I’m going to have a heart to heart with you for a second… I have struggled with my kitchen for a long time. With kitchens being the most costly thing to update in a home, our kitchen has been just hanging out in its original state for awhile. That’s why I was so excited to start this budget friendly kitchen makeover.
I have tried with all my might to decorate this room to hide all its blemishes and my insecurities. One example being Lemon Farmhouse Kitchen.
It’s not the worst kitchen, but it is outdated.
Well, I have started to give this little kitchen a budget friendly facelift!
It’s still not in our budget to completely gut it out and start over. (Hello to all our other home projects that come first including a back porch that is literally pulling away from the house.) So, I have found budget friendly ways to make this room something I am proud of.
I have a long way to go, but I am so excited about how this kitchen makeover is looking so far that I couldn’t wait to share it!!
I’ll be sharing every project that I do and then at the end I plan to combine all of them into one post so you can truly see the before and after results.
So far, I’ve painted the cabinets, updated all the cabinet hardware and did a fun redo on our countertops.
I’m also planning on…
- redoing the floors
- making a unique and fun accent door on one of my cabinet doors
- updating the refrigerator
- updating the kitchen table
- creating an accent wall
- adding a shelf on the accent wall
- putting in new light fixtures
- updating the décor
So, I have quite a bit left to do, but I could not be more excited especially seeing how the first part is coming along.
Kitchen Makeover
Painting the Cabinets
Originally, I was only going to add new hardware and do touchups to the paint. I like white cabinetry so I was thinking this was the way to go.
However, I also have the world’s two messiest dogs. With white cabinets, I found myself constantly cleaning the lower cabinets and no matter how much I scrubbed Mr. Clean, they still looked dingy and dirty.
So, I decided to paint the lower cabinets a darker color to help hide the grunge look that seemed to be inevitable.
I haven’t always been a huge fan of two-tone cabinets in kitchens so I was SO NERVOUS to attempt this. Honestly, thought I was going to hate it, but it turned out to be the best decision and I could not be happier. Ultimately, it changed the look of the room and made the winning difference.
I removed everything from the cabinets and ended up taking all the doors off and sanding down every inch of the cabinetry- which almost took me an entire day.
I had looked up videos of other people painting their cabinets and it looks like they get it done in a day or two typically.
Nope. Here’s the real, honest truth. This whole process (painting cabinets, switching hardware and redoing my countertops) took me FOUR FULL days.
Guys, I hardly stopped to eat (mostly because all our kitchen supplies were EVERYWHERE) and worked on it for more than 12 hours each day.
I’m not saying this to steer you away, I just want to give you the heads up so you can plan better than I did. Of course, every kitchen and project is different, but make sure to plan more than you might think.
Before you start a painting project, make sure you check out 5 Tips For Painting a Room- Without Using Tape.
So, day one was spent emptying out the kitchen, sanding everything down and removing hardware. Day two was a full day of painting. I did two coats on everything.
(I should also note; part of the reason that it took me longer to sand that day had to do with that the previous owners had painted the screws on the cabinet pulls to the cabinets making it almost impossible to remove. It was a painfully long process getting the hardware off the doors.)
Hardware
On the third day, I put the new hardware on the doors and got all the doors and drawers back in their spots. I love the modern farmhouse look these new cabinet pulls bring to my kitchen.
A couple tips!
- I labeled each door and drawer with tape as I removed them.I put a piece of painter’s tape on the back of the door and write something like “3a” and “3b” on the tape so I could know where the door went when putting them back on. It made the process of putting them back on SO much easier.
- I measured out the cabinet pulls on a piece of painter’s tape, marked the holes and didn’t have to measure every door.I placed the pull on the sticky side of the tape, flipped it over and using a pencil I created a hole in the tape marking the holes for the screws on the pull. Then, I took the tape and placed it on the door or drawer and marked the holes for the screws with a pencil making it so much easier to know where to screw holes for the pulls without measuring every time.
Our hinges are old, self-closing hinges that were silver with rust and cabinet paint giving them a little “character”. I spray painted them a matte black paint and primer spray paint. Some of the hinges had a little too much “character” causing them to not open and close well, so I did purchase these to match my newly painted ones.
In order for the old screws to match, I sprayed a little spray paint in a paper cup, took a paint brush and painted the black on the head of the screw.
Countertops
The countertops. The game changer here. I used contact paper.
Wait, WHAT?! Yup. Contact paper.
For a full, HONEST review of what I did and how, check out this post.
I say honest because I truly give you the real deal with how I feel about this product along with my best tips for tackling this project. Everything you need to know about contact paper on your countertops is answered in this post in question/answer form so that it’s easier to read!
I want you to know, that if you’re reading this, I TRULY appreciate you. You have no idea. I automatically consider you a friend. And as my friend, I want you to have the best knowledge and advice I can give you.
So, truly, when I share things I try to be as honest and real as I can.
I did the countertops on day three as well and I’m really pleased with how it came out and think it really improves the look of the whole room.
Except now it shows just how grungy my floor looks and how off white-yellow my refrigerator looks. But don’t worry, I have big plans for them coming up.
Final Day
On the fourth day, I put another type of contact paper inside all the drawers and all the shelves of the cabinets.
This contact paper I snagged at Target. It’s not quite as durable as the countertop contact paper so I wouldn’t suggest using it for that, but it’s perfect for what I needed.
At this point, I was pretty much a pro at using contact paper.
It took me almost a full day (not quite as long as the other days) to put all that contact paper in, put all of our stuff back in the cabinets and clean up the kitchen.
Roundup
In case you like what you see in any of the pictures, here’s a roundup of the items I got, where I got them and some of why I chose the items I did. Enjoy!
Paint
I got both of these paints in satin. I personally prefer a more matte look to a glossy look, but they suggest for kitchens that you do a more glossy textured paint because it’s easier to clean and kitchens tend to get a lot of traffic. Satin is the closest to matte that still is suggested for kitchens.
Sanding
This is my first electric sander! I can’t tell you how pumped I am to have this. I wanted to sand these cabinets so badly, but the thought of doing it by hand was way too overwhelming for my brain and potential arm cramp. We splurged and purchased this guy and it was so worth it!
I thoroughly sanded our cabinets with 100-grit sandpaper and finished them up with 220-grit.
Contact Paper
I wasn’t planning on doing this. I had collected my plans and was getting ready to start this project when I saw someone I follow on Instagram do this to their countertops and I was immediately intrigued! The fact that I could have countertops that look like that for such an inexpensive price sounded like a dream to me.
This was a last minute decision! I actually went to the store during one of these working days and found this contact paper for the inside of our drawers. It PERFECTLY matches the bottom cabinet color and has a little bit of a marbled look to it to match the counter. It was meant to be.
GAME CHANGERS. You could probably find something around the house that would work as substitutes for these items, but I really liked how well these worked and they’re very inexpensive.
Hardware
I actually picked these pulls out a year or so before I even knew I was going to do this renovation. I fell in love with them after seeing someone I follow on Instagram out something similar on her kitchen. So, I’ve had these for awhile and they were definitely worth the wait!
I did spray paint the hinges, but because they were painted over by the previous owners, some of them were incredible stiff and I couldn’t put them back on. So, I did end up buying a few to replace those.
Conclusion
I really hoped you enjoyed this! It’s not an extensive “How to”, but more of an update on the process of our kitchen. I truly appreciate it if you’ve read this and I hope it gave you inspiration or an idea for you to update your kitchen in a budget friendly way!
Thanks for hanging out. Please leave me a comment on what your favorite part of what I’ve done so far is!
Are you shocked with the contact paper or have you heard of this idea before?
Do you think I made the right decision with the two-tone cabinets?