just about any space.
Here’s a look at exactly how we revamped this dull-looking bedroom into a sparkling home gym, using only primer, a coat of paint, a fun square of carpet and a few essential pieces of equipment. First, we tackled the walls, starting off with a coat of KILZ 2® All-Purpose Primer, which was especially ideal for our project because it created a perfect base layer to ensure the new topcoat color would be vibrant and vivid. This all-purpose primer is known for its durability, so you can trust that your paint job will last longer.
Next came the fun part — choosing a color. We opted for something invigorating, encouraging you to go for that extra 20 minutes on the bike or treadmill. A bold and bright aqua, KILZ® Tribute® Paint in Tropical Escape (TB-56) is so vivid, it almost has a neon vibe. It was the perfect shade to wake up our gym space. As we layered it over our KILZ® Primer, we noticed immediately that the color seemed to pop from the walls, giving an amazing vibe of energy and vitality.
With a color like this, we knew that the flooring had to be something special. This bold geometric pattern caught our eye, and best of all, the colors matched our beautiful paint to perfection, proving that no matter how exotic your paint choices, there’s always going to be a bit of gorgeous flooring out there to match. We think that the combination of patterns and colors really adds a lot of character to the room — something you don’t always think of when creating a gym, but why not make your exercise space as attractive and appealing as the rest of your home? (Hint: The nicer it is, the more time you’ll want to spend there, which might even mean that you’ll exercise more). Another advantage to this carpet is its durability. For a home gym — or any type of space that gets a lot of physical impacts or foot traffic — it’s best to choose a durable, short-pile carpet that’s specially treated to resist stains, odors and moisture.
When renovating a room, you’ll want to first look for its advantages and figure out how to make the most of them. We recognized immediately that this room’s biggest assets were its two rectangular windows, so we made them into focal points by refreshing them with a coat of durable primer, followed by a coat of white paint. A good primer will give you that extra added adhesion you need for superior coverage when you’re painting — always a plus when you’re working with light colors because superior coverage will prevent the old colors from seeping through.
Nothing opens up a narrow space better than a full-length mirror (always a great accessory for any home gym), and we found one that added the perfect amount of depth to the room.
As for equipment, we kept it simple with just an exercise bike, along with a balance trainer ball and a few hand weights. The beauty of a bedroom-sized gym is there’s enough space for several pieces of equipment, so you’ll have enough space to add more items later on. We streamlined things even more by adding space-saving floor and wall racks (for equipment, helmets, and shoes) and a versatile gym bench for extra seating as well as storage.
Once we were finished, we decided hands-down that the paint color made all the difference and was the real winner here, proving once again a layer of primer and coat of paint can transform a room from a dull dud into a sizzling firecracker.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.
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Magnolia Home: Inviting Entryway
March 15, 2021The entryway is often your home’s first impression to guests and visitors, and it is a great area to make a statement with a striking paint color combination. This entryway has an elevated feel that brings the outdoors in with a deep evergreen gray from Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines® paint. Aptly named Luxe, the nature-inspired green hue brings a depth and richness to the space.
“This entryway has a warm and inviting feel to it, and I love how the stark white contrasted with the deep green gives it a bold, yet timeless look.” – Joanna Gaines
The placement of a paint color is just as important as the shade when you’re going for a statement-making transformation. The French doors in this entryway had a bold trim that was begging to be painted – and when coated in the same green as the wainscotting it created a seamless look and just the right amount of drama. The flow of green also served to draw the outdoors in, playing off the landscaping in the exterior.
The timeless design of this entryway is accomplished with the perfect pairing of Luxe with the starkness of True White – a bright white that balances the rich green and emphasizes the space’s architectural elements. The bold green and white backdrop called for simple furniture and styling, with a perfectly placed wooden bench, simple artwork and pretty woven rugs completing the look.
