Kitchen Paint Progress...It Hit A Glitch

I was happily painting along (I do love to paint!), when something happened. An optical illusion disappeared.

What on earth am I talking about?!

Once the dark paint covered the walls the room visually changed, and not just from a color standpoint. All of a sudden, cabinetry that looked beautiful and higher end, suddenly looked of the "out of the box" variety. Previously, with the cabinetry, blacksplash and walls all having a similar tone, they blended in and created an optical illusion that the cabinetry extended further up towards the ceiling, while appearing more expansive along the walls.

Once the dark color was up, however, the cabinets suddenly looked "squat" with the different sections of the upper cabinets appearing as "choppy" boxes on the wall. SO WEIRD! See the difference below:

(photo prior to the island being painted and the fabric covered pendants being hung,
see those projects by clicking on the links)

A lesson in leaving well enough alone?

I love the gray/blue color, but it simply isn't working in terms of allowing the overall design and look of the kitchen to rise to its highest potential.

I'm feeling grumpy about the whole thing, and the wasted time...though perhaps not completely wasted because I certainly learned something. But grumpy because I need to repaint. Yes, I've decided to return to the lighter, original color. Seriously.

But before just flat out painting a layer of Sherwin Williams Universal Khaki over the gray, I'm going to start with a wash, just to see if there is any hope of taking advantage of the effort extended in painting the room gray. That may prove to be a mess, we'll see. I'll keep you posted.

So, learn from me! Prior to tackling any painting projects yourself, first consider any optical illusions that may be altered with your color choices.