Our DIY Kitchen Makeover (for Under $650)!

Amy Superdeluxe
by Amy Superdeluxe
$640
3 Weeks
Since moving into our 175 year old house in August, we have been busy tackling projects and making the house our own.... ON A BUDGET. Luckily the Mr. is a super talented guy and can execute the ideas that pop into my head (and I can hold my own with a paintbrush)!
The bulk of our money went to the new lantern and faucet... the rest on good, quality paints/stains and materials for the countertops.
Our kitchen after: We feel like the simplistic design brought it back to its classic, traditional roots.
Before: Clearly the previous owner was going for a Tuscan type look- apple green glazed cabinets, school bus yellow sponge painted walls and a wood countertop that had been neglected for years.
A beautiful focal point of this kitchen: The large stone fireplace. Again, the Tuscan theme wasn't working for us in here.
Mantle and trim painted out white, and I made this large sign for above it using the name of the barn just behind our house to personalize it :) It's hard to get from pictures the scale of this fireplace, but the mantle sits at about 5 1/2 ft tall, and the sign is over 3ft x 4ft..
So long green cabinets and disgusting tile countertops and backsplash....
Hello crisp and clean white! We used Cabinet Coat (tinted White Dove by Benjamin Moore) paint on the cabinets (with Zinsser primer) and they turned out great!
The island before... one of the things that sold me on this house. The very first day we walked in here I knew what we needed to do...
And after. LOVE IT. It has much more presence and elegance now. Mind you, we do not use the island for food preparation or cutting.. it's too pretty for that (and thats what cutting boards are for lol).
Another view. We will slowly replace the appliances over time (sadly, the roof gets top billing for replacement), so for now we will overlook the mismatchiness.... oh, and we plan to install an over-the-range microwave at that point as well.
And after. We installed a simple 3" tongue and groove beadboard backsplash to keep the other great elements the focus in the kitchen.
And the breakfast table. The walls were so loud they screamed.
And after- Kingsport Gray (Benjamin Moore) on the walls and the Calisse Lantern from Ballard Designs finished up this space :)
I wanted to add some other before shots since it's difficult to see that actual kitchen we walked into from panoramic shots. Here is the range, and no it's not pulled away from the counter. This was the finished product we bought. Who doesn't like a 2" gap??
Here's a close up of the painted green/brown glaze cabinets... from a distance it's hard to tell in the before pictures that the cabinets weren't in mint condition. There were chips on just about every drawer...
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