Luxe and True White can both be found in the Market Collection, a palette of 25 colors personally crafted by Joanna Gaines. The entire Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines paint line includes 150 timeless colors, making it easy to find a shade that’s perfect for your home.
Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines paint is available at select Ace Hardware store locations, and online at AceHardware.com and Magnolia.com.
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Accent Walls that Wow
May 29, 2020Looking for a way to add some wow-factor to your walls? In need of bedroom paint ideas? We’ve got both of those covered in this post, looking at three unique accent wall projects that were all completed with just primer and paint! While the typical accent wall is simply one wall in a room that is a different color than the rest, we took it a step further and created three accent walls that are their own works of art. In each project, we primed the walls with KILZ 2® All-Purpose primer prior to painting to ensure the colors chosen really popped!
We tapped into three different bedroom paint color palettes for the accent walls, the first being calming blue hues. Our inspiration for the first accent wall was a beautiful, misty mountain range. We used KILZ Complete Coat® Paint and layered lighter to deeper blues to create a stunning mountain-inspired mural. The colors chosen were Alaskan Ice LE180-01, Humid Weather RD190-01, Water Splash RD160-02 and Stormy Sea RC140-02 and were painted by hand in an organic mountain shape. Light blue bedding, pops of metallic and faux fur perfectly complement the calming misty mountain accent wall.
Alaskan Ice
Water Splash
Humid Weather
Stormy Sea
For our next bedroom painting project, we took an imaginary trip around the globe to Greece and chose the colors of a summer sunset in Santorini to create a stunning ombre accent wall. The accent wall was painted using KILZ Complete Coat in Nouveau Apricot LB160-01, Soothing Ocean RD160-01, Coral Myth LA190-01, and Brickwork LB110-01. The paint colors were layered from lighter to darker, painting with a brush to blend from one to the other. Minimalist furniture, grey and purple bedding and black accents finished the space and let the ombre accent wall shine.
Nouveau Apricot
Coral Myth
Soothing Ocean
Brickwork
The third accent wall project took a neutral color palette and added a dash of jungle-inspired fun, for a painted wallpaper look. After priming, the wall was painted with KILZ Complete Coat in White RJ110 as the base, followed by freehand sponge painting using Caramelized LC250-02 to create a unique patterned accent wall. The faux wallpaper wall was the perfect backdrop for natural toned bedding with pops of dark green, and a statement chandelier over the bed completed the space.
White
Caramelized
An accent wall is fun and easy way to use primer and paint to totally transform a room. We hope you enjoyed these three accent walls and are inspired for your next painting project!
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.
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Moody Master Bathroom Makeover
May 1, 2020For this month’s inspiration post we’re introducing a brand new KILZ® Primer that will help us transform a dated bathroom into a moody and dramatic retreat. The original bathroom’s design was living in the past, and not in a good way! An old wooden vanity and unattractive laminate flooring needed to go, but before a new vanity could be brought in, we needed to do something about those boring beige walls.
Creating a dramatic new space was the goal, so we knew a dark paint color would be used on the walls. And even though we were painting over a lighter color, priming first before painting was a crucial step. In addition to helping to ensure a truer color from our chosen topcoat, the primer used in this project offered a bathroom-essential benefit. We used the new KILZ® Mold & Mildew Primer for this bathroom makeover, as it creates a mold and mildew-resistant primer film that protects the primer film from mold and mildew growth.
This water-based primer-sealer-stainblocker is specially designed for high humidity, moisture and temperature environments such as kitchens, bathrooms, powder rooms and laundry rooms. It offers excellent adhesion to both interior and exterior surfaces and provides a sound anchor for paints.
Once the walls were properly primed with KILZ® Mold & Mildew and allowed to dry, it was time to paint. A deep emerald green was the perfect paint color for the walls and complemented the new black vanity. Brushed gold sinks, black and white tile and an oversized art deco-inspired mirror added sophistication to the space and completed the master bathroom transformation.
Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.
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