Kitchen Reveal! The Big Picture.

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Here it is! My kitchen reveal. I couldn't wait to show you all.

Realtors say the kitchen and bath are the most important updates in a home. That's why I'm not TOO upset about dropping $5k on the kitchen by the time all was said and done. Granted, this took place over time. It didn't happen all at once, but it was still way more than I wanted to spend.

Still...when I see how easy it is for people to spend $25k+ on a kitchen remodel, I don't feel so bad.

All labor, materials, paint, appliances & supplies are included in the $5k.

Kitchen before:

To cut costs, we tried to keep the layout as original as possible.

During:

Those funky square holes in the wall are where the wall drawers were. They were unsightly, stopped flow and did not make use of all the room we had under the stairs. We opened up the pantry instead by removing a wall on the inside and closing the wall here. 

Hubby's DIY built in for the stove/microwave combo re replaced the island range with. 

After:

The 5k included appliances. Lowe's has a wonderful program where they will beat any competitors price by 10%. So I waited for local appliance sales then I called Lowe's up. It. was. awesome.

The stove range on the over sized island was in a dangerous place for my kids so there was no way around replacing that. We actually tore down the old island ourselves and my husband built a DIY stove/microwave combo to house the new, safer location where the double oven used to be. He also did a DIY built-in for the fridge. It looks so much more polished now! You'll find plenty of how-to's on credible websites like HGTV, Old House Magazine, and DIY network. My husband just winged it. I don't think he actually had a plan at all. He is a natural improviser. I don't get that because I am a planner. For me, not having a plan spells disaster. For him, he loses all will to do anything when it's planned. Everything turns out ok in the end, I guess. Just different ways of doing things.

Long story short, as I mentioned in a previous post, this is our first DIY everything. We don't have any kind of education or experience in the area of home construction. Everything has been research and learning for me... and winging it for him. He's very smart and careful and nothing has caught on fire or exploded yet so I guess I'm ok. I guess.

The most frustrating part for us both is that nothing is square or level in this house. Nothing. Everything else is easy, once you get it down. However, caulk covers a multitude of sins.

By painting the cabinets light it really brightened up the space. Painting the area above the cabinets the same color made the small kitchen feel bigger and more unified, drawing the eye all the way up to the ceiling rather than having a stopping point at the cabinets like before. We also removed some of the cabinet doors for open shelving. 

We did a DIY wood plank counter top. You can find plenty of tutorials on that via Pinterest. I love that people are doing follow up posts after some time has passed to let others know how things hold up! In the future, I will have a few of those as well.

For the counter top color I  used Miniwax stain in Gunstock & Early American. I use Butcher Block to protect it. You can find it @ Lowe's. It's food safe and much easier to repair than polyurethane or acrylic coatings.

We used the same "set in" sink we had, but we under-mounted it. The chandelier was a $2 garage sale score. The faucet was one I'm not so excited about.

One night, while the (not so frugal) hubster was fixing an emergency plumbing problem, he rushed off to Lowe's and bought a replacement fixture he thought I would like. And he was right. I just didn't like the price tag that came with it. $200. Ouch! $200!?! I appreciated his thoughtfulness but inside I was panicking. Everything turned out ok... and I do love the faucet, but I recommend shopping Amazon for fixtures. Not only is it a lot easier to find great deals on brands built to last, you also get customer product reviews. We have wished we had those reviews handy when we've bought a few things in store before. Plus, Amazon offers a lot bigger selection. I scored some beautiful, sturdy faucets for our bathrooms on Amazon clearance for.... get this... $50 down from $600! Holy smokes! Sometimes I question how true that original retail price really is... but these had terrific reviews and I've now had one installed for a year and LOVE it! We have had absolutely no problems with it and always receive compliments on how much other people love it.

For our backsplash, we DIY installed faux brick paneling from Lowe's and painted it in the same shade of Sherwin Williams Summer White that we used on the rest of the kitchen. They have held up beautifully.

I used satin for the walls, semi gloss for the cabinets and gloss for the backsplash.

(closer look at wood countertops & faux brick backsplash)

The island is a dresser makeover. It was given to my sister by a friend of ours. When she moved, she gave it to me and it is now and island. I used Rustoleum spray paint in Dark Walnut to paint the dresser before I painted the stripe using the SW Summer White we used on the rest of the kitchen. I just pray painted the original hardware. I always prime first using Rustoleum auto primer, then used a Rustoleum Hammered Bronze spray paint. I also added legs that I picked up at Lowe's for cheap. 

For the stairs wall, we were only able to cut a whole to open it up a little because of structural reasons. I would have loved to open them up all the way, but the professional costs are astronomical and we were not comfortable (nor knowledgeable) enough to do it ourselves. Still... what we DID do really helped to open up the room so much and unite the kitchen and dining area. We needed for things to feel more open. The rooms in this house are very small except for a huge living room and master bedroom. Was that a 70's thing? I don't understand the proportions. Well... it is what it is, and tearing down walls is labor intensive. Costly too, if you hire someone. So we shall live with it and do the best we can to create and open and airy feel. Paint does so much, and it's not expensive on the scale of home reno expenses, nor is it labor intensive. I guess. Personally, I hate painting. But it isn't hard. Just time consuming. 

(view into the dining area)

We hired a day laborer to paint and finish the drywall work on the portion of the stairs that we opened up. The $5k covered that too. So there was definitely room for more money saving. If you do the labor yourself or use your current appliances, the cost becomes much less. I got overwhelmed with everything and wound up spending $1800 on the day laborer costs to help out with the amount of work.

And last but not least... the flooring is resilient vinyl plank flooring found at Lowe's. I haven't been particularly thrilled with this flooring, but over all I'm happy. It scratches easily but can be covered up with crayon. Other than that, it's very easy to install.

That concludes the kitchen reveal. Thank you so much for reading! Until next time...