$150 Kitchen Makeover!
June 13, 2011 by Redefining Décor
Yes, you read the title of this post correctly.
When we moved into our condo, we knew that making over each room to our taste was going to be a continuous work in progress.
One room that we have always wanted to tackle but couldn’t come up with thousands of dollars to do so was the kitchen. We do an impressive amount of entertaining. I have found myself a bit embarrassed about how dated the kitchen looked with its all beige, all the time style.
After what was the longest winter in my own memory, I took charge and decided to just go nuts with it. I set a $150 dollar budget for the entire project and a three day weekend to get it all done. I’m talking countertops, cabinets, the works. I was in school this winter every other weekend, so free time was at an absolute premium. Now, my loving husband knows when I get that look in my eye and I’ve sent him detailed email lists of what I’ve got in mind to just safely back away from the Kate. This particular project was no different, except that he would frequently poke his head in the kitchen to make sure I wasn’t destroying the most important room in the house. This was all me and if it failed, I no doubt would have never heard the end of it.
Without further ado…here are the before shots:
Beige
- Before you start, it is really important to scrub the heck out of the countertops.
Doing ALL of the dishes beforehand? Nah... I spy a Piper.
My first decision was to re-surface the countertops. After a great deal of googling, I found this great product called Giani Granite Kits. It is a specialty paint that changes your countertop laminate surface into a granite finish. I won’t go into too much detail, because they get PLENTY of free advertising on other home blogs, but needless to say, it was well worth the cost and pretty easy if you followed the instructions. One minor tweek: Get a sea sponge roller and paint the paint on it. Don’t dip directly into the paint. Trust me on this.
Step 1: Paint it black, which is, in a word, terrifying.
No going back now.
It dries in an almost chalkboard matte. Good thing we weren't stopping here though.
These are the three paint colors that you sponge onto the countertops to create the granite look.
Not too bad for some paint, am I right?
My other decision was to wallpaper over the existing cabinets with paintable bead board (or wainscoting, depending on where ya’ll are from) wallpaper. In full disclosure, this was my first time wallpapering. I have a feeling that I might have to re-do some of the cabinets in the future, but for now, it will do. Yes, indeed, it.will.do.
The wallpaper process required removal, cleaning, painting and wallpapering of ALL of the cabinets. I still wonder what kind of crazy I was operating under that weekend to get it all done and how I can tap into that energy source for other projects.
The high gloss finish comes with the Giani kit.
Close up of countertops and drawer fronts. Sooo pretty.
And there you have it folks. For under $150 bucks and a weekend you can turn your dated, laminate kitchen into something beautiful.
-Kate
Wow. Just tag surfing and found this grand idea!!!!
Thanks so much for this wonderful idea and for sharing it!
I’ll be interested to see if the paint on the countertop holds up to normal wear…
Thanks for coming by! So far it has been holding up really well.
Ahhhhhh-mazing. I think I might need you to come here and do that to my countertops. PLEASE? I’ll pay for the plane ticket, wine, and paint. Just show up. 🙂 xoxoxo
Nice work! Looks great! 🙂
Amazing woman!! I was wondering about that paint for the counter tops, i did some research too but have been too scared to try it! You may have just changed my mind!! Brava!
Do it! BUT….email me first because there was some quirky stuff that they don’t tell you. 🙂 AND TAKE PICTURES!!
Nice Job Kate!
The counter tops and cabinets look Great!
Can’t wait to see your next project….
wow!!!! looks so good.
[…] remember when I did my $150 kitchen remodeling project? That was a fun weekend. Unfortunately, while the countertops looked lovely, the wallpaper on […]