Kitchen Updates on a Budget

One of the things I really enjoy doing is DIY projects and shopping around for a good deal. But first, let's back track a little.

The first time I remember seeing a yellow kitchen was sometime in high school. I have dreamed of having a yellow kitchen ever since. All of my Sims games had yellow kitchens. Often times decorated with polka dots of some sort, but still always yellow. Our kitchen did not start of yellow. It started off vanilla. It started off like this...ish. I can't find the photos before we moved in & started unpacking and painting, but you get the gist:

And then went to this:

Total cost - whatever a quart of paint costs. And I liked it. But, I still hated the cabinets and the counter tops. Really, the photos don't do it justice. The counter tops are a weird beigey-peachy-pinky color. As are the cabinets. Thank you, the 90's. You were beautiful ;)

After much discussion and research, we decided to not have the cabinets refaced professionally and decided to not rip them out and put in completely new cabinets. We have other things we wanted to do with our finances - we wanted to start a family. Since there was really nothing wrong with the cabinets, we researched different options on how to DIY them ourselves. We decided on using the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation kit (you can get it at Home Depot). We purchased them around Christmas time during a sale and spent under $200 for the kits. Then they sat in our closet for close to a year. We had our first daughter and then decided to work on the cabinets. Then we found out I was pregnant again and The Hubs ended up with this fairly large project to complete by himself (mutual decision that I probably shouldn't be working with paint in the garage while pregnant). So The Hubs worked hard at our salon and then would come home, eat and get to work on the cabinets. Yes, it took longer than we projected. Life happens, work days are long, kids get sick, we get tired. But finally, they were done. And they're beautiful. And they looked like this:

The same time we purchased the cabinet kits, we also went and purchased a Giani Granite Countertop kit for about $80. Giani Granite Countertops is a DIY kit designed to make your laminate countertops look like faux granite. Now, there are plenty of DIY ideas on how to paint your countertops that can be done for significantly less than $80, however we liked that this is a tested product and that it was designed specifically for laminate AND kitchens/bathrooms. We decided, again, against the actual upgrade. We don't think the cost would add that much to the resale value of the house and I don't actual need granite (but it is on my "would like" list for our next house). This is another project I was supposed to help with and while it would be really fun to say that the reason is because I'm pregnant again, I'm not, but we have 2 little girls that need someone to watch them while The Hubs works on the counters.

My first glimpse of the counters was with the primer coat on it...and I'm in love. I told The Hubs it was perfectly ok if he just left it with the primer coat and sealed it right then. It was SO much better already. Have a looksie:

And now, The Hubs just sent me this photo of the progress that is being made:

Not bad of under $100. The kitchen looks SO much better!

Now just to seal it, let it cure and get the new sink installed next week.