Regularly Scheduled Programming

Well, now that the long weekend is over, I guess we better get back to it. Shall we?

This week I'm going to write a post about each room, giving you a break down of our expenses and the process we went through. I have already done a big blanket before and after progress post here, but why don't we dig a bit deeper? Let's talk dollars and cents people. Let's talk a bit more about how we did it and why we did it. Mmmmk?

Mmmmk.

We are going to start with the kitchen. This is the first room you see as you enter the house (from the back). Plus, I feel we got the most bang-for-our-buck from this room. When you enter the house, you actually enter onto a small landing with two stairwells. You can go up to the kitchen,

or down to the basement.

When we moved into the house, the kitchen was a yellow and orange mess.

The paneling was very overwhelming and the orange floors combined with the peel-n-stick counter tops, were just horribly gross. I wanted everything out asap. But, we decided that it would be better to do some small things and eventually gut the beast in a few years. Ew. That sounds a bit gross.

How's that visual image for you?

Fast forward four months and our kitchen was starting to come together. We haven't touched the entry yet, but the kitchen has had an appropriate facelift.

EVERYTHING got a coat of primer and then paint. We used Aqua Lock primer--its free of VOCs and does a pretty good job--and Kilz in some of the really bad spots. Then, we took Benjamin Moore's low VOC semi gloss white to the kitchen cabinets and BM's low VOC Marina Gray to the walls.

She was starting to look a bit better and not so run down and bedraggled.

Yet, we still needed to deal with those horrible floors. We addressed them by putting down the least expensive peel-n-stick tiles we could find. I wanted something that would work better with the wall color, but didn't want to spend an arm and a leg. Sixty beans later, our floors weren't looking too shabby.

They blended in more and were no longer the focal point of the room. We also installed a new vent hood and Jonathan put in new shelving in my soon-to-be pantry. You can see both in the above picture.

Finally, the cabinet doors went back on and we moved in. The "finished" product was this:

Obviously we still have some work to do. We want to put in new counter tops, replace the sink, install two new light fixtures, and do a bit of decorative tweaking. I'm still trying to figure out how to fit all of our stuff and not have every cupboard be chock full. We are getting there.

Now, I'm sure you are wondering how much this cost us. Well, here is the ol' cost breakdown for you.

Primer and paint for ceiling, cabinets, and walls (I used a half gallon for the ceiling paint and the wall color, and a whole gallon of semi gloss white and Aqua Lock primer): $100.00
Floor tiles: $60.00
Wood for pantry shelving: Free--Jonathan used scrap wood he had from another job
Curtains under sink: Free--I had left over fabric that I used
Blind for window: $ 28.99
New hood for stove: $20.00
Total: $208.99 


For about $210 total, I think that our kitchen looks worlds better! Now I feel like I can live with it, for a couple of years, while we save up for our big gut and add-on job. While Jonathan and I were talking about what needed to be done, I asked if we could put a little money into the kitchen. I honestly wasn't worried about the size, I just wanted to be able to enjoy myself while I was cooking and baking. We definitely met that goal and then some. Plus, after another $150 for the counter tops and sink, this room is going to be looking pretty spiffy. I have to say, I cannot wait!

What do you think? Have you ever done some quick tweaking to a room just to get it to look better for a few years so you can save up for a complete overhaul?