So, we’re re-doing our kitchen on a very small budget. I love our kitchen because it’s so nice and bright and when we built the house in 2005 we picked out all the finishes and the appliances and the paint color. However after 7 years of cooking many, many meals for our kids and their friends and our other family members our kitchen really needs some help!
Here’s a few pictures of what the kitchen looks like now (note that I forgot to take a true before picture – clearly work had already begun!). Not too exciting, I know (although the wall to the left and below the [what was once a] bar top was painted by us 2 years ago [Pismo Beach by Benjamin Moore] and we love, love the color!) The room looks so “builder basic” to me now and I promise it isn’t quite as “blah” in person, but it really doesn’t feel like “us” anymore.
Picture taken while standing in the kitchen.
Image by Kristen for Kristen Loves Design
Picture taken while standing in the living room; shows the “window” that used to have a bar top.
Image by Kristen for Kristen Loves Design
Originally the wall went all the way to the ceiling, but it made the kitchen feel very closed off from the rest of the house, which was ironic since it’s mostly an open floor plan! So we had that changed (I’ll discuss our decision to remove the bar top at a later point). On the left wall are sliding glass doors that open out onto our back patio.
What we want to change/add:
Countertops
Sink
Bar top
Backsplash
Under cabinet lighting
Outlet covers
Cabinet in the far left corner/open shelves
Paint
Faucet
Garbage disposal
Shade on window
Curtains/double rod on sliding glass doors
Cabinet organizers
Picture frames and pictures
Floor (maybe)
Whew! That’s a long list. And our budget? Let’s say about $5,000.00. I should say I initially thought we could do all this for $3,500.00, but that was before I really researched how much individual items cost (plus services)! So, Lesson #1 is – research potential options before you really set the budget otherwise you’ll be setting yourself up with a budget this is completely unrealistic before you even start!
Stay tuned for how we decided on our countertops!
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