4 In Interiors

Francois Renovates: Kitchen Window Makeover

Happy Hump Day! Today I want to share a little backstory on the window makeover in our kitchen. Since we didn’t have the budget to replace the windows with historic-quality glazing (that the house really should have), we decided to keep the existing ones and give them a facelift.

To be honest though, I feel torn about replacing original windows in the first place. In our scenario, the windows are 90 years old, and we’d be lucky to have new windows last half as long. New windows would definitely be more energy efficient, but if their lifespan is shorter, are they really more environmentally friendly? I’d love to hear your thoughts if you have an opinion on the topic because I keep going back and forth!

Alright, so here was a before shot of the windows (and kitchen). Caramel goodness galore with aged brass hardware on the windows. One thing that was interesting is the kitchen’s woodwork was completely different than the rest of the home’s dark cocoa wood stain. (Before photo courtesy of Zillow.)

The window update consisted of fresh paint, refinishing the original window hardware to match the cabinet hardware, and adding window treatments.

With the kitchen’s wood tone being different from the rest of the home, it didn’t matter if we kept the window’s caramel wood tone for consistency’s sake, so we decided to bring on the paint. The window color is Behr Poppy Seed and the trim color is Behr Whisper White. Both paints were satin finish to help with durability and cleanability without being too shiny.

The hardware makeover just required a bit of elbow grease and some Brasso. (This is not sponsored, I’m just sharing what worked for me.) I unscrewed the handles and window locks from the windows, washed them with soap and water, and scrubbed everything with Brasso to remove the aged look. As long as the hardware is unlacquered the aged metal will clean up in a snap. Seriously like 10 minutes a pop. I picked up pretty brass screws from the hardware store to attach everything back to the windows and dressed the windows with natural woven shades…which were also from the hardware store!