Before & After: An “Utterly Lifeless” Kitchen Gets a Jolt of Color
When my husband Mark and I purchased our 1890s brick row home in Frederick, Maryland, we knew the kitchen would eventually need some attention. There was really nothing wrong with the space… it was just utterly lifeless. Like the rest of the house, the kitchen had received some well-intentioned but poorly-executed updates. Everything was off-white: cabinets, countertops, linoleum floor, walls. The ceiling fan wobbled threateningly, and the cabinets over the sink were too low to even open the Keurig. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a huge budget for renovating the space. So we had to do it ourselves: working with what we had and updating what we could afford to update.
| For just over $1,000, we laid a new hardwood floor, updated the cabinet hardware, added a subway tile backsplash, changed the kitchen faucet, swapped out the ceiling fan for a new light fixture, painted the walls, painted the cabinets, and added open shelving. (Whew!) I had hoped to add butcher-block countertops, but the current countertops were in good condition. So we opted to save money for now. We may update them at a later date. I had this vision of ceiling-high subway tiles… and, despite having never laid a back-splash, my husband managed to execute that vision. That part of the renovation alone took a week. Who knew how hard it would be?? Not me, apparently. But, in the end, the hard work was so worth it. Everyone comments on the tile. It reflects the light from the one window on the opposite wall and gives the illusion of a much higher ceiling. Additionally, we gave the cabinets a two-tone look using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old Violet, a sleek grey-blue color. It perfectly suits the eclectic style found throughout our house. We absolutely love our new and improved kitchen. No longer bland and lifeless— it’s now a colorful, welcoming little space. |
Thank you Abigail! You can read more about this project on Abigail’s blog Patina & Purl.