Before & After: A Colorful & Cheery Mid-Century Kitchen Renovation
Kelsey and her husband Heath had their work cut out for them when they moved into their new home with an outdated kitchen. But they worked with the home’s bones for a makeover that both fits the house and their personality!
From Kelsey:
This project is/was the most time and energy intensive DIY renovation we’ve sunk our teeth into, but it has also been the most gratifying. It started before we officially moved in when I painted the walls a nearly day-glow shade of green called “Spritz of Lime” which just seemed an appropriate if not nauseating color choice for a kitchen.
From there, I spent months flipping through tons of magazines, Pinterest boards and blog posts to figure out what would fit our space and our budget. We took it on bit-by-bit, first painting the walls and replacing the light fixtures. Then my husband Heath spent his Christmas vacation sanding down and restaining the original knotty pine cabinets and adding new hardware, and we worked together the following spring break to remove the wood wall paneling and add more shelving and storage. About a year later we tackled the most costly upgrade: replacing the countertops and redoing the plumbing. To top it off, we put in a mosaic tile backsplash, resulting in the nearly finished product we have today, 18 months after moving in.
A project more than a year in the making, it felt indecently good to marvel at the successful culmination of a lot of hard work.
Thank you Kelsey! See all the DIY changes on Kelsey’s blog.
Re-edited from a post originally published 11.8.2014-NT