$800.00 DIY Kitchen Renovation!

I am so excited to share this kitchen makeover with you today!
My friend, and talented Interior Designer, Lee recently renovated her kitchen for $800.00.
After receiving a $3500 quote to reface the cabinets, they decided to tackle the job themselves.
The painted the cabinets, changed the counter-tops, updated the hardware, removed a couple cabinet doors, and added a backsplash.

The kitchen was clean and functional but lacked personality.

The after is oh-so-good. 

A little paint (and elbow grease) can sure go a long way.

I adore the blue base cabinets paired with the brass hardware. So so good.

I love how she removed a couple cabinet doors to create open shelving. It breaks up the heaviness and adds some much needed personality.

The countertops were the biggest splurge ($600.00) but the impact was well worth the money. She painted the cabinets and installed the subway tile backsplash herself! 

In my opinion you can never go wrong with white subway tile and grey grout.

Love it.

Lee was kind enough to share all her sources with us, now we can get this look too!

 Benjamin Moore Hidden Sapphire

Benjamine Moore Snowfall

Successi Bin Pulls

Subway Tile

Butcher Block Countertops

Is that really the same kitchen? 

I want to move in.

Thanks for sharing Lee, you are so talented!

the story & cost of our kitchen renovation

i apologize up front for those that are sick and tired of seeing this kitchen but i've been getting lots of emails asking for details so i kinda need to do this.


this first picture was taken the day we took ownership.  you can see larry has already started ripping out the carpet in the living room.

this kitchen cost $14k to renovate.  i'll tell you exactly the price breakdown at the end of the post.
remember, the kitchen is small and only has 3 base cabinets and one upper (w/o doors) so that kept costs down.
another key to keeping the cost relatively low was using the same layout of basic fixtures that was already here.
i tried to think of ways to have a proper triangle working space but in the end it was impossible.
so now when i cook i get exercise too.

another trick to save money was using the baseboard and crown molding as part of the cabinet design.  we ran the 6" crown around the room, wrapping the upper cabinet in.  and then we ripped 4" off the 10" baseboard and incorporated it into the base cabinet structure.
all 3 cabinets have a furniture look to them now b/c of that.  it's one of my favorite things about this kitchen.

here you can see how the crown and base moldings are incorporated into the cabinets.
i often get asked about whether or not i like having the open cabinets and the answer is Yes.
i love the way they look and i love the way they function.
also, i got used to not having the toe kick really fast.  it is no big deal and again, love the way it looks.

i remember this day so clearly.  the floor was complete and covered with paper and cardboard to protect it and when those cabinets were brought in and the granite was placed on top i think i cried.  yeah, i'm sure i did.  my heart was ready to burst i was so happy.  up until this point i had no idea if any of my ideas were going to really work out.

we started with the flooring in this kitchen b/c i wanted the cabinets to sit on top of the flooring instead of the flooring butting up to them.  see that big old refrigerator?  when we moved it there was a big hole in the floor where it had been leaking.  we knew at that point we were going to have to tile the floor.

we could reuse the kitchen floorboards that were still in good shape in the living room to fill in the large hole that the floor heater left when we tore it out.  so it all worked out nicely.

the cabinets and all the walls and trim throughout the house are painted in benjamin moore's simply white.

(except the office which is ralph lauren mercer)

ahhh, the lovely pantry.

quite scary in there.

i love all the beadboard that the cabinet guy put in.  even the ceiling is beadboarded.

you can see this is where the microwave, toaster and coffee maker is.

it's our breakfast center.

ok so here is the basic cost breakdown, installation is included

kitchen cabinets (includes all baseboards, crown moulding and rebuilding pantry 4k

countertops (honed black granite) 2k

viking range 5k

kohler farmhouse sink 1k

vintage faucet 300.

backsplash (white subway) 300.

flooring (2x2 hex tile) 1400.

-----------

total 14k

you could easily knock $4 or 5k off this if you used a regular stove and sink.
and even more if you can do tile work.

wait...the price for the subway tile is a little low b/c about a year after being here i had the guy come back and tile the entire wall behind the stove.  i think he charged $200 to do that.
and the bamboo blinds are from lowes - i think they are $20 bucks each.
and the drapes are from target and are $20 a pair.

so that is that.
and i hope this answers your questions.

xo
janet

ps

my dear friend sarah from the blog my yellow house recently lost her entire blog!
she has started a new one and i'd love for you to pop over and say hi.
thanks!

one day

Kitchen Renovation | The Before

So you know what this means, right? If I'm posting "befores" of our kitchen, the "after" is around the corner. I'm happy to post that our kitchen renovation is 100% done and the "after" shots will be revealed in a few days.

The before shots are so dramatically different than what we have now, that they deserve their own post. Above are some photos of what the kitchen looked like when we bought the house. The fridge is blocking the doorway, we had a rolly-dishwasher that you had to attach to the sink (that was blocking the doorway to the basement). We had gross peel and sick floor tiles and one ugly light figure. Over the last three years of living in our house we did small minor improvements to the kitchen to make it liveable (and clean). You can see a the "in between stage" in this post. More photos of the kitchen, and how we lived with it for 3 years after the jump.



So above is a shot of what we lived with for the three years after moving in. The kitchen's "in-between" stage is really quite nice. Small changes including new "peel & stick" flooring, fresh paint, and some updates to the eat-in area of the house really make the area feel better. But even with it being cleaned up, main issues still remained. The lighting was terrible, the cupboard space sucked, and our appliances were dying.  I'm pretty excited to show you the "After" because it's a huge improvement. :) YAY!