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Young House Love » Random » Another Reader Gets The Glossy Treatment

| By John Petersik | November 12, 2009 | 29 Comments

Another Reader Gets The Glossy Treatment

Our readers have officially scored a hat trick with Better Homes & Garden’s Kitchen + Bath Makeovers magazine. Like Lindsay and Jessica before her, Christina’s affordable kitchen makeover (which we shared as a Reader Redesign back in February) landed in the magazine’s “Do It For Less” section after they saw it here on YHL. Yeah, we’re doing the happy dance right along with them.

Tini Kitchen And Bath Cover

Here’s Christina’s and her husband Trevor’s starring page that shows off their dramatic $1,400 kitchen transformation (and no we didn’t forget a zero on that number). Plus it was a total gut job (they even replaced appliances, the floor and the cabinets for that unbelievable price). Congrats Christina and Trevor on the feature! Well played, handy homeowners. And thanks for giving us a shout out! We’re totally blushing.

Note: click the image below to enlarge the article and check out our original post about their kitchen right here.

Tini Kitchen For Post

And on the subject of amazing kitchen makeovers on a seriously enviable budget, what’s the best deal you’ve scored when it comes to your kitchen? Have you snagged a secondhand appliance on craigstlist, negotiated a killer deal on cabinets, or even found hardware on ebay? Do tell. Here’s the story of how we took home a free dishwasher along with a super cheap faucet and sink back in the day. Don’t good deals make you feel like the king of the world? It can’t just be me…

Images courtesy of Kitchen + Bath Makeovers.

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Filed Under: Random

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Comments

  1. Avatar for CourtneyCourtney says

    November 12, 2009 at 1:10 pm

    My fiance and I are getting his townhouse ready to sell, so we decided it was time to update his kitchen a little… I promise, it looked like it was all from 1970! Luckily, his parents were completely gutting and remodeling their own kitchen, so we were able to snag a slightly-used above-the-stove microwave for free!

    Reply
  2. Avatar for JacciJacci says

    November 12, 2009 at 1:10 pm

    That is so great! Congratulations Christina and Trevor! It’s always fun to see how others have brought big impact to a room with a little dough. You all did a wonderful job!

    Jacci

    Reply
  3. Avatar for JennieJennie says

    November 12, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    I can’t wait to gut our kitchen and start over (think original 1950s kitchen, no upgrades), but for now, we are settling with cheap DIY tricks to tide us over – like painting cabinets and countertops, etc. Our greatest find so far was a gas slide-in range on craigslist…it was 2 years old and being replaced because the owner decided to go with a different color in the kitchen. Generally those go for around $1200 in my area, and we scored it for $150 – which my mom paid for as my Christmas present, so we got it for free! It was in perfect condition and we’ve had it for almost a year now with no problems. Love it! :-)

    Reply
  4. Avatar for ChelseaChelsea says

    November 12, 2009 at 1:13 pm

    Christina and Trevor really made their dollar stretch, that’s awesome! You guys really inspire alot of people, that must feel great!

    Reply
  5. Avatar for ErinErin says

    November 12, 2009 at 1:19 pm

    Hello! I was just clicking through your links above and saw that you mentioned your kitchen contractor in the faucet post. Could you explain how you started your kitchen project? Did you go to contractor’s first to get estimates? Lowes/Home Depot to get prices of cabinets/counter tops? We’re ready to start getting estimates, but I don’t know who to start with! If this is too much for a comment answer, perhaps it could be a post idea? (and sorry if you’ve already written on this — I didn’t see anything in your archives.)
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      November 12, 2009 at 1:21 pm

      Hey Erin,

      We actually documented the entire kitchen process from start to finish when we began blogging (it was our first project) so if you go back in our archives to the very first month (September 2007) you can slowly see how the entire kitchen evolved over the course of a few months. We basically relied heavily on the (free!) services of a Certified Kitchen Designer from Home Depot since it’s where we got our cabinets and counters. And we also used their installers which helped when it came to hanging things straight on old 50 year old walls. There were lots of other projects in there from expanding doorways and updating lighting and all that good stuff so it’s fun to poke around in those old archives. Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  6. Avatar for Megan SMegan S says

    November 12, 2009 at 1:35 pm

    We’re coming to the end (well, probably a month out) of our kitchen remodel. I’m definitely sending pics when everything’s finished because your blog has been a major inspiration to me this past year! Ordering my sink and faucet over the phone from a midwest distributor earned me a discount on the faucet. Also, I purchased our appliances at Sears- they offer price matching + 10% of the difference. I found our fridge for less at Best Buy and got more than $100 back from Sears. We’ve done all demo ourselves which has saved us oodles- we’re not particularly “handy” so we leave that piece to the professionals. Can’t wait to show you the end product!

