Young House Love

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A Quick Kitchen Update With Stenciled Floors

If you ever wanted to quiet that voice in your head that says “Kitchen makeover? Are you crazy? You don’t have the money for that!” – let this transformation by Erin inspire you. Here’s her letter:

I wanted to share my blog post on our kitchen remodel with you. It’s a temporary remodel, as cheap as possible, until we can afford to completely gut it and get a new kitchen in a few years (hopefully!).

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The biggest purchase was new appliances, besides that we spent max $100 for paint, stenciling supplies, and a shelf above the microwave.

B A 1

I also finished the floor by stenciling on it, and I love the results! I don’t know if I would have had the guts to do the floor stencil if this was our “forever” kitchen, but since this is a “live-with-it” stage until we can do a whole gut job, I went for it! I’m so glad I did! 

Erin Stencil Detail

The floor was probably the most tedious part of the entire kitchen update. It started with peeling old linoleum off of the plywood subfloor. Then it needed to be wood puttied, sanded down a bit, and finally primed and painted. This part of the process has been done for a while, but we needed to wait until the rest was done to finish the painting and stenciling part. I’m glad we waited – the floor got pretty scratched up moving things around, and it had more than a couple paint drips on it! – Erin

Kitch Art

Chalk up another one to the power of paint, eh? We love how fresh and bright Erin’s new kitchen looks (and the painted brick backsplash reminds us of our first “for now” kitchen makeover back in the day). Oh, and she’s got more info on the makeover over on her blog so be sure to head over there too. Thanks so much for sharing Erin! I’d suggest we play the favorite part game, but I’d bet it’ll all be floor votes… although the painted cabinets are room-changers for sure.

Psst- We picked a winner for this week’s giveaway. Click here to see if it’s you.

Comments

    • Urban Wife says

      If you click over to the link on her site, she explains (and there’s also a good detail pic) that it’s a shelf design from Ikea with s-hooks. :)

  6. Steph says

    Love it, it’s so simple but really turned the whole kitchen around! I actually think my favorite would be those sweet, vintage-y prints hanging up!

    Reply

  9. Tia says

    From her blog: You can also see the pot rack in the picture – it’s a simple shelf design from Ikea with s-hooks allowing the pots to hang.

    Reply

  12. Sara says

    Awesome job. I would say the floor definitely stands out, but the colour combination of the stenciled floor and the walls and white cabinets is my favourite.

    Reply

  15. Rosie says

    That looks incredible! I love the floors, can we get more details on how it was done? Was it just the base color then laying a stencile over and painting it on? Would you recommend some sort of glossy protective coat to help keep it scratch free or would you keep it as just the paint?

    Reply

    • Erin says

      Hi Rosie!

      Here’s some information for you –

      First, I primed the plywood subfloor. Then, I used 2 coats of Valspar off-the-shelf gray floor paint for the base coat. For the stenciling, I mixed the floor paint with some leftover Sherwin Williams white semi-gloss to make a lighter gray. We haven’t coated it with anything thus far, though I do want to use a semi-gloss poly over top to seal it. But, it has been a couple months and we haven’t had a single scratch yet! I found a lot of my information on how to do it from ashleyannphotography.com/blog.

  21. Sara says

    The stenciled floor is awesome, but my favorite thing is the pot rack! Her blog says she got it at IKEA and now I cannot wait to pick up my own! Great job on the redesign, Erin, and thanks John and Sherry for sharing!

    Reply

  22. Carrie says

    I love the wall color… and the slashes of red with it!
    The painted backsplash almost looks like subway tile.
    And that floor… oh, it makes me wish for a floor to paint. Even though I know my dogs claws would shred it. :)

    Reply

  23. sarah says

    ok, i’m officially going to paint and stencil our kitchen floor. this is amazing. only problem, there’s a baby in my belly, and no paint breathing for me for 30 weeks. ugh…i don’t know that i can wait that long. maybe my hubby will do it for me…

    Reply

  24. Lisa says

    Looks awesome…my only question is about the height of that microwave…it looks really high up there! Ours is above our stove too (for now). I am 5’4″ and I hate trying to get heavier dishes out of it…I have spilled hot food on myself from time to time if the bowl was full, etc. However, my 6’1″ husband thinks it is just fine!
    Perhaps they are planning something different for their reno? In the meantime, she did a great job and it makes things look so much fresher and brighter. Great job!

