Kitchen REFAB

Okay. Refab. Meaning, I love my kitchen and it was once fabulous, but became outdated and is now fabulous again. I've used this term before and I'm claiming it. It's mine. But, feel free to use it, of course. I LOVE my new kitchen. I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT. Just as much as I love my refabbed ottoman.  I'm just so excited. I couldn't wait to get up this morning and see it, and then post about it!

To start, I love old houses. Our first house was a 1940's bungalow. Loved it and we did tons of work to it, but it was in a tough neighborhood and once we had our first baby it was time to move. Our second house was a 1960's ranch. We did a few things to it, but not much. That was not my favorite house, but you could not beat the location. Two minutes from SuperTarget. Fantastic. The house we are currently in, is new. 2005 new. It was not our house first. Someone else had it for a few years, then it sat vacant for nearly two years until we happened upon it. We love our neighbors and the neighborhood. It couldn't get better, well, if there was a Target and a Hobby Lobby next door, then it could be better. So, I love old house and the character that old houses bring. Here's why: People have LIVED in them. They have stories. They worked hard for what they had (not that people in new houses don't!). Old houses have little nooks that you have no idea what they were used for, paint caked on in 5 different colors, stairs that have been painted, sanded, carpeted and then carpeted again. They have stories.

So, I wanted to give our house a story. The kitchen isn't anything fancy, but I really like how the house goes around in a circle. Our kitchen gets tons of sunlight all day long. Here is the before:

 

Here's the during:

I took all the cabinet doors off (except the ones above the fridge), sanded and primed everything. I used KILZ to prime, if you care. Then I painted the fronts of the doors first, and the backs last. One coat of primer, THREE coats of paint. I used Ralph Lauren paint because I found a white that I really liked, however, I usually use Behr. The Ralph Lauren was around from painting the laundry room.


HERE IS THE AFTER:

 

 

Okay, so here's the lowdown. I had everything I needed here at home from previous projects. That beadboard isn't beadboard. Seriously! It's wallpaper. I saw this wallpaper at Home Depot a few weeks ago and really wanted to buy it, but it's wallpaper. So, I didn't get it. Plus it was $25. Not needed when I didn't know what I would do with it. Then. Then. Tom decided it was okay for me to paint the kitchen. Yeah. He was totally against painting the Oak Cabinets (Ahhh, don't you dare, he said.) He was also against me putting wallpaper up...I was going to do the real thing, but realized that with three boys running around it is all going to get beat up anyway. So I went back to Home Depot to get the wallpaper and the black paint (Behr, Black Suede, semigloss) and the wallpaper was 1/2 off! I nearly croaked. I also nearly bought two and then realized that I don't have that much stuff to beadboard. The wallpaper is actually pretty easy to do, except when you try and cut it wet after it's been put up. You need a really sharp blade. Fortunately the seems melted away with the use of black paint. Can't even see them.

Breakdown: 1/2 gallon Ralph Lauren paint at $25(color is escaping me), still have tons left. Let's call it
$14. 1/4 quart Black Suede Behr at $14. We'll say I used $6 of it. And the wallpaper at $12.97. And I have over half left that I will be using in our bathrooms. We had the hardware. Total for project: $26.

LOVE IT. Let's look again.

I will be doing a backsplash, I found a bunch of subway tiles at ReStore, but we are going to use those in our bathroom instead, so I'm on the hunt for glass tile. LOVE MY NEW KITCHEN!

I WILL be linking this to Frugalicious Friday, for sure. And Metamorphosis Monday. And I Made it with What I Had. And DIY Day. And Transformation Thursday. I can't wait to hear what all these creative ladies think! And to see what they've done!