Kitchen Makeover 2013

My kitchen makeover 2013 was long overdue. Our house has been a drain on our finances since buying it in 2008 and every room has or will be gutted and renovated. The 12 gallons of KILZ was to seal the floors upstairs because the previous owner and his family let the numerous dogs use the carpet as a bathroom. Gross. At times I was gagging and wishing I had not bought this house but we needed a home and this was the only one in our price range. We paid too much but we wanted our kids to stay in the school district and in the same subdivision. You cannot look back and say ‘what if’ unless you want to drive yourself crazy. Life is what you make it and for me that means turning this filthy house into a cozy home with my clearance finds and ‘think outside the box’ personality.

I want to let you know my kitchen was gutted down to the studs and the floor ripped up. I literally stuck to the stove (I had rubber gloves and long sleeves on) because it was so caked on with grease and filth. The kitchen sink had to be torn out because the previous owner used it as his ashtray and the right side drain and pipes were plugged with cigarette butts. I couldn’t even get the cabinets clean with a sharpened putty knife and heavy duty, almost passing out from the toxic fumes, cleaners I used. I wish I had pictures but it is probably best I do not because it would remind us how naive we were when we bought this house. One word of advice- get a home inspection before you buy a home. We knew we were buying a fixer upper but what we did not know as the extent of the structural damage and years of neglect the previous owner hid behind fresh paint.

I am finishing up the kitchen this month- February 2016. Do not know why it took me so long and there are really no good excuses. However, I was burned out from renovating which happens to the best of us. In 2013 I did this makeover around $30 because the paint was a mistint and the backsplash was clearance finds. I made my own chalk paint which did not hold up by the handles of the cabinets that are frequently used. The color matches the granite (which was a fluke) and really looks nice but blue gray was not the intended choice. I wanted gray but when I find a gallon of mistint paint for $5 that was pretty close to what I wanted, I went for it.

The handles were free. Yes, free, and now I know why. They stink. So here is a recommendation when choosing handles- make sure they are not like this design (which is open ended) because they will catch your robe, sweater, and even belt loops when you get to close. I do not know how many times I ripped a hole in a shirt or pants because they got caught. I used what I had and the handles look nice but what looks nice does not always mean it is a good thing.

My kitchen makeover in 2013 was not complete because I needed to add trim above the cabinets to close up the gap between the ceiling and top of cabinet and crown around the ceiling. Remember the color of the cabinets was not my first choice but it does look good with the granite island and cooktop area (the granite has blue splotches). I wanted gray but sometimes when you are on a budget you do what you got to do. I would not normally paint beautiful wood but my cabinets were mismatched and painting them dramatically improved the kitchen and made the mismatched cabinets less ‘mismatched’.

You can have a beautiful kitchen on a budget. I am real and sometimes I make mistakes, take too long to finish, or just put something off until I find the item on clearance or come up with a cheaper way to do it. I just am that way. Keeping it real. You won’t find me staging my work area or my home and garden because I am a messy DIYer and an even messier gardener. My kitchen does look like the pictures and living in a fixer upper requires lots of creativity, ingenuity, and patience.

I hope I have given you some inspiration to dream about fixing up your home. One step at a time. Just remember I had to gut my kitchen and start all over. Overall it probably cost us less than $3,000 when it should have cost around $12,000. Keeping it real is what I am about- and a lot of my luck finding deals to create my dream kitchen.

Thank you for stopping by and if you ever have a question, feel free to contact me.