    Reply

    • Erin says

      It does seem high, but we followed the manufacturer’s recommendation for hanging it above a stove. It doesn’t bother me too much, and I’m 5’6″. Also, we put it right on the top row of bricks (they only went partway up due to an old cabinet), any lower and it would have been awkward to attach through the brick. It’s probably about eye level, and I can still reach the dishes on the shelf above without assistance! :)

  25. Suzanne says

    on her site she says “You can also see the pot rack in the picture – it’s a simple shelf design from Ikea with s-hooks allowing the pots to hang.”

    Reply

  26. Morgan says

    I am soooo in love with the floor. I have half the mind to rip out our holey, stained carpet in the living room and just paint the concrete slab just like this…is that a crazy idea? We would be putting laminate in the living room down the road for resale…

    Reply

  29. holly says

    I want to know more about that floor’s upkeep! I wonder how cleaning it works, like mopping and such.

    I LOVE the after though- sweet and retro and amazing bang for the buck.

    Reply

    • Erin says

      Hi Holly! I use an Oreck steam mop on it, and I haven’t had any issues. But I do still plan on sealing it. We’ve had it painted like that for about 4 months and haven’t had any problems cleaning it yet.

  30. Julia says

    Add me to the list of people that vote: the “live with it floor” should be upgraded to the “forever” floor because it is total Awesome-sauce!

    Reply

  32. Lindsay says

    Love it! Before YHL blog I never realized how much difference white cabinets can make. I’m hoping whatever house we move into next I can paint the cabinets again! Even though it’s a PITA project, it’s well worth it and so much cheaper than new cabinets. Love her floor too! would have never thought of doing that.

    Reply

    • Erin says

      Well, one of them is the manual from my mom’s mixer she received as a wedding gift, and the other was found in a friend’s house when they moved in! Thanks for asking! :)

  35. Laurie says

    Erin- your kitchen is charming! I am not sure you need a total gut renovation because you have done a great job with this one. Maybe new countertops and a couple other facelifts but I love how vintage this looks. The floor is amazing, you should be proud of yourself. The wall prints are wonderful. I am a big fan of the blue and orange color scheme because I just re-did my living room using that combination and it is fabulous. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  36. Sarah says

    Wow, so inspiring! I love how the color choices work together and it is still so light and airy. And, the floor is super fun. 10 out of 10!

    Reply

  37. Allison says

    Ooh! Big fan! On a side note…I spent all morning with “Clara from the Rock Box” stuck in my head…thanks for that :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Here’s hoping she drops in with that info! We had a painted porch (it was concrete) that held up really well for a few years (and then we moved, so we hope it’s still going strong).

      xo,
      s

  41. Lynds says

    Awesome job Erin! I love my ‘final’ kitchen but I think I may have loved my ‘for now’ kitchen a bit more. I painted my cabinets fire engine red! I figured why not, they weren’t going to last!

    Reply

  46. Paige @ Little Nostalgia says

    This is an amazing testimonial for the power of paint! My husband is always skeptical when I tell him that painting ugly cabinets will make a kitchen look instantly better, so now I’m going to show him this. :-)

    Reply

  47. Karen L. says

    Thanks so much for sharing such a creative kitchen redo with us. I love to see what it’s like to try and save money for the dream of what one wants later! So pleasant and homey. I’ll bet they’ll always remember this kitchen no matter where they go in the future. :)

    Reply

  49. Savannah says

    It’s amazing how much of a difference paint can make! I wish I could paint my cabinets!
    By the way, I’m having trouble viewing yhl on Google chrome. It starts to load like normal, but then the scroll bar extends and I can’t view much of anything. It stops right before the “Our 2012 paint picks” Everything works fine on other browsers, any idea what’s going on?
    P.S. Yesterday I went to the West Elm outlet that just opened in Riverhead, NY…amazing! Scored a rug for my bedroom for $40.

    Reply

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