Today's blog is all about our recent kitchen renovation. As I am sure lot of you are, we were trying to do our renovation on a budget. We wanted it to look upgraded without the price tag. Every person that I have showed my kitchen to so far has been in disbelief that the counters are not real marble or the back splash is actually just stick on.
First off we started with our cabinets. Honestly, out of this whole old farmhouse, those might be the thing that was in the best shape. I knew with just a little face lift they could look brand new! I will say I did splurge on the paint, however I wanted it to last so I was not constantly touching up my cabinets everyday.
* A big disclaimer to those that may not paint often, this is the one area you do not want to skimp on any project. As much as it may stink to spend the extra dollars on it, you will be so happy you did in the end. Cheap paint will almost always scratch off or chip much quicker than you would ever like*
The paint we used is the Magnolia Home Trim & Cabinetry paint. Since this paint is specifically made for cabinetry is gives it a much better finish than a normal paint would. It gave my cabinets that glossy and hard feeling brand new cabinets would have.
We chose the color Silos White for our cabinets.
The process:
I started by removing all the hardware and doors. Then I cleaned the cabinets and sanded them down. I always wonder when people say you need to sand how intensely you need to do this. I can tell you mine was short and simple. I simply roughed up the cabinets so the paint would hold better.
Next I primed all the cabinets and then finally I painted them. I did 1 coat of primer and
2 coats of the paint. If you want great results you do need to prime your cabinets. Skipping this step will only result in a lower quality end result.After all cabinets were done we moved on to doors. We were lucky enough that my husband's shop has a spray paint hook up so that made painting the doors and drawers much easier. It helped them all to have a smooth finish with no streaks. If you have access to one definitely use it! If you don't just take your time with a roller of brush and you will be just fine.
I will say I was absolutely horrible at handling the spray gun so my wonderful husband took that over while I get put on hardware duty. LOL
I really wanted to keep the original hardware because I liked having a touch of original still mixed in with our upgrade. Also this saved us a ton of money because hardware is expensive!! Our hardware was all coated in a nasty black filth. I was determined I could fix them so I searched and searched the internet until I found the miracle product!!
This bar keepers friend cleanser is an absolute powerhouse cleaner! You can see in the photo above how incredible it made our hardware look in a matter of seconds! I will tell you, I scrubbed my little heart out and it was a lot of work to get them all that clean. However for the price of this product and
the result you can't beat it!!
I actually used a brush from my espresso cleaning kit, but I will link that here so you all can see specifically what brush worked well for me.
Once all the cabinets were done and back in place I started the counters.
THIS STEP TAKES PATIENCE AND YOU CANT EXPECT PERFECTION
I spent an entire afternoon on this, and I did it while I was alone because I knew my husband would not have the patience for it. In a nutshell it is essentially like putting on a vinyl decal. If you have any experience with those (which I thankfully did) you will be ok. However if you don't you will still be ok you just need to watch a lot of YouTube tutorials on how to apply it (I also did that because I wanted as much information as possible).
I measured out my pieces for my counter and went to town. You start by sticking the end of the contact paper to the back of your counter. You then use a scraper to slowly push the contact paper to the counter while getting out the air bubbles. I actually used a pan scrapper to do this and it worked perfectly. Little by little you pull back the backing of the paper to get more and more if it stuck to the counter until that strip is done.
Video on how to apply counters
You will have air bubbles, you will be able to see where the pieces overlap, and you will have mistakes. But for a quick cost effective fix you really can't beat it.
My counters have been holding up great! I have been very careful with heat and cutting on them,. If you are aware of those two things you should have great luck with them!
Lastly the back splash.
This is what really pulled our kitchen together for me and it was hands down the easiest step! You seriously just peel off the back and stick it to the previous back splash or wall. I can't stress to you all how easy it is! Yes you do have to cut pieces for around the window and light fixtures, but that is really the only challenge.
Mine is so far from perfect but with this block style it is so easy to mess up and still have it look great! Haha!
I am going to link our new sink and our small new light fixture we put over our sink. Both of these were easy install and are so cute!
Kitchen Sink
This type of renovation is perfect for renters as well! I have tore off a piece of the counter and it came right off. The same goes for the back splash. (However this does matter what you are sticking it too. I stuck both of mine to laminate counter tops and back splash)
Overall I am 100% happy with the end results and all of these products! I hope this can help someone else spice of their homes while keeping it cost effective!
more to come,
Small Town Fashionista
