Kitchen Revival!!!

For weeks and weeks now I have been SLOWLY redoing our kitchen. Our house is only 5 years old so it didn't NEED any renos per say but it was basically your classic contractors stock kitchen...full of oak, oak, and more oak! The only kind of oak I like is the kind in your front yard! Or the painted kind! So that is just what I did. In July, Nathaniel and I took down all the cabinet doors and drawer fronts, he sanded while I primed and painted. Since we don't own a paint sprayer it seemed to take forever to paint these things not to mention a million coats and before we knew it the paint can was empty and it was time to leave for our trip to Mexico. I am guessing that if I had been smart and bought enough paint and were not interrupted by our trip...the whole kitchen redo could have taken a FULL weekend or maybe 3 whole days of non-stop work...but it just didn't work out like that.
So we put the cabinets back together for the sake of our house sitters while we were gone.

Finally, last week I started things rolling again.
Here are a few before shots:



Here is a photo of us last Thanksgiving! I get a kick out of this photo! (from left: me, my dad, my dad's fiancee Leah, and my sister Jessica)



Nathaniel sanding away!

Took ALL the cupboard doors and drawers fronts off. I used Kilz Spray paint wood primer.

The paint I chose for the cabinets is Benjamin Moore Collection in Marble White.
Nathaniel also ripped down the old tile backsplash and I installed these cool decorative sheets from Rona





Here is the breakdown:

Paint- about $150
Hardware- $96
Holly's Custom Hood Vent-$40
Crown Molding-$56
White Faux tin wall tiles (backsplash)-$126
Linear Crystal Chandelier (Chintz & Co.)- a birthday present from my dad's girlfriend Leah!

So in the end our little kitchen facelift cost less than $500! Woohoo! And since we ended up doing a little at a time it didn't break the bank!

Ahhhhh! That was my sigh of relief that its finally done!

Here it is now!










I'm so loving the clean white cabinets...I feel like its a totally different kitchen!
Off to Vegas for the weekend (my Dad is getting hitched to his beautiful fiancee Leah!!!)
Enjoy the long weekend everyone!

20 comments:

Rebecca said...

I love your backsplash and would LOVE to do something like that. Can you tell me what product you used and any tips you might have?

Yansy said...

I love the way it turned out. You guys did an amazing job and I must have that chandelier.

Pretty Little Things for Home & Life said...

Kitchen looks great!! Whata relief to get rid of all the oak (or at least the coloring)

You did a fantastic job!!

Unknown said...

GORGEOUS Rebecca!!! Where do I start? The backsplash (genious), the light (I have drooled over that same one for years now!), the hardware, it all looks amazing.

It really doesn't even resemble it's former self.

Have fun in Vegas, win tons of money, and congrats to your dad!

Unknown said...

Lovely transformation!

Deb said...

Your kitchen looks lovely!

Rosie said...

It looks incredible, what a transformation!

Jacey Autumn Photography said...

WOW! I absolutely LOVE what you did to your kitchen! I've always loved white kitchens....now all I need is a new home with a big kitchen so I can do this too :) haha Great Work!

MrsKBJ said...

Beautiful!! Have fun in Vegas! Congrats to your Dad and your stepmom!

Christina said...

love the redo. sooo impresive.

Anonymous said...

It looks great! I'm with you, loving the white!

Yansy said...

I love what you did with your kitchen. I've been obsessing over that chandelier for years. I can't wait to have one of my own.

Lynett said...

Wow! What a difference! It looks so gorgeous!

lauren @ gathering moss said...

LOVE IT!!! i want to paint my ugly kitchen cabinets white, and i am totally going to try that color. any cabinet painting tips?

Rebecca said...

Thanks guys! It feels so good to have it finished! It was a looong drawn out project!
Rebecca- the backsplash is made of a plastic type material and comes in big square sheets. They are made to look like faux tin tiles. You can get them in white, tin (faux), and copper (faux). You can find them at Rona or Home Depot. I forget what brand they are but if you google 'faux tin tiles' you can easily find them. The only advice would be to use 'paintable' extra white caulking after to seal the edges so that its easier to clean up...and so you can paint them if you wish in the future.

la- heres my best advice for painting cabinets like these. Wash with a non soapy detergent like TSP...sand the dickens out of them...Kilz spray paint wood primer worked great and was easy to use. Use LOTS of this so you wont have to paint as many coats of the coloured paint you choose....then if you have a sprayer (you are lucky) you will be done in a few hours...if not and you have to roller the paint like I did...use a small sponge roller and be prepared to do many coats and watch paint dry! lol.
Oh and make sure you take the cupboard doors and drawer fronts down because this makes painting soooo much easier!
Hope that helps:)

Freckles Chick said...

Stunning transformation, R!! All that chic-ness done on a budget. You're a girl after my own heart.

I wish our ceiling wasn't vaulted so that I can own a linear chandie. I'll just live vicariously thru you.

Hope the wedding was fun!

Norma said...

Hi Rebecca, your kitchen looks fantastic, you and your DH did a great job on it. I've always loved a white kitchen, we also have a white kitchen.

Jacey Autumn Photography said...

Thank you so much for the comment! I will definitly have to check out that hotel next time I'm in Vegas! thanks for the info:)

Room to Inspire said...

Your kitchen looks fabulous. I keep trying to get the nerve up to do this to our cabinets...after seeing these pics I am inspired. How did you do the areas around the cabinets? Did you sand and then use the spray primer as well?

Chelsea

Rebecca said...

Room to Inspire- I'm so happy I inspired you!!! That made my day!

I was told at Benjamin Moore not to sand the sides beause they are laminate and under the thin layer of laminate is just particle board...so if you use a water based paint (which I did) he said it would cause the wood under to swell! BUT then I had another person give me completely opposite advice and say I must sand if I want the paint to adhere....so I met them in the middle and lightly roughed up the surface with a hand-sander. Then I rollered on Kilz Premium interior primer on the sides of the cabinets...two coats...then rollered on the BM Marble White. I would have prefered to use the spray primer like I did on the cupboard doors but protecting all the floor and surrounding counters seemed like too much work:)