Project Spotlight: A Bright Bathroom Refresh

June 25, 2024

Who We Are and How We Arrived Here

Hi, we’re David and Edward Guerra, also known as Midwest Husbands! We met in Madison, Wisconsin where we taught ourselves a lot of DIY skills by flipping a property. We then moved to Cleveland, Ohio where we enjoyed a well-lived in home before our custom build, where we hope to raise a family one day soon. We also seek travel adventures and bring the inspiration from the experiences into our home through unique design choices.

We designed and built our current house less than two years ago, yet here we are, already wanting to change the color of a cabinet in one of our bathrooms! Decision fatigue during the home-building process is real. Initially, we thought a dark-stained vanity would be beautiful for a second primary suite bathroom on the first floor of our New England-style colonial. However, this cabinet was too dark, and we thought it would be fun to incorporate more life and color into this space since it serves as the bathroom connected to what is currently used as a work-from-home office. To change from a dark cabinet to any other color, priming with a premium high-hiding primer is the first step to get the best results.

For other crafted wood pieces in our home and pre-wallpaper, we have used KILZ 2^® All-Purpose Primer in previous years. Since this bathroom project involved a starting point of a dark color on the cabinets, we turned to KILZ 3^® Premium Primer for its high hide formula and mildew resistant coating, which was perfect for our dark bathroom cabinet.

Inspiration and Implementation

After consulting a few of our favorite magazines, we created a palette with the incredible colors in Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines^® collections. Then, we were off to our local Ace Hardware store to pick up the paint, supplies, and, of course, the KILZ 3^® Premium Primer for this bathroom glow-up.

KILZ 3^® Premium Primer was incredible to use on the cabinet doors. It’s fast drying (which makes it ideal for a weekend project), has low odor, and is very low VOCs. It has exceptional adhesion to a wide variety of surfaces which will help ensure the paint finish lasts for years to come, plus it’s water-based which makes clean-up a breeze. We liked how it worked for the glossy finish on the doors, and we also used this primer on the arch panels and molding we created for the feature wall.

It’s important to not jump into painting cabinets or wood without a quality primer. This step saves time and money because, without a primer, you will likely end up applying more coats of your paint, which ends up costing more than primer.

Within an hour, we were painting the first of two coats of paint on the cabinet doors, the paneling, and trim pieces. The paint color we used was Under The Stars, a deep teal-blue color that evokes a seaside feel. The cabinet contrasts with Aspen Leaf, a green that brings refreshment and peace into the space. Since the paneling is just over 4′ tall, Yarn completes the look by rising to the ceiling with crisp and inviting tones.

Putting Fun in Functionality

Knowing that we used KILZ 3^® Premium Primer as a surface prep measure in our project gives us confidence that the cabinet, paneling, and trim will look good for years to come. We are so excited to have taken a dark-stained, glossy sheen built-in vanity to a new level of life. KILZ 3^® hides dark and bold colors as well as blocks stains therefore creating a clean slate for lighter color conversions ensuring better results!

Previously, the door to the bathroom was often closed during the workday while on video conference calls. But now, keeping the door open with the pops of color achieved with Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines^® Paint is quite a boost for our environment. Walking into the bathroom welcomes us, and we must admit that despite being in a small space, we don’t want to leave!

We needed to keep this cabinet in the bathroom as it provides storage for all the essentials and toiletries. Thanks to the amazing products KILZ offers, we were able to take this space from builder-grade to a degree of personalization that matches up to what we love to do.