Budget Kitchen Makeover

Starting any home makeover or remodel is a daunting task – and a kitchen is no different. In some ways, I think it’s the worst, because if anything goes wrong, of all the rooms in the house – you CAN’T make do without your kitchen!! You NEED it!! In our house, the kitchen is the hub of the home – the very center of activity and these very valid reasons that make it difficult to start this makeover are the very reasons why it should be done! BECAUSE it is the center of the home and activity it should be a place that is inviting, welcoming, bright and a place that makes me HAPPY to be in! {In my small house especially, the kitchen/dining/living room are all one long room and no matter where you look, the kitchen is in your view.} So, even though it took the BIGGEST deep breath to start, I am SO HAPPY with the result!!!

First – this is what my kitchen looked like before the remodeling fun:


Not too shabby, I guess. I had solid oak cabinets to work with. I absolutely DO NOT LIKE those white countertops, but I didn’t have the money to replace them, so I had to work with them. To do so, I originally painted the walls a deep red, which was initially very warm {and did you know red is often used in restaurants because it induces hunger?} It WAS warm, but it was also cave-like in my small kitchen with hardly any light. {See that sad little window? It opens up to a courtyard and not too much light.} So, thus began the idea of the kitchen makeover:

THE GOAL:

• Paint the cabinets
• Paint the walls
• Change the hardware & hinges
• Install a backsplash
• Keep it under $500
• Do it all within a space of 10 days…

THE STEPS:

1. CLEAN the cabinets with an industrial cleaner to remove any grease & grime. {Available at your local hardware store; find the cleaner that works best for your type of cabinets. I used concentrated liquid TSP}
If you’re like me – your cabinets may not have been that hard-core cleaned in a while…



2. If you plan on changing or installing hardware, then while the cabinets are still hanging, MEASURE where you would like to drill in the holes for the knobs or handles. {Measure twice – drill once!} Or in my case, measure 4 times and drill twice… But boy did I ENJOY using my drill!!!



In fact, since looking at paint dry is no fun, I kept looking for things in my house that needed drilling! {Aaand along came my mason jar soap dispenser project!} BTW, you can skip this drilling step if you have existing hardware holes you are able to use; OR this step could also be used for removing any existing hardware then or drilling new holes.

3. {IF NEEDED}: LABEL YOUR CABINET DOORS so you don’t get mixed up once you take them all off.

I started labeling mine before I realized every single door in my kitchen was a different size. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Odd – except that it made it easy to take them off and put them back on.

4. Finally, REMOVE the cabinet doors. {When you do, your kitchen may look like this – try not to freak out.}

{You may also notice that I painted the cabinet frames before I realized I didn’t take a picture of all the cabinets off their hinges!! Oh well – sneak peek!}

5. REMOVE ALL final existing HARDWARE – knobs/hinges/etc. from your cabinet doors. {Yay! I get to use my drill again!}

6. LIGHTLY SAND the doors & cabinet frames to prepare them for paint. {If you don’t have solid wood cabinets, or depending on the varnish your original cabinets have, you may need to sand them down all the way. Let’s hope not though.}

7. Use a tacky LINT FREE DUST CLOTH to remove any sanding dust or residue and paint on your first coat! Don’t skip this easy step!

8. PAINT!!! Paint your first coat of paint on your cabinet doors in your color of choice. {I used Alabaster White on the top cabinets and Cathedral Stone Grey on the bottom! – The grey ended up being my FAVORITE!!!} To make it easier to paint your cabinets, you will need a ventilated area to lay them all out and something to raise them off the ground so they can dry evenly. Here is what my garage looked like after one coat of paint:



TIP: An inexpensive alternative to painting sawhorses is BANKERS BOXES. I purchased a 10 pack at Target and used the boxes and lids to hold up my cabinet doors!

9. While the paint is drying on the cabinet doors, go inside and paint the cabinet frames. {I used paint that included primer to save me a step!}

Painting is even more fun when you have a friend to help!

{If he didn’t help, I probably wouldn’t have painted behind my refrigerator.} lol

I used a PAINT BRUSH to get in the grooves of the molding, a ROLLER to quickly paint the faces of the cabinets and a FOAM BRUSH to touch up and smooth out some of the creases.

My cabinet frames needed two coats of paint. The doors used THREE. Remember to wait, and wait and WAIT a couple hours between coats. Watching paint dry is about as fun as waiting for a pot of water to boil, so at least you will have time to paint the walls and frames inside in between coats. You may even have time for a snack or to check your Facebook account…



10. Once you are done with ALL coats of paint needed for your cabinets, coat with a layer of Polyurethane. {Clear, non yellowing}

11. When the paint is completely dry {you may even need to wait 12-24 hours for the paint layers and poly to “set”} you can drill in {yay!} the hinges and hardware.

12. Hang the doors! {This takes longer than you think since you don’t want any crooked doors & you don’t want to mess up your pretty awesome paint job – so be careful!}

14. If you didn’t get started on it while you were painting, now would be a good time to INSTALL THE BACKSPLASH! We started measuring the tile sheets while we were painting so that when the paint was dry we would be ready to hang it up! {Actually tape it up!} We used Home Depots adhesive stainless steel look tile sheets. At $20 a sheet it was still cheaper than tile & grout, and you know what? I really like it! It goes on with either adhesive glue OR double sided industrial tape. {Which is what I used.}

THE BACKSPLASH SUPPLIES:



BACKSPLASH STEPS:

• MEASURE each tile in the space it needs to go
• CUT the tile to fit its assigned spot
• ADHERE with glue or tape ONTO THE WALL!!

I give Chad all the credit for his awesome measuring and cutting skills! I would much rather paint and drill than measure or cut that backsplash!

He was also very meticulous about measuring exactly around the electrical fixtures:



My job was taping:



Am I doing this right??



And FINALLY!!! Voila! The backsplash was done!!



The final FINAL addition to the kitchen redo was installing a shelf above the sink! Easy compared to everything else! I found scrap lumber at Home Depot for $1.00 They cut it to size for me – for FREE, I bought “L” brackets to hang it and – DONE! {Last time I got to use the drill!!!} I actually measured TOO well! It was such an exact  fit that Chad had to hammer the shelf into place with his fist!




And FINALLY – THE KITCHEN WAS DONE!!!!!!





The new shelf above my sink:



Top of my cabinets…




Some before and after shots!






I also painted chalkboard paint inside the doors of one of my cabinets:




I STILL can’t believe this kitchen is in MY house!


THE RESULT:

• Cabinets were painted {Alabaster White & Cathedral Stone Grey from LOWES}
• Walls were painted {Alabaster White}
• Hardware & hinges were changed {Hinges & drawer pulls from Lowes; knobs & handles from IKEA.}
• Total DAYS to complete: 6!!! {The days added up this way: 1 day of prepping the cabinets/kitchen, 2 days for painting, 1 day for touching up & backsplash plus 1 day dedicated just for the backsplash, 1 day to put all the cabinets back on, remove tape, place decorations, etc. And my favorite…
• TOTAL COST: $490!!!

Here is the breakdown of the cost:

$110 - paint
$140 – backsplash
$140 – hinges
$50 – hardware {knobs, drawer pulls, handles}
$50 – baskets & décor
TOTAL COST: $490!

We made it!! Thank you so much for looking at all the details of this makeover! I am by no means a professional. In fact – this was my FIRST major home remodeling project! It turned out better than I could have hoped, and has me thinking how many first time remodelers are out there? What was YOUR first home remodel project?? Worried about starting your own project? Don’t! I’m here to tell you – YOU CAN DO IT!!! Thanks for reading! God Bless!






Part of the DIY Showoff Roomspiration Blog Hop:

And "My favorite post of 2011" Link Party at Home Stories AtoZ and TATERTOTS and JELLO BEST OF 2011
This kitchen is partying over at:
Tip Junkie; Today's Creative Blog; Sugar Bee Crafts; Laugh, Love, and Craft;
Eisy Morgan: Inspired by YOU Wednesday; Ginger Snap Crafts; Blue Cricket Designs; Nothing But Country-Creative Creations Tuesday; Delightful Order; Somewhat Simple; Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Creek Cottage; Domestically Speaking; The Shabby Nest; Chic on a Shoestring ; Fingerprints on the Fridge; Tidy Mom; Little Lucy Lu; French Country Cottage; At the Picket Fence; Tatortots and Jello; Be Different, Act Normal; C.R.A.F.T.; CraftOManiac Mondays; The Gunny Sack ; Home Savvy A to Z; Homemaker in Heels; The Gunny Sack