I was told that painting these cabinets would decrease the value of the home...

Good lord. Who told you that?

Now, what’s your idea of “breaking the bank”—$500? $1,000? $75?

How long do you plan on staying in the home?

What’s behind that big bumpout?

How does the kitchen relate to the rest of house on this level?

What type if flooring is used in those rooms?

On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being you call a handyman to change the lightbulb in your bedside lamp, how handy are you?

The boyfriend who does renovations told me that and it broke my heart! Haha

We will be replacing the peeling flooring with a lighter colored tile. This isn't our forever home which is why I don't want to spend the time and money into making it my dream home.

And just not wanting to spend more than $2-3k.

My handyman aka boyfriend is a level 9 in terms of renovating. He had renovated a duplex most recently but it needed a complete gutting which was why it was easier to start from scratch.

How long do you think you’ll stay there? Depending on the length of tome, is it with it to mess with it?

The rest of the downstairs looks something like this. We will be replacing all the carpet with a light tile and painting the walls a white or very light grey.

Will probably be there for 2-5 years.

Changing out the backsplash for a light cream would make a huge difference. But I agree we need a sense of budget... (Painting cabinets is not cheap!)

Are you painting because you don't like the wall color or because you think grey and white is what everyone else has so you have to have it too? I'm asking because I think the wall color you have now in the living room is quite nice, it looks good with the furnishings you have in there and is a soft, warm, inviting color (as least that's how it's reading on my monitor). But if you don't like it then you don't like it, so...

Painting because I feel like the current color really darkens the space. The photos make it look better because of bright lights and editing. But the entire house is painted this tan/khaki color. Photo attached to show the color a little bit clearer.

^^ Yes, it does look darker and different tone in the additional photos, goes to show what a difference lighting makes!

When my husband gives me a ridiculously stupid answer like that, its because he doesn’t want to do the “project”. I used to fall for it, but I finally told him to just say he doesn’t want to, thanfeed me a BS excuse.

2 to 5 yrs? I'd get a great new french door fridge next year when post covid sales and availability pick up. Its a large kitchen....things fit together fine..it looks in decent shape...sufficient lighting. I think besides the fridge I'd get good looking floor runners and use the space and leave it alone for that next person in 3.75 yrs to deal with. Peeling flooring? not showing up but I guess some vinyl planks could be good. Maybe it would be better to save your money. Things like new carpet and paint are usually calculated as something a new occupant would do as a matter of course.

My realtor had her contractor paint my kitchen white. There are many buyers who don’t want to do work. The Houzz family posters are the exception. I wish I had done it when I lived there. You are right to brighten up the house with lighter colors, remove the carpeting and paint the kitchen. Get better lighting and LED daylight bulbs. It may take you two years to get all this done unless you really attack it. Make sure you have updated appliances too.

If you have a budget of $2 - 3,000. That's not a lot of money. I think just painting all the kitchen cabinets would cost more than that. They would need a professional job to do it.

Replacing all the appliances? To me, that would be another investment that would not fit your budget. And unless the appliances are old and not working properly, I would not replace. I could be wrong, not an expert, but we've always thought you replace appliances yourself when you buy a house. But I haven't bought a house in a long time, so things may have changed.

And pulling up all that carpet and replacing with tile? Are you living in a part of the country where tile is a common flooring in the LR/DR? Here in the Northeast that would be a major mistake. The great majority of people want hard wood. Tile is normally reserved for the kitchen, back hall way or mud room, bathroom floors. And a lot of people even want hard wood in the kitchen. If you are replacing because you don't like the carpeting, I would definitely replace with hard wood. That would be an investment that I would think would increase the value of your house. But again, it may be different regions of the country it might not be true.

If you are going to be there 2-5years, then I would absolutely paint, if you don't like the color it is now. Don't look at it for all that time. And if the kitchen floor is peeling, yes, replace that. That may fit your budget especially if you have help from your boyfriend to save on labor.

Removable peel and stick wallpaper
In the backsplash would be an extremely cheap way to lighten the kitchen. And when it’s time to sell, just peel it back off with no damage.

More cheap lighten things up like you are renting (aka cheap and removable fixes) here: https://youtu.be/h60BSZHGWXY

Paint the walls, install hardware on the cabinets and call it a day. I would not paint cabinets and I would not install new flooring. If painting cabinets is a DIY you can convince the bf to do, it’s labor intensive and timely. If hiring a pro, it’s costly. If you were going to be there 5-10, I’d advise something a little different.

I’m guessing this is a fix and flip where you live in it a few years while fixing it up. If so, that kitchen above the floor is pretty nice so I can see why the renovator boyfriend wants to mostly do nothing. Skip the pulls and mostly everything else. Just cheap removable fixed because people who like dark kitchens already like it as is.

I just took another look at your photos. I just wanted to say, that you have a nice kitchen there. It’s plenty big and has lots of cabinets. It looks like it has granite counters and backsplash. It has room for a good size fridge. It has high ceilings and it’s very bright and clean looking.

Over 5 years, your house should move with the market as far as value goes. You just don’t know what the market will be in 3-5 years. Who would have thought we would have Covid now…so very low inventory. People wanting to stay put, people paying over asking price for a house they want.

People buy often based on the location, the school system, the lot, the neighborhood, the square footage of the home and maybe the bones of the house. People either like a kitchen the way it is or they could plan to just do it over completely. So, sometimes, it’s a waste of money for the homeowner to renovate to please some unknown perspective buyer, who could move in and pull out everything you did. They like the house but not your renovations. [g].

