Makeover! On a budget, too.

For months, we were planning our kitchen makeover. I was so sick of the dark, ugly kitchen cabinets! But, at the same time, we didnt' want to break the bank in giving our kitchen an updated look. I put aside a bit of money over the summer, and we decided on two main goals: paint the cabinets & buy new door knobs. It was the simplest answer, and easiest way to get a new look on a budget.

First, we started with these cabinets (and knobs!):


Second, we chose a creamy white paint called "Creme Brulee". We took the doors off the cabinets, and I painted them by hand, while Josh painted everything else. We could have used a spray gun, but for some reason, we were intent on doing everything by hand. In hindsight, a spray gun would have been a million times faster! We ended up paining everything with three coats of paint. After the painting was done, I was excited! The kitchen looks much more inviting, and everyone that has seen the difference mentions how much bigger the house looks. Since we have an open floor plan, it worked perfectly. There were a lot of "nicks" on them as well, but we left them alone for a "distressed look".


Once the paint was dry, and doors back on the cabinets, we made another trip to home depot. I had in mind black door knobs, but we ended up getting black door knobs with copper edging. Since we have tons of copper accents in our kitchen, it worked perfectly. I really love the finish project! All of it was accomplished for under $150! Are they perfect? No. But, they are imperfectly perfect for us...




Our kitchen is still a work in progress. Lot's more to accomplish...

Thanks honey for letting me decorate, and for being the elbow grease behind our project. :D


Linking Up:

Shabby Nest
Domestically Speaking
Blue Cricket Design
Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss



38 comments:

Emily said...

I LOVE the way this turned out. Want to come do ours?!

Jeska said...

Oh wow this is inspiration for me, we need to do something with our cabinets and they're just so expensive to replace!!

Anne said...

Classy! Love it! :)

The Branches said...

This looks AWESOME and I know what a pain it is to paint! I love the look and it looks so much better :) YOU DID GOOD!

The Branches said...

This looks AWESOME and I know what a pain it is to paint! I love the look and it looks so much better :) YOU DID GOOD!

Lucky in Love said...

What a difference! Those look gorgeous!

Nicole-Lynn said...

Ohhh I love it! They turned out awesome! Enjoy! :)

Bonnie said...

We did almost the same thing with our kitchen! It looks great!

Sarah said...

I love it! Such a good idea to not waste money on new cabinets when a few coats of paint will do. I just painted mine and I am surprised at how much more inviting white cabinets are!

Jenny @ Practically Perfect... said...

It looks great! Well done!

BIRCH + BLOSSOM said...

It looks fabulous. I am a big fan of painting anything white, such as old furniture ect... beautiful kitchen facelift. xx veronika

Rebekah said...

I love how it turned out! Ha, I've done a few projects where using a spray gun would have made it much easier, but I wanted to do it by hand.

- Sarah :-) said...

It looks FABULOUS! And to think... all for $150. Way to go, girl!!

We plan to paint our kitchen, but honestly, the cabinest are in REALLY bad shape, and they don't even match each other! So IF we go the painting route, we'll have to buy all nre cabinet doors. And if we don't, then we'll be installing either Ikea cabinets or Habitat for Humanity ReStore sabinets ourselves. The cheaper the better, as long as it looks good, right?

LOVE the finished product!!

Cassandra said...

Thanks for the comment on my blog!

Here is the recipe for the orange style tofu. http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=15978.0

I triple the sauce (we like leftovers of this dish) and leave out the vinegar. I've been trying to figure out a way to make this with maple syrup instead of brown sugar to help make it a bit more healthy, but... I can't get it to taste right. I guess it'll just have to be a comfort food dish instead of a healthy one! ;)

Sarah said...

Isn't it so amazing what a difference that makes! Beautiful job!

Lily said...

Oh, it looks so pretty! I LOVE white cabinets. (:

Kristin said...

LOVE it! I love white furniture and cabinets -- so classic!

Naturally Caffeinated Family said...

yay! it looks great!! we did our kitchen cabinets recently too! I still have to blog about it :) Great job! :)

Jesse {GoodGirlGoneGlad} said...

Turned out so pretty! I bet the room feels great to be in now too! =)

Kirsten said...

That looks great--I also am a fan of painting white!

Bonnie@Creative Decorating said...

I know how much work that is since I just did mine. Love how things are coming along and can't wait to see it all finished!

Scientific Housewife said...

Looks so nice!

Julie said...

They look beautiful! I'd love it if you'd link this up to my Paint Color Party going on now!
http://lessthanperfectlifeofbliss.blogspot.com/2011/01/paint-color-party-link-up-your.html

Katie said...

What a coincidence that you did a post on this, because I have been doing research on the same thing! Some of these diy websites make it seem like forever. How long, with prep, did it take you to do it? Did you do the inside of the cabinets too? The pictures look awesome and knowing you did it on a budget is awesome :)

Heather said...

Hi Katie!

The prep work didn't take much time, because we decided to leave them "as is". Other than washing down & drying the cabinets that's all we did. The main reason behind this was to get a more imperfect, and distressed look.

The painting took one full days plus a few hours each evening during the work week. I'd say total painting time was about 12 hours. We painted them all by hand, with three coats. The paint we chose was primer based, as well.

Hope that helps! :)

vintage vine said...

Great color for the cabinets!!! I am in the middle of a kitchen re-do, this is some great inspiration. Thanks for sharing over at the paint party.

Kristen said...

it looks fantastic! Way to go!

The Starr Family said...

A creamy white kitchen just makes you want to bake, no? Beautiful results!

Heather said...

I love white cabinets. Yours turned out great!

OceanDreams said...

looks great so far, i always love the look of white on furniture - so fresh and inviting!

Toyin O. said...

Looks really great:)

Michelle @ Ten June said...

Wow!! This is gorgeous! I want to see more pictures! Great job.

giftofthemoment said...

beautiful! Those handles really complete it - especially with your Kitchen Aid that copper color!

Romance In A Glance said...

Wow this is amazing!!! It looks so different!!! I would never think to do something like this!!!

Thanks for all of the sweet comments! I love your blog and your wedding pics are stunning! Hope to have you as a follower!!! :)

Have A Good Night,
~Romantic Savy

Jessica said...

Beautiful! I love how it looks! We did the same thing to our cupboards, and it just completely transformed our kitchen. Crazy how big of a difference it makes!

Anonymous said...

My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!

DWYHomemaking said...

Beautiful! These look amazing and I'm sure it makes your kitchen look like a new place to dine in! Love the color you picked out as well. Thanks for sharing, hope you can link up next Monday as well :)!

www.dontwasteyourhomemaking.com

DWYHomemaking said...

Just wanted to let you know that you were featured for your Cabinet Makeover! Hope you can link up again!

www.dontwasteyourhomemaking.com