Over the last few years, we have replaced all of the windows in our house with metal clad, fir windows (that’s metal on the exterior, wood on the interior). To save on costs, we opted for windows made with mixed grain fir, instead of the super sexy vertical grain (aka “VG”) fir that we’ve used in other parts of the house. For windows, this isn’t typically an issue because the frames are constructed of various smaller pieces of wood so you never really have a piece wide enough to notice. Unfortunately, our kitchen window was an exception.
The photo above shows the mixed grain fir of the window unit next to the VG fir sill that we installed after the window was in place. Truthfully, it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal except it’s the biggest window in the house and the one we look at every day while washing dishes or checking to see if Bailey did his business in the backyard.
So, we painted it!
I’ve been obsessing over mustard yellow for a good year now and we finally had a place to try it out. (The color is BM’s “luminous days”.)
First we cleaned the window and then masked the glass with Frog Tape, running a putty knife along the edge to ensure that the tape was fully adhered.
Next, Kyle used a small foam roller to apply the paint which produced a crisp, clean line at the outside edge.
Then he used a small foam brush to get into any nooks and crannies. For this particular color we were advised to use a tinted primer but we figured since we were starting with darker wood it would be ok to skip that step (we did end up doing 3 coats just to be safe).
The end result is subtle, but I like it. We think the color might be a little too “French’s” and not enough “dijon”, but we’re going to live with it for a while and see what we think. (We started out with a dozen yellow paint chips from three different companies and were surprised how only one or two came close to what we were looking for.)
We also like that the band of color emphasizes the framed view to the backyard. Unfortunately, the backyard is not really worth looking at right now. Hopefully that will change this summer…
I really like it!
But I also find color choices to deceptively limited when choosing paint. I have an CMYK book that I usually pick from, and at any given time only 30% of these are in-style enough to actually be available in any given company’s paint chips.
I discovered your blog today at 9.00 AM and I read all the posts… I’ve just finished… and… I love everything you did in your home!!! You are an inspiration for restructuring my own home!!! Thanks!
I’m not feeling this yellow, although yellows and greens are TERRIBLY difficult to replicate on a computer screen. I would go for a brighter pop? A less muddy yellow maybe?
Just a thought!
It looks great! If this window gets much sunlight the yellow will fade out over time. We used a yellow in our “sunroom” and it’s light a couple shades over the years.
I kind of agree, It’s okay but I’m not a big fan of seeing the yellow next to the green grass, It’s a tough color choice for sure. We’re going to let it simmer and think about it, good thing paint is cheap;)
[…] mustard jamb is a clever solution to mismatched wood […]
this looks fantastic!!!
I like the yellow! It’s a good color, too… mustards are HARD. I’ve tried to find a good one for something and gave up in frustration and defeat.
Can I ask where the hanging basil(?) planter is from? It’s so cool and pretty! I wonder if my tiny light-well-facing kitchen would get enough light to actually grow anything…
I know! Maybe Grey Poupon should come out with their own line?
The hanging planter is made by Boskke and we bought ours as Velocity Art & Design. (http://www.velocityartanddesign.com/boskke-c-1426.html). You should give it a try…I am notorious for killing plants but this one has survived. Our window faces east (and c’mon…it’s Seattle) so there isn’t a ton of sun but it seems to be doing ok. I find that (for basil at least) I do have to water it every other day or so.
I was introduced to your website by Dwell and have fallen in love with it. I’m a young architect myself and constantly looking for inspiration for my own DIY house projects and professional work. I was hoping that once I found your website/blog, I had found the tip of the iceberg for other “smart-designers-doing-modern-house-remodeling-with-detailed-blogs-and-in-depth-and-inspiring-posts” but alas it seems that you guys are pretty unique. I’ve looked at the links you have to other sites, but none of them seem to be anywhere close to the quality of your site. Any suggestions for other great modern home remodeling websites?
I came here via Making It Lovely; I love that you painted just the jamb and not the sill, etc! Such a subtle glow.
I’ve been wanting to paint my kitchen walls yellow to fight the cloudy climate I live in, but I haven’t discovered the right shade yet. Yellow is difficult.
i think it looks great – cheery, but not a harsh cheery…. a delicate cheery.
Wow, thanks so much Ben! I discovered many of my favorites via Houseblogs.net, but you’re right…there aren’t a lot of them out there (that I know of at least!). I think there are lots of people doing what we’re doing (we have several friends just in Seattle that are remodeling) but sadly they don’t have blogs.
I wish someone would do a blog or book about architect’s own homes, because I’m sure I would be totally addicted!
Haha, I think you’re right Stephanie!
Love it! Also, what a great fence in your backyard! I hate hate hate my standard spec-house privacy fence. So jealous of your pretty horizontal slats.
Love it! Such a cheerful little detail.
I like the mustard jamb, although I agree that the current colour looks a bit ballpark-frank. I also love the idea of “mustard jamb” which sounds like it should be a recipe for ham glazed with Dijon! Your blog is wonderful.
yummers! it looks pretty swell on my mac ; )
i found a lovely yellow at Ecohaus (Ace has it too) by Mythic paint if you change your mind about the mustard but like i said looks good from here.
[…] To make things feel a bit more complete (and functional) I picked up this “nightstand” from IKEA. It’s actually a step stool, but I didn’t have any luck finding a small table and was intrigued by the two tier idea. So for $15, I brought it home. It comes as unfinished solid beech, but in our ongoing attempt to inject more color into our home, I painted it the same mustard yellow as our kitchen window jamb. […]
[…] the middle of painting the window trim, I remembered a really cool idea I saw on one of my favorite remodeling blogs, Chezerbey. Those peeps painted the jamb of their kitchen window a really pretty mustard color, and the whole […]
[…] we decided to stick with only two colors for the doors, we found an easy way to incorporate some mustard yellow at our big kitchen window. (We later went a little yellow-crazy with accessories and […]