When we moved into our home, nothing about the kitchen was horrible…but nothing was very exciting either. It’s a good size but was very, well, WHITE. The walls, the trim, the cabinets, the countertops, the backsplash: you got it, white. SOMEDAY we will do the big tear-out, bust through the wall, full-gut remodel. But for now: Time for a mini kitchen remodel.
So we had to keep the biggies: the cabinets, the countertop, and the flooring. I’ll be honest I’m not a huge fan of our clay tile flooring, but that has to stay too (for now). So instead I had to dress up what we already had, and take away a couple of the eyesores along the way.
And I’ll tell you now, everything I bought came from a big box store. Thank-you Lowes.
Here is what we started with:
And while I did hire out some carpentry, everything is very DIY friendly. And best of all, we did the entire mini kitchen remodel for around $1000 total! And now this is a kitchen I can live with for awhile (but just check out my Pinterest Kitchen Board if you have any doubts that I already have my dream kitchen designed in my mind already!) I created ten mini fixes to add some sparkle into a boring kitchen. For Part I I’m sharing my first five mini kitchen remodels:
MINI REMODEL STEP #1: Fake a high-end look with moldings
I added double moldings to all of my existing cabinets. The cabinets were in fine shape and have a simple door style, so I knew we had to keep them. The previous owners had even painted them white for me. But they were just a touch boring, so I dolled them up with moldings. I added a 3” crown molding along the tops of the wall cabinets. I also added a smaller ¾”molding to the bottom of my wall cabinets. I did hire a carpenter to install these items, but this could easily be done by a weekend warrior!
MINI REMODEL STEP #2: Paint is your best (and cheapest) friend
I painted the white walls a warm gray called “Mega Greige”. The previous homeowners had literally painted every surface of our home an off-white color, so everything just blended in. Giving the walls a bit of color helped the cabinets pop
MINI REMODEL STEP #3: Create some cottage charm where there is none
I added a pair of corbels under each wall cabinet. This gives a great built-in custom look for a fraction of the cost. I used these corbels from Lowes for $19 each.
MINI REMODEL STEP #4: Mimic a high-end look with this $5 tip
I added a “glazed” finish to all of the cabinets. This was the best $5 I spent all month. I think one Starbucks frappucino is worth a swap for a whole new cabinet upgrade. Wanna try it out yourself? Click HERE to follow the simple instructions with $5 worth of stain and items from around your house.
MINI REMODEL STEP #5: Use wallpaper in unexpected locations
My house came also came with a (you guessed it) white laminate backsplash. A WAY outdated look. I asked the hubby to install a bead board backsplash and got “The Look”. So I knew that wasn’t going to happen. After brainstorming for a way to create a new backsplash that I could do myself (with precious few carpentry skills), I found paintable bead board WALLPAPER from Lowes! I bought two pre-pasted rolls for $32 and after a couple of hours during naptime I had a new backsplash! I painted it to match the cabinets and added the same glaze as I did to my cabinet doors. Want to try it yourself? Buy it HERE.
I also swapped out the dated chrome device plates they had for ivory colored ones to blend in with the backsplash. It cost less than $10 to do this update and it made a previous eyesore go away. Out of all of the things to bring focus to in your kitchen, outlets should not be one of them!
Those are the first five updates, but Part II has the rest of our mini kitchen remodel, including my favorite update to the kitchen-our new faux hood! Stay tuned and I’ll share with you the rest of our mini make-overs! In the meantime, you can check out some more Real Postbox Projects HERE! Are you itching for a new kitchen (or any room in your house) but don’t know where to start? For the month of July only I’m offering $100 off ANY Postbox-see how it works at Postbox Designs! Or you can always email me at kristin@postboxdesigns.com where I love to chat all things design.
Stay tuned for Part II…
Leave a Reply