Our budget-friendly kitchen makeover is coming to an end (amen and alleluia). It's been a lot of fun, a load of work, and a process that I'm happy to be finished with. But, I'm so happy with the end result. This was the very first room in our new 1970's ranch home to get made over (click here for the entire tour). As I've said before...if I didn't do the kitchen first, I may have never done it. 

This post has more photos than any other post on this blog, y'all. And I've been blogging here for five years, so that's pretty crazy! But, I wanted to show you every bit of this new space. I actually won't be too chatty in this post...I kind of want the photos to speak for themselves. I will interject every now and then with some info. 

Budget-Friendly Kitchen Makeover

We kept this budget-friendly in several ways...we kept the cabinets and just repainted them, I refinished the counter tops as I just mentioned, did some "cover up work" on the back splash (in a manner of speaking), and we did 90% of the work ourselves (my friend Krista did come and help me with the mountain of paint work and my dad installed hinges for us).

We did get new appliances, but that was partly due to an allowance from the seller, a great sale, and the fact that I ordered all white appliances to save some change (and fingerprints...don't hate me, but I'm just not a stainless person). We also didn't do recessed lighting like we did in our previous kitchen...I love recessed lighting, but it would have been a huge undertaking in here with wiring, drywall, texture, etc. We did have new LED fluorescent fixtures put in to replace the older ones...they're a lot more energy efficient and the light is a lot cleaner, too (not yellow, like the previous ones).

We did redo the floors in the whole house (with exception of the bedrooms)...so that carried into here, as well. That was our biggest splurge.

Before Photos

After Photos:

"Painted" Countertops

I have had a bajillion questions (give or take) on the counter tops. I've been ridiculously vague, and for that I apologize. I'm not 100% sure I'll do a complete tutorial...I'm still thinking. But basically, they cost me $40 and I refinished them myself with a boatload of sanding (and then more sanding), several layers of a bonding primer, paint (I know, don't leave me just yet), and then a high gloss finish. It was a process. It's a temporary fix, but we may end up keeping them for a while...I actually really like the look of them and the way they feel. My process was interrupted on its last day of curing (which is why I'm not comfortable doing a complete tutorial...I think the outcome would have been different if I hadn't had to make fixes). Our contractor missed my text that said "don't go near the counter tops for the next 72 hours...they're curing". He was on the last leg of some small jobs he was doing for us before move in. I walked in about 18 hours after the last coat of finish to see him standing on them (standing, y'all...no drop cloth or anything...just shoe to counter top), texturing the ceiling. I ABOUT DIED. Four days of hard work came crashing down. 

He didn't completely ruin them...but my touch ups and re-dos take away from the glory that they could have been. It still kind of makes me want to throw up. 

I have to interject a wee bit here. This is the pantry. In my previous home, we had an enormous walk-in pantry, but this one actually is a lot more efficient (who woulda thunk?). The kitchen itself has a ton more cabinets (even though we lost the one section over the bar) than our previous one, so I can store small appliances in places other than the pantry. I use the section to the right of the pantry (the upper cabinets) as a baking area...perfect with my canisters and mixer right there at the ready.

For even more details on the breakfast area, click here for last week's post. 

For more details on our farmhouse sink and the DIY artwork above it, click here. 

For more details on our hardware, click here. 

My coffee bar shrunk a bit from the last house, but I still have all the essentials. 

This "Cawfee" tray is not misspelled. It's the Brooklynese line of dishes from my very favorite store in NYC. I also have the creamuh, shugah, buttah, sawlt, and peppa pieces, and a dishclawth. My blue Dachshund creamer is from there, too. The quaint little store is called Fishs Eddy (again, not misspelled). I've mentioned on here a few times that my husband wants to relocate to Brooklyn once we're retired, right? Now that we bought this house, we're on the fence, but we still celebrate our love for Brooklyn any way we can. ;)

This is the more everyday look for our table. I'm a tray person. Oh, and there's my sawlt and peppa that I mentioned above.

A big, HUGE thank you to ATG Stores who supplied our new lighting, farmhouse sink, and hardware in here. They have an incredible selection. Check them out here.

Neglect your chores like me and don't miss a thing:

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