Why I Want To Change The Pantry Tile (And How I Found My Decorating Color Palette)
Recently, I wrote a post about the possibility of using the rest of the wall mural from the entryway in the breakfast room. Don’t worry. I’ve decided against that. But in that post, I casually mentioned that I was considering removing the backsplash tiles in the walk-in pantry.
I got a few comments from some people who were shocked that I would consider removing these tiles. After all, I very painstakingly made these tiles myself out of resin and alcohol inks. It was a laborious process (but a very fun one!), so I can understand that the idea of me wanting to remove them would come as a surprise. I do love these tiles, and I’ve loved being able to tell people, “I made these tiles!” as I show them around our home. It’s always fun to see people’s reactions.
But I still know that at some point in the future (perhaps next year, or maybe even towards the end of this year), I’ll be removing them. And I know that as soon as I start working on our breakfast room, which is on my home goals list for this year, I’ll be even more anxious to remove them. Let me explain why.
We bought this house in August 2013. The first room that I remodeled, tearing it down to the studs and rebuilding it, was the kitchen. I finished this room in 2014.
I originally painted the cabinets green (Sherwin Williams Derbyshire). And I did so even though I knew at the time that green is not my color, but I was trying to step outside of my comfort zone and try something new.
The next room I remodeled was the hallway bathroom. This was another down-to-the-studs remodel, and I finished it in July of 2015.
In this room, I went back to my favorite color (teal). I really loved this room, but this first iteration seems very safe to me. While I was very proud of this remodel, and it was a massive improvement over the original bathroom, I was still struggling to find the look (or more specifically, the colors) that really spoke to me. I knew that teal was my favorite color, but beyond that, finding those other colors that work with my favorite color in a way that really spoke to me was still an ongoing process, and it was a process that I’d struggle with for several years to come.
I’m skipping over a lot, but one of the next things I finished was the wall in our front living room that I refer to as the entryway wall, which I finished in June 2016.
By this time, I was starting to realize that my rooms were missing warm colors. As long as I was sticking to the teals and greens, I was ending up with rooms that felt very safe and nice, but I was starting to realize they lacked that “wow” factor. So I started to play around with adding small doses of warm colors starting with these coral dining chairs. I believe that this was during that wayward year when I foolishly tried to turn our front room into a dining room. That whole experiment was a disaster, but I did love the hand drawn bird and branch design that I did on the entryway wall.
And then, in May of 2017, I finished the breakfast room.
Once again, I played it safe with teals and greens, and this time, I tried to add in some dark purple. At the time, that was my idea of taking a chance and stepping out of my comfort zone. And once again, I ended up with a room that was nice, but once again, it lacked that “wow” factor. Everything felt very safe.
And around that same time, in June 2017, I also finished repainting my kitchen cabinets a medium teal color.
By that time. I had at least learned my first big lesson in finding my style and my colors. It’s much more important to fill my home with colors that I absolutely love rather than to try to force myself to step outside of my comfort zone. You shouldn’t have to force yourself to like anything in your home. Your home should be a reflection of things that you already naturally love and that reflect who you are. And teal has been my color for about two decades now. Once I repainted my kitchen cabinets from green to teal, our house started to feel more like home rather than a testing laboratory for decorating ideas.
But even then, I was still struggling to find the rest of my colors. Teal is great. Teal is my favorite color, and I love all shades of teal, from medium to dark and everything in between. But I knew I couldn’t decorate an entire house with various shades of teal and be happy with it, even if it is my favorite color. So I was still limping along and trying to figure it out.
Again, I’m skipping over some steps. But I eventually went back to the entryway wall and redid it…again. By this time, I had moved past my ridiculous idea of trying to turn our front room into a dining room and had returned to sanity, realizing that that room — this very obvious living room — needed to be a living room and not a dining room. So I started with the entryway wall.
And while I was very secure in my decision to paint the wall teal, you can see that I was still trying to find the rest of my colors. I added some green. I added some purple. Still no “wow” factor.
But I think that this wall is what planted the idea of pink and coral in mind, even if I didn’t consciously realize it at the time. I remember finding those (FREE!) bird prints, and as I was deciding the order in which to hang them, I made a very conscious decision that the pinkish red bird needed to be top and center. There was something about that pinkish red color with the teal that really spoke to me. I still had no idea at the time just how much that one small decision would influence my decorating decisions in the future.
It still didn’t click in my conscious mind that the “wow” factor that my rooms were missing was pink and coral, so I went about my business. And the next big project I did was the walk-in pantry, which I finished the pantry in January of 2019.
And as I built that room, painted the cabinets, and made the backsplash tiles, the colors had already been decided for me. It obviously needed to be teals, greens, and purples. After all, those were the perfect fit for the perfectly fine breakfast room that I had finished just a couple of years earlier. It was a perfectly nice pantry to go along with my perfectly nice breakfast room, but both lacking any sort of life and vibrancy.
And then came the decision that started to make things click for me. I gave the hallway bathroom a colorful makeover, and I painted the vanity a warm color and put up a shower curtain that had teal plus some warm colors — pink, coral, orange.
When I finished that room, I finally had a room that felt like it had some life and vibrancy to it. And that’s when it all clicked to me. Yes, teal is my color. But it’s the addition of those warm colors that brings it to life. And those warm colors had to be in much larger doses than a small bird print hanging on the wall.
I was still trying to work it all out, and I spent some time working on my studio (the first iteration of the back entry, which was green, black, and white) and then the guest bedroom (which we used as our main bedroom for a while). But it was while working on the next two rooms when I felt like I finally found my footing.
In 2021, I worked to finish the music room and the living room. And that’s when everything finally came together and the magic happened.
I finally realized that the colors I had been missing all along — my colors — were those in the pink family. And once I finally let myself use pinks, I finally felt like I found my style and my color palette. The addition of pink did something in my mind that no other warm color could do.
So from 2013 to 2021, I struggled along. Seven-and-a-half years. But now, I know my style. I know my colors. And I feel very confident in my colors. I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but they’re just right for me. These are the colors that make me feel comfortable and at home. Teal is my color. It has been for 20 years now. But pink is my color, too. And I love how the two of them work together. The teal is a safe, dark, grounding color. The pink adds life and vibrancy.
If only I had learned what my colors are before I remodeled the pantry and made those tiles, maybe I would have added pink. And maybe now I wouldn’t be considering redoing the backsplash in there. But that’s often how life goes, right? I had so much fun making those tiles, and I’ve loved that pantry for the years it has looked like it does now. But when I finally get a chance to redo our breakfast room, I want to have the complete freedom to do what I want to do to give the pantry a little refresh as well, and I don’t want to be constrained by those tiles. Now that I know my colors, I want to be able to envision both the dining room and the pantry in those colors.
And who knows? I may even decide that the pantry needs to look more like this…
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I’ve tried so many things and have learned I like primary colors…and then mixing in different shades of those colors. However, I do know I like different shades of wood in a room and very rarely do I like matching lamps. I like some things to be symmetrical, but not all. To each his own, the one thing I like is to make my home my own. Oh, my walls must be neutral, I have artwork I love, and I want it to be what stands out. I never worry about if my artwork goes with anything, or the colors used in the room. To each his own. The reason I have read your blog for since your condo days, is because you are not afraid to make your home your own and you have wonderful skills.
I moved into my current house 8 years ago. My sister helped me paint my kitchen cabinets and the main bathroom cabinets. I was getting new counter tops for both. The bathroom had a brown tub and brown sinks.
The tile is light cream with light tan splotches that look pink. I had a new countertop and white sinks installed and my sister painted the cabinets a light pink I picked out. Recently I have decided it needs a different color and had been toying with a lilac or deeper purple tone. You can not see the tub for the curtain so it doesn’t matter that it is still brown. But apparently what I am really craving is perhaps a brighter deeper pink based on your picture today. Thanks for helping me realize that I have the right color just not the right shade!!
Can’t wait to see if you use it in the pantry.
I also believe as we go through our lives, getting older and discovering more about our own selves, our homes can reflect it. The love of designing and decorating often reflects who we are in the moment and what we have become.
We’re currently selling our “forever home” that we were SURE we’d have until our passing but God has lead us to another state (literally) resulting is a different home to live out the rest of our lives.
I thought we could just take from this home and use in our next home but it’s not working. I’m finding I’m leaning into more colors and softer lines, unlike what have currently. It’s been interseting for me to see the shift – but then I realized, I’m not the same woman I was ten years ago so why would my next home reflect the old version of me, of my husband?
I love your content and how you’re finding yourself through your own process of design. 🙂
I love teal, too. I would say I’m a teal girl. My grandmother loved all aquas, and I used to think, not for me—I think because she wore it ALL THE TIME, I saw it as an “old-lady” color. But over time, I guess I really did get her genes because teals, and a lot of blues (but greens, not so much) call to me. AND I LOVE your breakfast room, especially the upholstery on the chairs. But I get the color thing, because when you have added more color (especially the pinks that tend toward salmon), my heart sings. I loved reading this, Kristi. Your journey makes a lot of sense to me as an artist who struggles with finding her style, favorite media, etc. People often limit the colors in the artwork they select for their decor, but I am an advocate for “full-spectrum” artwork—choosing what makes us happy every time we walk into a room and not what just “goes with” stuff. I can’t wait to see what kind of tiles you will come up with next. And although your pink pantry inspiration photo isn’t my fave pink, if you do that, I will be right there with you, cheering you on!
It was very interesting to take a tour through various rooms in your home throughout the redesigns. I like that you are not influenced by current color trends or what other people may think. I love the glossy pink cabinetry in the final photo! And that’s quite shocking for me as I have muted colors throughout my home.
Fun post!