Renovating Your Kitchen on a Budget:
                           how I saved thousands
                                    
                        and made my small kitchen look even  b  i  g  g  e  r!

Make your perfect kitchen on your budget. 

Do you have a room in your house that is dreadfully outdated and makes you cringe and close the door when guests come over? I did. Since the kitchen's the main focal point of houses today, I couldn't just hide my kitchen any longer. It was time to renovate, but I'm on my own on a beginner teacher's budget, so my quandary was how to cut *appropriate* costs without devaluing my high standards of quality and expectations. Renovating is ALL about decisions; what color to choose is just one small question compared to the copious amounts of decisions you'll have to make.    

 Before:  the "bright and cheery" 1960s kitchen

Decision #1:  cutting costs with the cabinets

Your Question:
Will you replace the old cabinets with new cabinets, which will cost you a couple thousand dollars, or can you keep the old cabinets but make them look newer?



My Decision: 
Keep the old cabinets, but sand, prime, add new trim, and paint. I'll show you my steps on my next blog.


My Best Advice:

 sanding outside

• Choose Valspar Cabinet Enamel. It's about $45 at Lowe's, but it covers well, cleans well, takes abuse well like a kitchen demands, and good paint is WELL worth the money. 

• Sanding lead paint can be dangerous to your health, so be sure to wear protection over your eyes and wear a respirator. Houses before the mid 1980s all most likely have led paint in them. Use a good led paint cleaner like I did, such as TSP, several times for lead remediation. Just to be safe, I even went to the doctor and had him test lead levels in my blood, which came back negative. 

adhering the trim 

• Adding "Shaker" trim to the cabinet doors make the kitchen appear more three-dimensional and less 1980s-ish. 

• It only cost me $50 for all of the trim for the doors, but I used MDF boards instead of oak like the doors are made of. MDF still sanded well and didn't chip, so it was a perfect substitute since I was paining the doors white. 

• I used a chop saw, wood glue, put clamps on the four pieces of trim, and shot in 0.5" nails with a nail gun. 

Decision #2:  ditch the dilapidated door

Before:  the ugly back door

Your Question: 
Is my old door and frame (on the inside and outside) resistant to water and harsh winter conditions?

My Decision:
This wasn't a hard decision to make. Old doors have no privacy and can allow water in their cracks and in the old wooden frame. My old door frame was chewed apart by water and mold, so it's a great that I found it when I did. 

My Best Advice:

• Get an energy-efficient door with blinds in the inside of it for both good looks, maximum privacy, and to allow as much sunlight in whenever you choose. Energy-efficient renovations can be tax write-offs, so save your receipts. 

• Find a friend or family member to put it in for you at a reduced price, because places like Lowe's and Home Depot will charge you about double what the door costs total. For example, my door cost about $350, and for someone from a large company to install, the total price would have been abut $700. 

Decision #3:  create a faux wood plank ceiling

Step 1: test white wash options

Your Question: 

Can people see the cracks in my ceiling? 

• Sorry, but yes! It makes the house look way older than it probably already looks. 

How should I cover up the ceiling?

• NEVER use popcorn or plaster ceilings to disguise cracks. It dates your already dated look and makes it look like it belongs in a commercial or industrial building.

• DO use something that elongates the room if it is already a smaller room. Wood planks can create a larger feel to the room.

• DO test the paint or a texture on a scrap board if possible.

Steps I used to create a whitewashed ceiling:

Step 2:  Apply boards without white wash

1. Test how the whitewash will lay on the boards. Test one, two, or three coats with different alternatives (ex. first coat of white wash with second coat wiped).


2. Apply 8-10' wainscoting boards upside down. I adhered it with Heavy Duty Liquid Nails and used a nail gun. 

• Also, I applied the boards first to the ceiling so the paint could conceal some of the nail marks. I wanted to make it look rustic, but the shiny silver nails would have made it look a bit strange.

3. Apply the first coat of a whitewash on the boards. This can be accomplished by using a either a rag or brush (I used brush since I was standing on a ladder and the MDF boards upside down are extremely porous). 

Whitewash Mixing Tip: 

Steps 3 & 4: Whitewash then use tool




•  I mixed 50% paint and 50% water and used an old plastic container to use to apply. This way, if I need to stop for the day, I can put the container's cap to seal out the air. 

4. Apply the second coat of white paint on the ceiling and simultaneously use the faux-wood design tool. Spread white paint in a generous amount with a paintbrush and immediately use the tool after. I used my paintbrush and used 100% paint with no water mixed.  I moved the tool forward and backward to create the wood grain and knots design. 

• Wood Grain Design: Long strokes with the tool create long "wood" grains.

• Knots in Wood Design: Quick forward-backward movements with the tool create "wood" knots.

My Best Advice when Creating this Ceiling:

• Use Upside-down Wainscoting Planks since Real Wood is Expensive and Heavy:  



Step 4: Use faux wood tool

• Instead of using real wood, which is heavy and requires you to find the studs in the ceiling and install furring strips, I used 10' wainscoting planks. 

• Create a Faux Wood Design: 
• I placed the planks upside down and created a faux wood design on them with a nifty little painting tool. You could find one of these at Lowe's for about $6. I white-washed the wood first, then the second coat was the faux wood design that I painted after installing the upside-down planks on the ceiling. I chose to leave the gaps paint-free, though,  in order to create some dimension and make it look like true, thick wooden oak boards. 

Decision #4:  make wood countertops

Your Question: 

What is an alternative to granite or marble countertops that still looks modern and attractive?

• Wood looks great and can be extremely durable if you apply the right varnish and install it correctly! Originally, I was going to purchase butcher block wood for my entire counter, but I opted for a premium grade plywood ($50 a sheet at Lowe's). After you apply stain and urethane, you'll fool your guests into never knowing that your counter is made of plywood!

• Interested in seeing the process? Check out my steps on how I made the wood countertops out of plywood.  

*Check back in for new posts on ways to save and renovating tips and tricks. Feel free to comment if you have any questions! Happy renovating!

About the Author

Amber Konek is an aspiring teacher, track coach, runner, and home renovating enthusiast.  She started remodeling her outdated 1965 home in 2013 and has been hooked ever since.