Before and After: This Kitchen Breakfast Nook Gets an Inexpensive $350 Upgrade
Margaret lives in a condo in Atlanta’s Garden Hills neighborhood, in a 12-unit building that dates back to 1919. Old buildings sometimes come with unpleasant surprises, like when Margaret learned that the outside wall of her breakfast nook would have to be completely replaced due to water damage. But instead of seeing inconvenience, Margaret saw an opportunity to make her charming old home even more charming.
Here’s a closer look at the breakfast nook alone. While the space is already quite lovely, Margaret took this chance to make it something so much better.
Her secret weapon? Picture molding. Adding picture molding to your walls is a fairly simple DIY, provided you’re a bit handy. But, since rebuilding the wall involved hiring a contractor, Margaret provided the contractor with drawings indicating where she wanted the molding to go. The cost of the wall was covered by the unit’s previous owner, but Margaret estimates the molding cost about $200.
That wasn’t the only change made to the breakfast nook: It also got a new coat of grey paint, in Sherwin Williams’ Snowbound. Painting the moldings, the walls, and the baseboards all the same color makes for a beautifully cohesive look and helps draw the eye up.
This is where you’ll find Margaret’s new light fixture. It cost about $100 and adds the perfect modern-yet-luxe touch to the space (with a little assist from the ceiling medallion). The new breakfast nook is beautiful, classy, and fits seamlessly into this 100-year-old home. It’s as if the molding had been there all along.
Margaret completed her project for around $350: $200 for the molding, $100 for the light fixture, and $50 for paint. If you intend to have a contractor install your molding, you’ll have to factor in that cost as well. But if you’re planning to DIY, this YouTube tutorial is a great place to start.
Thank you Margaret!