    Reply
  7. Avatar for seansmomseansmom says

    November 12, 2009 at 1:46 pm

    In 2006, we built a new “old” house, and during construction, I found a wonderful chandelier for the dining room. A short time later,I realized we also needed something for over the eating area of the kitchen and since one area is close to the other, I thought I’d just go back to the store and get something from the same lighting collection for over the kitchen table. When I got to the store(Home Depot)and looked around, I couldn’t find the display. Asking, I was told that line had been discontinued. I explained my delemma to the nice man in the lighting department, and after a few moments of thought, he showed me a wonderful fixture on their sale cart. He said it was the last of another collection and he’d been watching it all afternoon, fearing someone would break it before it got sold as part of it was glass. He said if I could use it, he could mark it down even lower than it already was($46). Looking at it, I knew it would match my other fixture so I said yes. It was my lucky day…with the extra markdown, my new $89 fixture cost me $9 plus tax!!!

    Reply
  8. Avatar for Katy CKaty C says

    November 12, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    I need to take some notes from them! That’s about how much my husband and I would feel comfortable spending on our kitchen – its a small galley kitchen that needs some major updates. The one update I will look forward to the most, getting rid of my easily stainable white laminate….really people who designed the house, did you really think that was the best choice, especially against the yellowed poly urethaned oak cabinets? sigh, I can’t wait and I will be soaking up their suggestions!

    Reply
  9. Avatar for Erin RErin R says

    November 12, 2009 at 2:52 pm

    Any update as to whether or not they sold the house? I went to school in Mount Vernon,Iowa at Cornell and miss that cute little town, especially in the spring! There were tulips in EVERY garden and it seemed like every tree flowered!

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      November 12, 2009 at 3:01 pm

      Hey Erin,

      Yup, the sold their house pretty much as soon as they put it up on the market. Amazing, eh?!

      xo,
      s

  10. Avatar for Kasey at Thrifty Little BlogKasey at Thrifty Little Blog says

    November 12, 2009 at 2:52 pm

    How exciting! They really did an amazing transformation for that amount of money!!

    Reply
  11. Avatar for pk @ Room Remixpk @ Room Remix says

    November 12, 2009 at 3:08 pm

    An amazing budget transformation that deserves to be published! Congrats to them!

    Reply
  12. Avatar for micaela @ hishouse;herhelpmicaela @ hishouse;herhelp says

    November 12, 2009 at 4:56 pm

    that is so cool that this magazine gets their kitchen reno stories from young house love! must be so flattering for you guys! maybe you should start a glossy of your own… This Weekend’s Project?

    Reply
  13. Avatar for anna seeanna see says

    November 12, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    those are some amazing deals they got. well done!

    Reply
  14. Avatar for KatrinaKatrina says

    November 12, 2009 at 5:35 pm

    Wow ~ I love ktichen makeovers

    Reply
  15. Avatar for KateKate says

    November 12, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    I love how Christina shopped smart and gave her kitchen a clean, fresh look! We just moved into our newly renovated house, and to save $ we bought our fridge, stove, over-the-range microwave, pendant lights and hardwood flooring on Craigslist, purchased a faucet off ebay for $70, bought the lowest-priced Kraftmaid maple cabinets from Home Depot and found an awesome huge sink at a resale store. Our big splurge was the countertops, which are made of soapstone tiles. I found a DIY article on IKEAFANS.com which explained how this couple had tiled their countertops with soapstone (normally a very expensive material) and used epoxy instead of grout so they could set the tiles really close together. I drove from D.C. to New Jersey to pick up the 18″ tiles for $10 s.f., then had a handyman friend get me started building the countertops. The end result looks very much like a solid stone slab, and was totally worth the HOURS of time it took to put together!

    Reply
  16. Avatar for Beth@321home[email protected] says

    November 12, 2009 at 5:59 pm

    You guys are so nice, sharing the fame! :-)

    Reply
  17. Avatar for AmandaAmanda says

    November 12, 2009 at 6:48 pm

    I love kitchen makeovers, especially for that price. I haven’t done mine yet (look for it in March!) but I have been working on my bathroom, and I say STALK CRAIGSLIST AND THE CLASSIFIEDS. So many people remodel and upgrade, and they are selling perfectly good and really nice stuff. I got my bathtub, which is nice and deep and cute, for $80. A similar one new would have been over $400. And no one can tell mine is used! And besides, the most environmentally friendly thing you can do when building/renovating is to re-use something that has already been made.