So, do what makes you feel happier to be in the house and save your money to put toward your dream house. That would be what I would do in your situation. Just my two cents. :-)

Haven’t tried it, but there are magnetic skins that look like stainless steel. If it works, it would brighten up that big black side of the fridge.

https://bestapplianceskins.com

If it were me during covid, and I could only have on fridge, I’d hang on to the full size. Aesthetics aside, it holds a lot more and fewer trips to the grocery store is a lot safer.

It’s interesting - if you go over to Rebecca Robeson’s YouTube channel (she’s an interior decorator that does the multimillion dollar California costal properties), she did not update her own kitchen which was much more dated than yours until right before she sold. Even though she redid other parts of her house and that’s how she makes her YouTube ad revenue. I suspect that’s because redoing kitchen is very expensive and she knows whatever she did, it would be out of date when she sold and you only get extra for your kitchen if it is exactly on trend when you sell.

But, on the other hand Sue, you're talking about high end expensive properties. When you're talking about the average home, I don't see how that can be true. Look at the OP, Kris, she has stated this is not her 'forever home', is it going to be someone's forever home? You can over renovate for the home and the neighborhood and the price range, right?

And how do you justify redoing a kitchen right before you sell, just so it won't be 4 or 5 years past current trends? It's expensive to renovate it, aind if she was going to do that, why not do it as soon as she moved in and get the benefit of it while living there? If a home buyer needs to have a kitchen that is that new, than something is wrong. And no matter how on trend it was, if it were me, and I was looking at a new kitchen that was just done, I'd be disappointed. I'd rather buy the house for less and use the savings to do the kitchen just the way I want it.

Perhaps Rebecca Robeson did not use her kitchen to speak of. This is more common than you may think. She simply found it adequate for the period of time for her needs... but with her experience , doing it was not a big deal .....which is not the case for most folks ... it’s usually a lot of research and work.

Rebecca Robeson did not use her kitchen. She can’t cook. But she did wait to reno the expensive things (kitchen, master bath, master closet) until right before putting her modest home on the market. She works in the fancy places, but she lived in a very average older San Diego home.

https://youtu.be/trfByXceK8w

Prairiemoon is right about tiling the living room. If your bf can change the floor to hardwood, then do it. Tile can be a huge turn off to many buyers. Beth gave you sound advice.

I looked at the video Sue and that's an average home? Listed for $1 million +?

I guess I just don't see that as an example of how the average person should renovate a home. Personally, not being a designer or in the industry, I would never put that much work and money into a home I was not going to live in for a long time.

It’s listed as Pending on Redfin, so it worked. The older homes in the nicer areas of California are a bit weird. Most of the value is in the lot. So buyers usually either want a tear down, or something completely renovated and move in ready. If you are selling anything in between, you get the tear down rate. So you should either do nothing or a lot to maximize the investment return.

But is that true everywhere in the country Sue, or just in California?

And neither of those approaches seem great to me. You spend some money to renovate a little so you can enjoy a home for a few years and you're throwing your money away? Or you renovate to the level that a designer would do?

It's not optimal for enjoying life. But going to work to make money isn't always optimal for enjoying life either. It's a tradeoff. Is living with an outdated but well functioning kitchen worse than spending an extra year of your life working at a job you don't like to pay for the renovation?

Per the location where it applies it's probably an expensive real estate land thing. People paying a lot of money for the lot expect either house perfection or a tear down to achieve perfection. Having a mediocre house on a million dollar lot just doesn't make sense.

There's making money and then there's making money. The kind of renovations represented in Rebecca Robeson's home have to cost a small fortune from the little I know about it. Not something you pay for with the surplus of a year's income for the average person. But, on Houzz, I doubt we are talking about the average person for the most part. Many of the renovations I see on Houzz, are not something the average person can afford to do. So I think that is where the disconnect is. And achieving perfection? Not something I ever expect to happen in any area of life, and especially in renovating.

Don't paint the cabs, but you could paint some walls. Nice hardware would work. Leave the appliances alone unless they start to fail. I can't see the backsplash well enough on the phone to say whether it needs replacing or not.

Prairiemoon - that master bath is on a small budget. The tub surround and countertop are the original 1970’s surfaces. The shower slabs were free and she got the bath hardware company to sponsor the video (aka probably got free hardware).

https://youtu.be/wAjxOVAbIwQ

Sue, Not trying to argue a point, just trying to express a point of view. I've done that. You see it differently, clearly. If you are trying to say, that the remodel we are talking about did not cost a small fortune, I'll believe you. But at the same time. I think you've also made my point. She is in the business. She has companies to sponsor parts of her remodels and resources that the average person is unlikely to have. And I'm sure a lot of talent. Your point of view does not cancel out mine or vice versa.

Prariemoon - agreed

Where is the house located?

The house is fine as it is. If you know that you will not be staying longer than 5 years, live with it and just save for that dream house. Five years goes by FAST. Spruce up with accessories. I cannot imagine hating the way that house looks so much that I can't live with it for just 2-5 years. If the carpet stinks, replace it. If the appliances break, replace them. I happen to like the color of your cabinets and the walls. And it's dark in those 2 photos because you don't have any lights on and the blinds are closed.

It also looks like you’ve got undercounted lighting. If it’s florescent, they changing out the bulbs as florescent bulbs degrade over time.