15 Ways to Update Your Kitchen with Paint

With the primers and paints available now, it's easy to transform a dowdy, outdated kitchen from top to bottom. From the cabinets to the floor, find colorful ideas to revive your kitchen.

Put Color Underfoot

Painting a wooden floor with cool color and stencils can change the entire atmosphere of the kitchen. Before committing to a color, test it on a large piece of foam-core board. Place the board on the floor to see how the color works with the cabinetry and affects the sense of space in the room. (A dark navy, for example, could have made this kitchen feel smaller, but this medium shade adds interest without constricting the space.)

Prepare the floor by cleaning it with a high-strength household cleaner and roughening the surface with 150-grit sandpaper. For a stenciled floor, apply a high-quality primer and use standard latex paint for both the background color and the stencil design. Protect the treatment with several coats of clear polyurethane. You'll need to reapply polyurethane every year or two to keep the painted finish in good shape.