    Reply
  18. Avatar for Stephanie LynnStephanie Lynn says

    November 12, 2009 at 7:31 pm

    Wow amazing! Congrats to them – what an honor! I have always loved finding inspirations and searching for the ‘lower’ cost replicas. Even though it may be a headache at times it is always worth the steal in the end. Items are always out there… the challenge is finding them – which is part of the fun too!

    Reply
  19. Avatar for kylakyla says

    November 13, 2009 at 12:07 am

    I was looking at some of your mood boards and got to thinking. I am a design student right now and we really focus on sustainable practices and was thinking that you guys could really use your influence to start incorporating “Dedicated” fluorescent or LED light fixtures into your mood boards. They make some amazing fixtures now and the color rendering of these types of bulbs has come so far to flattering tones, the old stereotype that fluorescent is bad is no longer an issue. Saves the home owner money in the long run and saves our planet one light fixture at a time :-)

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      November 13, 2009 at 12:09 am

      Hey Kyla,

      We definitely love the idea of incorporating green design and LED lights when we can! Definitely something to think about!

      xo,
      Sherry

  20. Avatar for CassityCassity says

    November 13, 2009 at 12:42 am

    Wow! Speaking of good deals, I got one yesterday. A dishwasher, $650.00 originally, for just $360.00, brand new. Plus more $ later, from the economic stimulus plan rebate for energy star appliance purchases.

    Also if you have time check out my old kitchen remodel, complete remodel for $700.00, including tile for 1.56 a box! Screaming deal! I swear it is worth your time. The link is

    http://www.remodelaholic.com/2008/08/kitchen-of-my-dreams.html

    Reply
  21. Avatar for Karen BasarabaKaren Basaraba says

    November 13, 2009 at 2:40 am

    We just scored a floor model dishwasher for super cheap! It was originally $1300 and we got it for less than 600 bucks! I’m and DONE hand washing all of my dishes – whew! Thank you Home Depot!

    Reply
  22. Avatar for Sheryl JSheryl J says

    November 13, 2009 at 5:31 am

    Ok, so I’m going completely off topic, but I have to ask… How does YHL transport all of their new furniture? Do you rent a truck? ship it? ask a friend? Everytime I go to Ikea, I leave frustrated because I can’t haul any furniture in my little Civic :(

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      November 13, 2009 at 9:02 am

      Hey Sheryl J,

      We’re planners! We usually know about a week out if we’re going to Ikea (it’s actually about 4 hours round trip from our house) so we arrange to switch cars with John’s sister who owns a Ford Explorer. The back of that car can fit anything! In fact it’s how we transported both wardrobes and the Expedit workstation that we picked up last weekend. Is there anyone (friend or family) who will switch cars with you for the day so you can load theirs up? Good luck!

      xo,
      s

  23. Avatar for kelly@TearingUpHouses[email protected] says

    November 13, 2009 at 9:26 am

    neat! and i love hearing about all the great deals everyone has scored!

    here’s how i get my appliances for nearly 1/2 off:

    http://tearinguphouses.blogspot.com/2009/10/steal-your-appliances.html

    and here’s how i made improvements with NO money at all:

    http://tearinguphouses.blogspot.com/2009/09/0-budget.html

    kelly

    Reply
  24. Avatar for Our Creative LifeOur Creative Life says

    November 13, 2009 at 12:17 pm

    That is so great that their kitchen was featured! What a compliment of their hard work they did on their kitchen.

    We can totally relate to their story. Check out our before & after’s of our kitchen remodel. We did it all ourselves!

    http://ourcreativelife.blogspot.com/2009/07/our-finished-kitchenfinally-we-love-it.html

    Reply
  25. Avatar for MeganMegan says

    November 13, 2009 at 12:37 pm

    I love reading this blog and thought I would pass a money saver along, just in case you’re looking at books (in addition to magazines) to help plan your next project! Borders sent out a 30% off any item coupon in their e-mail this week. Happy House planning! I’m sure you’re new basement has the potential to be featured in it’s own spread!

    http://www.bordersmedia.com/coup/nw230sl.asp?cmpid=SL_20091110

    Reply

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John and Sherry smiling against pink backgroundHey, we’re John & Sherry. We’ve fixed up 7 homes, written books, designed products, started a podcast, and then downsized & moved to the beach! Here you’ll find over 3,000 DIY projects & home updates. More about us…
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