A guide to our kitchen DIY
When we bought our house, it had great bones and a wonderful open floor plan and so many things that we loved about it–but there were a few aesthetic issues that we were eager to update. The biggest one, by far, was the kitchen: the layout was spacious and functional, but there was a glut of oak cabinets. Just so many cabinets! So oaky! It felt very dated, and while they all did their job, I just didn’t love them. On top of that, the countertops were very nice but very dark: they hid *all* of the crumbs, which was not a feature I loved.
We didn’t rush into any big changes, but after living in our house for about a year, we started to daydream about what would be possible. The cost of new countertops alone was enough to stop us in our tracks: did we really want to renovate an entire kitchen just a year after moving in? It was also tough to do something like replace the countertops without renovating the entire kitchen: we’d need them to be custom cut, and it would be tricky to do anything like change the sink or the cabinets down the line without having to replace the countertops.
Instead, we decided to do as much as we could in the DIY realm–and I’m so glad we did! At a much lower price point (although with plenty of sweat equity), we were able to totally change the atmosphere of the kitchen. It was not my favorite room when we first moved in, but these updates really shifted the vibe and it quickly became a space that I loved.
I must give credit where credit is due, and none of this would have been possible without David! I do stand by it being 50% vision and 50% execution (David disagrees), but David put in a ton of time and effort and energy (and hours watching YouTube tutorials) to make everything match up with my vision. It also would not have been possible without my friend Daniela: she was a constant source of design ideas and resources, and if you are looking for a design consultant, I very much recommend hiring her.
Countertops
The biggest DIY project that we took on: painting the countertops! Yes, you read that right. We painted our countertops. The original countertops were dark, which are great to hide the crumbs…but I deeply hate the hiding of crumbs. We had dark countertops in our rentals before this house, and I hated the feeling of wiping down the countertop when you don’t really notice anything and then they are FILTHY. Alas, figuring out a way to get white countertops was a top priority for me, but we spent one morning at a kitchen supply store and realized that nice new countertops would be VERY expensive, given the size of our kitchen and how many custom cuts we would need to do. It seemed silly to do new countertops outside of an entire kitchen renovation, so when Daniela mentioned countertop paint, I was intrigued.
We used the Giani Marble Countertop Paint Kit, and this was really where David’s detail-oriented planning came into play. The thing about marble countertops is that the veining is sort of random, and that’s what makes it appear natural. The first thing he did was actually draw out his proposed marble veining on his iPad to figure out how he was going to balance the big veins and small veins to look as natural as possible. It really helped! I would definitely recommend this step before diving right into painting onto the countertops.
The other thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the “how to” videos show someone using the kits on a small bathroom. A large space like a kitchen is doable, but there is an element of timing everything correctly: you have to do the next step before the first layer dries, and that gets tricky when you have *a lot* of space to cover.
Cabinets
I love open shelving in kitchens, and we were able to recreate it pretty easily on a budget. For the top cabinets, we just took off the cabinet doors and painted the framing and the inside of the cabinets white. We did keep one set of cabinets with the doors on to be able to not have *everything* on display.
Luckily, our dishes work pretty well on display: I love a classic Crate & Barrel white plate and bowl. I also opted for these simple Ikea glass jars for the top shelf: there was more space from the
For our bottom cabinets, I believed strongly in the power of a fresh coat of paint and new fixtures. I wanted to do something a little differently than an all-white kitchen, so we went with Cape Verde on the bottom cabinets. I really like the balance of all-white up top and then something a little bolder down below, and we get so many compliments on the color: it’s a really lovely blend of blue and green. We also ordered some simple drawer pulls and cabinet door pulls: I’m always amazed at how adding some hardware can make such a big difference.
Breakfast nook
To be fair, this was not a DIY project but it is a big part of the kitchen transformation. We had a glut of cabinets in the back corner and it just felt like far more storage than we needed. I actually tested this theory for the first year that we lived here by seeing if we could live without putting *anything* in these cabinets (I’m a firm believer in the fact that you will fill up spaces if they are available, and not necessarily with things you need).
Instead, we decided to demo the cabinets and replace them with a breakfast nook. I am SO glad we did this! It not only gave us an extra little eating space, but it also really opened up the flow of the kitchen and gave me a fun opportunity for a gallery wall. Our local neighborhood handyman did the demo for us, and then we used California Closets to build out the seating (with built-in storage!).
I found someone to make custom cushions via Etsy and bought the oversized pillows from CB2. The table is from CB2 and chairs are actually from Home Depot!
Takeaways
It’s now been about four years since we did our DIY kitchen makeover (aka painted it all!) and it’s holding up pretty well. I am SO glad we did this as a way to hold off on a bigger kitchen renovation: it’s given us extra time to save up, as well as to get a better understanding of what we really want and need in our forever kitchen. It also really reminded me of the power of a fresh coat of paint on things: just switching the color up can make such a HUGE difference in terms of the look and feel of a room.
Excited to share a few more peeks into our house and our DIY journeys (long overdue!)–happy to take any requests in the comments below!
