Kitchen?

Lela Wilson
by Lela Wilson

When there is absolutely no money to buy anything what can be done to a kitchen to update it from 1972

  9 answers
  • Ella Frierson Bond Ella Frierson Bond on Sep 27, 2018

    I can't think of anything that is completely free.

  • Nan W. Nan W. on Sep 27, 2018

    Lela: Zero money? (A lot of us have been there!)


    I find that a serious DECLUTTER works very well to give a kitchen a new look! (Look at your kitchen as a designer would... be brutal with your purging!)

  • Zard Pocleeb Zard Pocleeb on Sep 27, 2018

    I can understand the no money in the budget situation, but if you can scrape together enough to buy a can of paint it would make a huge difference.

  • Would you be able to at least buy paint? There are a lot of updates that you can do to the cabinets, counters, and even floors with just paint. Otherwise if you don't have a budget for that, I would save up and watch for the sales.

  • Joanne lueke Joanne lueke on Sep 27, 2018

    I would approach this a little differently. Hometalk is a community of creative DIY minds who find ways to repurpose, rearrange and create out of ordinary items like cardboard, picture frames, trays, mason jars ,etc that are useful and beautiful and transforming.

    Lela, I would suggest that you go to the top of this page to "Explore Projects" and when you do that a menu will appear with topics like "Makeover",Organize", "Upcycle", "Decorate", "Clean" and others and look through those projects and I am sure you will find many projects which use things you already have to upcycle or upgrade the look of your kitchen.

    Not everything costs money. Just a creative mind and we have a lot of those on Hometalk.


    Best wishes for a successful and beautiful transformation. You can do this!




    • Kal is right. Shop your own house first and repurpose things you already have. Check your fabric boxes or look at old linens, you can make curtains or a valance from odd bits you have in the house.


      Sometimes a good cleaning, purging and rearranging can spice things up a bit.

  • OceeB OceeB on Sep 27, 2018

    After shopping at your own home, try looking up Craigslist 'Free' pages. Someone might be giving something away that you could in turn upcycle for your use. I have seen some cool countertop ideas for covering formica when cannot replace. Figure out the one thing that you really want to do that will cost $ and then set a plan to save toward that. Build other ideas around that.

  • Kmdreamer Kmdreamer on Sep 28, 2018

    Change curtains if you have non use a sheet and drop it maybe change room aro

  • Chr29251831 Chr29251831 on Sep 28, 2018

    Even old sheets can be made into valances. Use old mason jars for sugar and flour containers. You can paint them or decorate them with different crafty ideas.

  • Sharon Sharon on Sep 28, 2018

    Paint the walls and the cupboards, you can get super cheap paint at Ophs section of paint and home stores, or Habitat for Humanity Restore. And then pay a few bucks extra to have it professionally tinted.

    If you can find some old glass windows, you could cut out the center of your cabinet doors and then have the glass cut to fit.

    You can make an island from old pallets.

    You can make your own counter tops from recycled woodm even make butcher block tops from old 2x4s glued together.

    I have used old recycled metals to make interesting hammered metal vent hoods.

    You can also use recycled metals to make interesting back splashes. Use a wire bruch on a drill to create interesting patterns on the metal.

    You can take off outdated cupboard doors and paint the inside of the cupboards a bright vibrant color for a modern look.

    You can make your own ceiling fixture from just about any materials you can think of, just add a light kit,

    You can make your own linoleum floor with old latex paint and canvas called a floor cloth, used before linoleum came on the market. Add a few coats of clear top coat, and it will last for many years.