Kitchen Updates That Anyone Can Do

I want to share with you all how you can update your kitchen by yourself and not break the bank!

So let me start by showing you what our kitchen looked like before we moved in.

Okay, I’m gonna be real with you guys. When I originally thought of this post and started to brainstorm, I was super excited. Then, when I went to go take photos today of our kitchen, I kept noticing all the little imperfections. The stains on the cabinets, the nicks in the floor, and the spaces where we didn’t put enough grout on the subway tile. Suddenly, I became discouraged. I thought about who would care about seeing our kitchen, it’s not magazine worthy. And who would care about the updates we did to our kitchen. We aren’t professional kitchen remodelers. We didn’t spend $25,000 on a new kitchen. But wait.

That’s just it, and here it is now. We didn’t spend $25,000 on a new kitchen, and we didn’t have to! I love our kitchen. I love every single thing we have done to it. Are there still a few things I want to change? Hell yeah I do! But, there are always things we are going to want to change about our home. We have many many years ahead of us and many projects left. A house becomes your home when you put work and love into it. What matters is what we can do and what we have done, and how much hard work we have already put into this place. Our kitchen updates cost us about $1,500 and we did everything ourselves.

1. Update the cabinet hardware.

2. Install an island.

I know what you’re thinking. Install an island?! I seriously looked everywhere for an affordable island. We searched so many websites and stores. Then, I stumbled upon overstock.com and they had this gorgeous kitchen island on sale here for $773.49! AND when you sign up with your email address, they give you a 10% off coupon code. It ended up being around $700 for the island and chairs! They got delivered in 5 different boxes, & Anthony and I put it all together within a few hours one night. An island will break up some empty space, create extra seating and counter space, and can be fun to decorate!

3. Add subway tile & open shelving.

This is something we were clueless on. We’ve actually been clueless on most of our projects. We looked everything up on YouTube. These are beveled subway tiles from Home Depot. They are sold in a box for $28. I believe we used 5 boxes, so we paid about $140. I can’t remember exactly how many we got, because as soon as Anthony finished, he saw that he used two different types of tile! One was the beveled and one was straight tile. So he had to take it all off, go back to Home Depot and buy more of the right tile. Some things go wrong when you’re doing projects. Sometimes they’re extreme, sometimes they are just set backs that cost you a few extra hours. Home Depot also sells the grout kits and tells you what you will need on the bucket. We used dark grey grout. The shelves are Ekeby Hemnes from Ikea. They were $15 each, so total $60 for the 4 shelves! Subway tile and open shelving really opens up the space and brightens the room.

4. Update the light fixtures.

The first thing we did when we moved in was paint all the baseboards, doors, and trim. It made a HUGE difference! You don’t realize it until you do it, but if it’s been a few years or you just moved into a new house; paint that trim and those baseboards! I promise you will notice how great it looks afterwards. I also bought some natural bamboo roman shades at Home Depot, which adds some texture to the kitchen too! Doing these updates are extremely cost effective as well.

Welp, that’s it for now folks! I am sure I will have some more updates for you guys soon. We are in the process of knocking down the living room wall, and rebuilding our pantry. We recently added white faux brick wallpaper to the pantry and will be putting in shelves. I will be sharing that with you guys soon too! Do you have any updates you’ve done to your kitchen that were relatively easy & didn’t break the bank? I would love to hear about them.

Talk soon friends!
-Sarah