Reader Redesign: Lighten Up
Julie’s kitchen makeover is nothing short of miraculous. Here’s her letter:
I found your blog through a Real Simple blog I subscribe to and look forward to the evenings after I put my one & two year old toddlers to bed so I can soak up some of your swank. We just sold our house and had some great photos of our kitchen and I realized we’d done a lot to improve it over the last few years so I thought I’d share the before & afters. We had a grease fire so we replaced the counters, microwave and oven. We also discovered a leak in our dishwasher so we replaced the floors & dishwasher. We got the counters from Home Depot- they’re formica that looks like granite (called Jamocha Granite, sparkle finish, waterfall edge). The tile backsplash is also from Home Depot (one of the less expensive porcelain tiles they sell). The wall color is Sand Dollar and the cabinet color is Antique Lace (Porter Paint). We bought Mohawk wide plank floors and did the kitchen, dining room, 2 bathrooms and the foyer for $2000. BTW we sold our house within 48 hours after we put it on the market and had four offers! Yipee! I’m saving my money so I can contact you all after we’re in our new house. I’d love to have you help us spice up the new pad! – Julie
Here’s the budget breakdown:
- Cabinet and wall painting $700
- Kitchen Floors $500
- Counters $2000
- Appliances $2000
- Backsplash $300
- Curtains $50
- Faucet $80
- New pulls $100
- Grand total = $5730
Isn’t that an insane transformation? We love that some paint on the cabinets along with a new counter, backsplash and appliances took this room to a whole new level. Thanks a million for the fabulous eye candy Julie! So inspiring.
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Molding atop the upper cabinets is GENIUS! That’s possibly my favorite kitchen DIY trick! Amazing kitchen redo, Julie!
Stunning!
Wow Julie, the kitchen redo is fab!! Nothing beats a classic white kitchen, and you did a really gorgeous job.
Wow! This kitchen is gorgeous!
Kitchen makeovers, especially with painted cabinets, make me terribly excited. My husband and I are giving the kitchen a fresh coat of paint and want to paint our cabinets as well, so I was a bit curious about the $700 that went towards paint jobs. That seems a lot higher than we were thinking. Actually, a lot higher.
Julie, if you’re reading, does the $700 include the cost of the molding and professional application? The makeover looks gorgeous!
Holy cow, that is fabulous!!
I love a clean white kitchen and this one is absolutely gorgeous! For such a great price, too.
Hello, I am new to blogging and I am finding all of these great sites. I hope I can figure out some of the gadgets and widgets soon.?
Wow, great transformation. Makes me want to paint my new cherry cabinets (don’t think my husband would like that ;)
Enjoy your day!
Crystal
oooh love! Great job! Hey – where are the pulls from? That’s a great price!
I love that backsplash! Thanks for sharing the specifics so we can ‘mack on your style’. :-)
It looks amazing! We keep going back and forth about whether to paint our old cabinets or replace them. Your before and after is swaying me toward the paint.
I just want to say THANK YOU! I believe that this single post has convinced my husband that we need to either paint our cabinets white or rip them out and get new ones. Thank you for showing my husband our cabinets do scream 1980!
DANG – what an AWESOME remodel!
Very inspiring kitchen redesign. One question – why did it cost $700 to paint the walls and cabinets?
I had to do a double take to make sure you didn’t totally replace the cabinets. The added top molding made such a difference. I’m not sure I would have thought of that!
It looks great, but I’m wondering how the paint came out to $700? Did they hire someone to do the painting and that was the cost with labor?
This kitchen makeover is amazing! We are trying to decide if we should paint our cabinet doors as well. I am so nervous about it, but after seeing this change, I know it will look great. Thanks for sharing!
Wow. Your before kitchen is my now kitchen and your after kitchen is soooooo what I want to do. Thanks for the inspiration.
Fantastic transformation!!!
Holy Moley! I feel like taking a paintbrush to my cabinets right now!
Amazing! And you moved away from this kitchen?? :-)
I’m currently in the process of remodeling my kitchen, and I’m going from white cabinets to black cabinets… hope it turns out as gorgeous as this transformation!!!
Can you tell us where Julie purchased the pulls on the drawers and cabinets? This is exactly what I’m looking for…
We recently painted an old jelly cabinet white to be our new pantry. Looks fabo too.
http://thisranchhouse.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-pantry.html
The kitchen looks wonderful!! I love the molding idea… going to have to try that on our cabinets. Also.. where did you find the valance… it is VERY cute!
