Kitchen Makeover | Confessions of a Serial Do-it-Yourselfer

Yay! I am so excited to finally be sharing my kitchen makeover. I ve had family in town for the past eleven days and all I wanted to do was finish all those last-minute details so I could share! Well it s finally done.

When I was originally thinking about redoing my kitchen, I was thinking solid surface counters, new tile back splash, farmhouse sink, new floors, you get the idea.  Enter the husband. (Known as hubby in more affectionate times.)  You see, this was his castle long before I became the queen of it. We both owned our own homes when we met. We sold mine and I took over his  decided to live in his. Before I came along and made him the happiest man on Earth, he had tiled the back splash, replaced the counters with beveled laminate that he says resembles granite (from a distance if you squint through one eye), and tiled the floor.

In all his budget-consciousness, he could not see us replacing perfectly good counters.  No new counters=no new sink.  He loved his tile. The back splash was pretty, but just darker than I would have liked.  SO I am telling you all of this to say that my makeover is very basic; I painted, and made a few minor changes, and even though I had to forgo pretty much all a lot of what  was on my wish list, the result is still pretty awesome! Let s get to it!  I ll show you each area before and then after

Here is the main view of my kitchen before (after I had just started prepping):

And after:

As you can see, I kept the fabulous (ahem) counter tops and the tile back splash. You ll also notice another compromise

I did not paint the wood trim around the windows. My husband loved the wood there, so I resisted taking my brush to it. I like the bit of contrast now.

I added a shelf above the window. Before it felt like the window was just floating and there was no end to the kitchen on top.

The window treatments were made from a set of 84 long curtain panels I found at Homegoods. I originally made a faux roman shade for each window, but it hung way too low on this one, so I chopped it up and redid it not completely in love, but it ll do.

The huge space in the center of our kitchen always seemed like it needed something. (The rug is there to cover up an ugly tile pattern underneath.) I found this cart at a yard sale for $15 and it is just what this empty space needed!

You can see the before of this cart here. I was told it actually came from Walmart. Looks pretty dang fabulous to me!

I also love the bit of extra storage it adds.

My favorite project was adding glass (or is it?) to that one cabinet.

This was a really daunting project for me, but it wasn t as difficult as I had built it up to be, and I love the result!

This is the other side of the kitchen. We have about the most open-concept house possible. A blessing and a curse. Try to avert your eyes from the tile/fake wood/carpet combo there. I m thinking new hardwoods or laminate are still in the works

Here was the backside:

It looks so much prettier with the wainscot. I finally got to use my new nail gun I got for Christmas! It made this project so much easier.

Here is the view to the dining room very open concept

The floors are definitely next on my list. I m leaning towards laminate. There are so many beautiful choices now that have the look and feel of beautiful hardwood. (If you have any recommendations, I d love to hear in the comments below!)

I love how light and airy it feels now. If I could, I would have a little beach cottage right beside the ocean.

Remember my toaster oven cover I made not too long ago?

It looks so much more at home now:

You can see the full tutorial here .

Brennan kept popping in and out of the pictures. Finally he found his Spongebob band aids. Why do kids love band aids so much? ( and bed head that only a mother could love. )

My hydrangeas are so pretty. I wish I could enjoy them like this all year long. There are two kinds here, but if you are in the market for hydrangeas, I love the Endless Summer varieties. They bloom on old and new wood. These almost have a bit of a lilac tint this year.

One more wide shot:

That s my kitchen makeover. I painted the cabinets, added a shelf above the window and added a couple of glass doors. I was fortunate that we already had decent appliances.  The changes I made did not break the bank! My only regret is that I didn t do it sooner.

The actual prep and painting of my cabinets took me four days, with one full day of prep, three days of painting and waiting for paint to dry. I hung the doors back up on day five. I will follow up very soon with a complete run-down on what kind of paint I used, how I prepped, and how I painted my cabinets. I m aiming for Monday or Tuesday. If anyone is interested in how I replaced my raised door panels with glass, I d be glad to share the how-to on that as well.

Update: Presto! Here s all the details on how I painted my kitchen!

I m happy now that my hubby is so sensible.  I may not have gotten anything from much of what was on my original wish list,  but the end result is still so much prettier than the before! I actually want to be in my kitchen now and I just can t stop looking at it. Actually I don t have a choice, there are no walls  down here, but I really do want to keep looking at it.  I hope you like it too!

XO,

If you like what you see, there are several ways to follow along!