My Kitchen, My Way

Earlier this year I saw a quote "If you don't like where you are in life, then move." I took that a little more literally than they probably meant it to be and sold my house.

It was a brand new build in a brand new subdivision and I hated it. I now live in a wonderful thirty-year-old two storey house in an established subdivision.  It is not quite as new and shiny and it is a little rough around the edges after 30 years on the earth, I mean so am I right? (My ego is hoping you are all correcting me right now about how wonderful I look).

But here's the thing, I love renovating, I love having a concept and making it come to life, I love when everything in my house is made for me! Not something that was mass produced for profit by a builder.
And I can love this type of stuff because of my wonderful husband who puts up with my visions and ideas and constant plans.

Project Kitchen

Original kitchen

I hated those old light wood coloured cabinets and don't get me started on the fruit tiled backsplash.
Spending $15,000 on a new kitchen was not in the stars for me. Unless I win the lottery, since I don't play that will be never....
But the cabinets were solid so we decided to try our hand at refinishing them. What happens if we ruin them? We have to replace the cabinets anyways, back to square one.





So off we went to Rona to pick up a refinishing kit. This is where I lose my husband. I decide I want a vintage  cream coloured cabinet. He just stares at me for  a minute. See we have always been lovers of dark wood so this is a little out there for me. But my new house has windows everywhere and I have this urge to make everything bright and cheery!
"Just go with it, I have a vision," I say. He shakes his head and allows me to follow my whim. Love that man.

So first of all don't attempt to refinish your cabinets if you are on a short timeline! It is actually a really easy process it just requires about 8 steps and drying time between each one to finish the job. But we did it! I can say we because I did actually help with the painting and glazing. I earned the right!

Ta Da!

I picked out my tiles from the discounted table at Kent. The glass tiles were regular $25 a sheet! Who pays for that! I paid $5 a sheet for two boxes and $10 a sheet for two unopened boxes. the small subway tiles were also on clearance for .75 each.

My big splurge in this kitchen was the new hood vent. We took out the small cabinet that was not being used above the stove and put in a beautiful stainless steel chimney style vent. It may have been my splurge but if it was still online of course! I saved $110 off and another 10% off the $440 price tag on a scratch and save event.

Since the countertop was fairly new we decided to leave it for now. My dream there is corian stone one day. You know when I win that lottery again....

Kitchen Reno Breakdown
Cost to refinish cabinets $225
Cost of tile & grout $390
Cost of hood vent $410
Total for my makeover: $1035

Not bad for a completely different look! I could get another decade of of these cabinets now. Talk about stretching a dollar.

Now what can I move onto next????