Beautiful job!! I am looking at re-doing my 1970′s kitchen on a budget and am just amazed at how gorgeous painted cabinets can turn out! You really did a wonderful job and ditto on the comment regarding the crown molding at the top of the cabinets.
The granite-like formica counter tops sure fooled me. Congrats on selling your house so quickly.
This post is perfectly timed. I just put an offer on a house and the kitchen needs some work (very similar to the one above) I love this inspiration!! Thank you! PS Where is the reader from? Just trying to get a cost estimate based on region. I am from Northern VA.
I love how the tv changed! Big and chubby to slick and skinny! hahahah =)
To answer a few questions…
The $700 for painting the cabinets was the cost to hire someone to do the painting and crown molding. We were told by friends who painted their’s to hire someone to do it because the sanding can be very tedious and ours did turn out better because of the time they spent on this step.
The pulls are from Home Depot and the knobs from the Habitat Restore.
I had a seamstress do the curtains. I waited for a 50% off sale at JoAnn’s and purchased this Robert Allen fabric. He has some AMAZING fabrics!
We live outside Nashville.
I’m wondering where Julie found the cute valance for over her kitchen sink….
ah, nevermind! I just read the above comment! sorry!
Very nice, I really like that my kitchen has EXCACTLY the same builder cabinets and even the same stove! Plan to do a similar redo, very glad to see how my idea will turn out =)
When potential buyers see stained trim or oak cabinetry, it appears dated because it is! We all get used to seeing current trends and images in the media and can’t help but internalize them. When clients see dated decor, they also can’t help thinking what else about the house is dated…heating/plumbing/roof, etc…big ticket items. You did a fabulous job in making your kitchen appealing and I am sure you had no problem re-couping your expenses and then some. My only thought is that your window treatment could have used another valance on the rod to make it look full and luxe, otherwise you have your finger on the pulse of what most of America finds appealing. I’ll almost bet that you didn’t want to move after doing the kitchen over.
A good paint job is everything, especially with oak. Oak has a pronounced grain which translates through the finish coats. It is best to spend the money for a pro to come and spray the cabinets. The last thing you want is a sloppy paint job w/brushstrokes and drips showing. It is short money for good results.
Ok, first of all your blog has me in trouble with my husband! I am addicted to it and every day I am emailing my husband new ideas!!! The newest thing on my honey-do-list is a kitchen update. This after kitchen is AMAZING and I want to do something similar. I’m just afraid if we paint our cabinets white it will be blah with our white corian countertops and white appliances. If I had tons of $$$ then I would want dark cherry/mahogany cabinets, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, but for now I want a temporary solution. Can you give me some advice??? I’d love to send you some pictures of our existing kitchen and some pictures of other rooms in our house so that you can get a feel of our style. Should we paint them white or stain gel our ugly oak cabinets???
Hey Yvette,
We have just the thing! We actually offer decorating advice and we’ll review your pics and tell you what we think in a jiffy. Here’s the link to get you started:
http://www.younghouselove.com/design-advice/quickie-decorating-chat/
Happy decorating!
xoxo,
Sherry
And speaking of color…Its time to paint the exterior of our home too. Do you give advice on exterior paint colors? We have a boring beige sided home and I have no idea what is fresh and trendy when it comes to exterior colors. I want to stand out from all the cookie cutter homes on our block but need to get it approved through our HOA too. Can we add this to our chat? Any advice is greatly appreciated!
If we have time to tack on the subject of exterior paint colors during our chat we’d be happy to toss out some ideas! We’re all about a fabulous before and after, so you just have to send us some awesome after pics in return!
xoxo,
Sherry
Love your kitchen. We are redoing ours, have already had cabinets painted antique white. What kind of counter top material did you use?
Hey Nancy,
We recall that Julie actually went for an extremely convincing granite-looking laminate counter. I’ll shoot her an email to see if she can pop in and supply more info. Stay tuned…
xo,
Sherry
Nancy, we got the counters from Home Depot- they’re formica that looks like granite (called Jamocha Granite, sparkle finish, waterfall edge).
I just don’t see how on Earth it was so expensive to do this. Paint is like $10. a can. I don’t like stone countertops, and the look is very bland. I would have scrubbed down the finish on the cabinets and given them a very pale varnish. The edge details are dated, but it may be something that can be sanded down or modified. I prefer woodgrain to plain paint. It looks very sterile.
Wow that is totally amazing!
Ca-razy! I can’t believe the difference for such a relatively small investment. The moulding on the cabinets makes a huge impact. Excellent re-do!