Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 160 Comments

A Blue And White DIY Kitchen Renovation

It’s no surprise that we’re in the mood for a good kitchen makeover these days. Okay, who are we kidding, we’re always in the mood for one. But Erin & Zach’s do-it-yourself remodel of their 1950’s kitchen is especially familiar (and inspiring since we’re just at the beginning of our current kitchen’s transformation). Here’s their letter:

We wanted to share the redo of our 1951 kitchen (take note of the sweet before lamp and the heavy-duty ceiling beam disappearing act).

Erin Zach Before

We were so lucky to peel up the old laminate floor and the plywood to find original (albeit quite damaged) wood floors that extended into the middle of the kitchen. We found matching red oak floor pieces and filled in the missing & damaged spots.

Erin Zach New Floor

One of the cool things we did was to buy two pre-made cabinets from Home Depot to create the breakfast bar. We put them side-by-side and filled one of the openings with wood pieces to make it seamless.

Erin Zach Breakfast Bar

We also re-used all the cabinets but updated the hardware. Painting that many cabinets and doors definitely took patience … and three coats of paint. The new blue color in kitchen is Behr Primer + Paint in Clear Pond, Eggshell.

Erin Zach After

Thanks so much for checking out our kitchen. We love it!! ~ Erin & Zach

We love it too, guys. Congrats on a job very well done! It’s a reminder of not only how much work is ahead of us, but also what a big payoff there can be at the end! Seriously, it doesn’t even look like the same room.

PS: We’ve announced the winners to this week’s giveaway. Click here to see if you’re one of them.

Comments

  3. Erin & Zach says

    Thank you so much for the wonderful comments! We are so excited about it being done. We ordered the range hood on overstock.com and bought all the hardware from homedepot.com. We found the granite countertops at Nebraska Furniture Mart at about half the price of local home improvement stores. You can check out many more pics here:
    http://flickr.com/gp/firesnaps/6C48JT

    Reply

    • Abby says

      I looked at some of your other pics and I have to say that I’m kind of in love with your sink! I love the curvy lines of it! =)

    • Johanna says

      Clicked through your Flickr album – amazed at how much work it must have taken to get from your “Before” to your “After” photos! Did you know what you wanted the final product to look like from the beginning, or was it more of a deciding step-by-step process? (Sorry if the answer is obvious – I’m new to this DIY stuff!)

  7. Sarah G. says

    Uhhh-mazing! Erin and Zach are friends of mine and I couldn’t be more impressed! They really did a fantastic job!

    Reply

  8. dm says

    I don’t comment often, other than giveaways, but I have to say, this is lovely, and I am SO glad reader re-designs are back.

    Reply

  10. Tina I. says

    One of the best remodels I’ve seen. Like it when the before/after pics are from the same angle! It seems like a completely reasonable remodel too. Not one of those high budget, House Beautiful, hundred thousand dollar jobs, that while lovely, just aren’t within the realm of possibility for “regular folk”. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  11. Janelle D says

    What an amazing transformation! From dingy and dated to bright & ‘breakfast-ready’?I can’t believe it was all DIY. I’m seriously impressed. Great job!

    Reply

  12. Lyn says

    This makeover is wonderful! But what I don’t get is where does everyone hide their mircowave?! I know every kitchen has one….

    Same thing with alarm clocks. I’m starting to think these items are removed for pictures!

    Reply

    • Jill says

      I don’t like having things on my countertops (except the cat, of course), so I’ve had my electrician put an outlet for the microwave and other small appliances inside one of our lower cabinets that will have a pull-out shelf. So we’ll put the microwave on the shelf, pull it out when we need it, shove it back in and close the cabinet when we don’t.

      The nice thing about this plan (as opposed to having a built-in microwave) is that (it doesn’t matter in terms of the overall beauty of the kitchen) what our microwave looks like (we’ve got an unimpressive-looking white one) or if it breaks or anything. Much easier to switch out or buy based on function/price.

