I was going to wait until I had really great pictures of the kitchen to show… but as it turns out we get perfect picture light in our kitchen at 4:00…. Aaaaaand I’m not home. In fact, I won’t even be home in the daylight until Saturday and I didn’t want to wait to show you what we did… so, basically I owe you optimal daylight pics.
Anyway
When we last left my kitchen, there was a mushroom cloud of dirt:
Not so pretty.
With Jeff’s spring break, we were sure we were going to be able to put up the new shelves in a jiffy.
And then we had a few things to take care of…
And then a few more…
A trip to Ikea…
And before we knew it it was Saturday and Jeff was in the attic nailing plywood and our kitchen looked abandoned and disgusting… kinda like this:
So we realized we better not let Monday come around without finishing or we’d be eating fast food for another week– and bathing suit season is upon us.
So we stayed up until 1 AM working on it, finished up and went to bed barely taking time to survey our work… here’s what I woke up to the next morning:
AFTER
As for the other side of the kitchen… well we ran into a snag. Remember the yellowish vinyl backing behind the stove? Well, apparently they had glued it on. So we were left with a gluey mess that no amount of scraping and sanding could smooth, so right now, it’s exposed until we find a weekend to tile a new backsplash– probably the most expensive part about this process. So it currently sits unfinished like this:
Since I’m not happy with the wall color I haven’t settled on a tile color but I am definitely thinking subway tile. It might be that we don’t do anything until we replace the counter tops… besides, there’s lots of things to do in the meantime.
But this is the first time we could really see the direction the kitchen is going… and aside from the paint, I’m really happy with it. The kitchen suddenly feels quite large and my big counter space complaint is no longer an issue!
Here’s our cost breakdown so far:
Grundtal Ikea shelf (used as pot rack): 14.99
Gruntal s-hook pack: 2.99 x4 (I like extras) = 11.96
Asker container (two large) 7.99 x 2 = 15.98
Asker small container 3 = 17.97
Grundtal rail = 6.99
Brackets .50 each x 4 = $2.00
Pine shelf (Lowes) = $22.45 (after 10% discount coupon)
Primer 11.67 (after 10% discount coupon)
Valspar paint 20.98
So total our kitchen cost: $124.99
I feel like we’ve added so much space in our kitchen this way. I’m really pleased with where it’s going!
So what’s your cheapest home makeover/renovation story?
Just joining us? check our or cheap kitchen renovation from the demolition begins and Kitchen Makeover part Deux- The Demolition Continues
Your kitchen is looking great! Also – I want your tea kettle, where’s it from?
Thanks and thank you for reading the blog!!
I’m excited about the direction the kitchen is going in but trying to be patient because we’re definitely not there yet, we’re going to put another set of shelves about the rail against the door hopefully this weekend… and by we, I mean Jeff since I’ll be at rehearsal all weekend.
As for the tea kettle, there was a surprisingly amazing selection of green tea kettles at Marshalls and my mom and I picked up this one for $25. In case you can’t find it there here’s the link to the actual kettle http://www.chantal.com/bridge-teakettle.html. (I love the pink one but it doesn’t go with our house.)
you’re on apartment therapy re-nest!!! http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/kitchen/before-38-after-kitchen-renovation-for-only-125the-mother-blog-147283
WOW!!!! AMAZING!!! thanks for telling me! I’ve been out for the week and just able to catch up!! WOO!
You’re on apartment therapy!!!! Re-nest baby!!
WOO!!!
I love what you’ve done to this kitchen. Not that I disliked it before, but you took a really traditional design and turned it into something totally modern, functional and unique! The cutlery holders are great, along with the rest of your open concept storage.
We’re all for re-working what you have, instead of going out and buying something new. It’s cost effective and so gratifying to know that you’ve done the work on your own! It makes the end result that much more enjoying. Thanks for sharing your remodel – I’ll be sure to pass it on.
Thank you so much. I used to feel pretty boxed in. and now it suddenly feels so open. We’re still going (more demolition on it’s way) but we’re trying to do it little bits at a time to avoid getting overwhelmed.
Thank you for reading the blog and for passing it along!!