Slowly, slowly redoing our kitchen

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

The before photo is from August 2012. Since then we've changed the sink and faucet, painted the countertop with Giani Countertop paint, changed the backsplash and just today changed the hardware and polished the daylights out of the cabinets.

Not done, of course. We need to fill the holes from the center pulls and touch them up with a stain pen. We're thinking of painting the cabinets. The color is still undetermined. We might do an off-white or a red. We're fortunate to have a cabinet that we can practice on in the garage that we took out of the kitchen.

Obviously, this is being done on a shoestring. We paid about $125 for the sink and faucet, got the wall tile on clearance at $1.25 a square foot. Giani paint we got on sale, two kits for $50 per kit, but we have enough to do the bathrooms as well. We probably spent $160 or so on the hardware - also on sale. Given all that, we've spent less than $500 so far!

It would be nice to have a contractor come and just gut and redo it all...but all in all, I'm amazed the difference the hardware makes. :)

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Dytecture

10 years ago

Yes, looks good.

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Comments (9)

sharonsmithnc
10 years ago
You must be so proud Lilion! I agree that everyone would love to have an endless about of cash to do all we have to do with homes that are aging just as we are...I truly would love to have the creativeness and expertise of a designer, I admire their ability to get it perfect the first time. My husband and I are just beginning to renovate a 10 year old home and it is so helpful to have a wonderful blend of us DIYers and the advice of gracious designers. Together, we should be able to accomplish all of our projects!
Excellent work Lilion!
lilion thanked sharonsmithnc
decoratinglady5
10 years ago
You are doing a good job..you will get there!!
lilion thanked decoratinglady5
lilion
Original Author
10 years ago
Our house was built about 1970. We've lived here 12 years and just really haven't gotten much done to it. There's simply too many other things to spend our money on while raising a child and now he's headed to college but we've had all we can take! So college will get most of our cash, but we're determined to finish our projects. The tile floor we had done in the kitchen and dining room about 5 years ago, and it is annoying because we had an installer (friend's husband) who was a professional installer but who just didn't make it right when it became clear the grout was cracking and it now needs redone. If I suddenly came into money I'd change to hardwood or the hardwood-look tile but that now has to wait. I don't know when we'll get around to the painting of the cabinets, but I can live with them for a while longer now.
diyher
10 years ago
nice work, but you didn't say which was before or after :) I'm assuming the one on the left is before? We too are trying to do our kitchen on a shoestring since both our jobs changed drastically since 2008. I'm looking into painting my oak cabinets, but just the top half and stain the bottom a bit darker than it is now. We've been in our house for 18.5/yrs, original owners and just gradually painted rooms as I had time, money and more of an idea of how I wanted to decorate. In the beginning, just got used to the "painters white" :))

One question I have is, the picture on the left has handles in the center of the door, how did you fill the whole and not have it show since it looks like the new version is still stained? Whatever you did, you did a good job, because it isn't noticeable at all :)
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lkg1984
10 years ago
Amazing what new jewelry can do. Good eye, keep us posted!
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lilion
Original Author
10 years ago
diyher, yes, the one on the left with the center pulls is "before". We actually haven't done anything with the holes yet. The doors have a groove running down the center and that is where the hole is, They actually aren't too noticeable, but I've bought stainable wood putty and I'm planning on filling them with that (I've done one door, not shown, and it fills nicely) then taking one of those stain "pens" and coloring the putty, hopefully blending with the doors. It only has to do until we get around to painting. Hopefully before another full year has passed.

Thanks for the nice comments everyone.
glitzy
10 years ago
Your countertops look amazing! Whenever you get around to painting your cabinets, preparation is crucial to a good outcome. Wash them down with fine steel wool and TSP to remove any trace of grease. The best paint to use is Annie Sloans chalk paint. You won't need to sand or prime your cabinets first as you would with any other paint. This paint settles beautifully in the grain of the oak and looks gorgeous. Finish up with the varnish that goes with her chalk paint. You won't be sorry. This is an amazing product and it comes in lovely colors. You can see it online and order sample pots and test it on your extra cabinet. Dont forget to paint inside your cabinets, but I would use a less expensive paint to save money.
I have done at least 12 kitchens in my life (I'm old) but it is so rewarding! Good luck, post pictures!
lilion thanked glitzy
lilion
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Thank you glitzy. That paint is so easy and for us, the only way to go. Because of how our counters and cabinets are built we can't remove the countertops without destroying the upper cabinets (and possibly the lower). We did the paint in August last year and it is a tad fragile, but really no more so than laminate. What we previously had was yellow fake marble - ick. We're careful to use thick trivets, but it still looks great. I'd never heard of using chalk paint on cabinets and had planned on buying paint made specifically for cabinets. I'll have to look into the chalk paint more.