  17. Stefanie says

    Love it! Do you guys have any thoughts on painted cabinets? I would love to paint ours, but am afraid the paint wouldn’t hold up for the long run. I know some of HGTVs designers send cabinet doors out to be sprayed – do you know if this helps durability? Any other tips?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We painted the cabinets in our first home and really loved the durability… until we redid the whole room. But John’s sister painted hers and they lasted over a decade until she sold the house- they looked great and she rolled on oil-based primer followed by two coats of latex paint. The key is thin and even coats, so it’s not too thick and therefore doesn’t crack and peel. Spraying them can be great if you’re an expert, but if you’re a newbie you can apply thin and even coats the most easily with a small foam roller and a brush to get into the crannies. Good luck!

      xo,
      s

  21. heyruthie says

    my parents have those same cabinets and hardware–believe it or not, Erin and Zach’s kitchen must have been “updated” in the 1970’s! LOL!

    Reply

  22. Angela L says

    Fantastic re-design! I’m in the midst of my own, and I also painted the cabinets white and the walls light blue. Since mine’s only 1/2 done, I wasn’t so sure about my color choices, so seeing how great yours looks finished makes me feel so much better!

    Reply

  25. Rachel Gross says

    Love the re-do! However, one question…and I’m stumped when thinking about our own kitchen what to do… the microwave/fan combo above the stove. Looks like they took theirs out, and you are planning to do the same. I’d love to put in a hood (because ours, just like yours, is waaaay too low and I can barely fit a soup pot on the stove), but where to put the microwave w/o having to have an ugly space-consuming countertop version (or modifying the base cabinets to install it below)?? Where will you put yours, and do you know what they did with theirs?

    Reply

  27. Marcie says

    Look great! I can’t believe that you got the cabinet covered in 3 coats. We ended up having to do 2 coats of primer and 4 coats of white. Around coat 5 we were wishing we had invested in a sprayer.

    Reply

  30. Polly says

    We have the exact same cabinets and I have been planning on painting them white. This has totally convinced me – they look great!! I had wondered if the middle panel where the original hardware was would look strange, but it doesn’t. Now I just need to decide between regular painting or trying Cabinet Transformations…any thoughts?

    Reply

  36. Sarah says

    What a beautiful transformation! I have my dream kitchen all designed, but haven’t the slightest clue where to start without blowing up the house. I wish I was as handy as you two! The blue is so light and airy, perfect for the kitchen. Great job!

    Reply

  40. Cathy Gorga says

    wondering if Erin can tell me what she did with the insides of her cabinets, or if you have any advice, Sherry? ours are ’60s-era maple cabinets with years of sticky contact paper on the insides. we want to paint the exteriors, but…how to make the insides nice and happy, too? the shelves aren’t removable, so it would be totally annoying to paint the interiors. hmm…in the meantime, love love loving the kitchen updates (yours & others’)!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Our new kraftmaid drawers were wood inside (and white outside) so that look is pretty standard (and super durable since they won’t chip or show dark marks or smudges) so we’re planning to leave our insides unpainted and maybe use pretty liners. But if we had glass shelves we’d paint the inside with a fun pop of color.
      xo,
      s

  45. Johanna says

    Wow, I love the finished product! It’s so light and airy – makes me think of a home in the countryside. Can’t believe they’re the same room!

    Reply

  46. Virginia@ Scentsy says

    Wow this looks amazing! I am in the process of painting my kitchen cabinets white and this inspires me to get on the ball and get it finished. I have been a bit lazy in the painting department lately.

    Then it is on to countertops and backsplash!

    Reply

  48. Megan says

    That looks awesome! I wish I had such a good layout and cabinets to redo but unfortunately we’re in the “do it from scratch” time once we get the money.

    Reply

  49. Ashley says

    Wow the kitchen looks 10x better painted white! It’s really elegant and sleek looking with the black counter tops too. I like that! Thanks for sharing Erin and Zach!

    Reply

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *