A Tired Kitchen Transforms with IKEA Cabinets in the Prettiest Color
To put it plainly, buying a fixer upper home is a huge endeavor. Five years ago, when Emy Stenudd and her partner, Joakim Johansson, and their family moved into their home in Vindeln, Sweden, people thought they were “crazy.” For starters, the home needed a full renovation, but it had always been Emy’s dream to do a DIY renovation, so she saw it as an exciting opportunity.
One of the main rooms in the new home that desperately needed an upgrade was the kitchen. “It was in such bad shape, it almost didn’t work at all,” Emy says.
“The dishwasher was broken and the stove, too,” she expands. “The flooring needed an update, and it was just not useful.” The couple wanted to keep their costs low, so Joakim demolished the entire original kitchen (which you can see it the before photos).
Next, he added new flooring, put up drywall, built a huge, welcoming island (one of Emy’s favorite aspects of the room), and the couple planned out and ordered new IKEA cabinetry.
Once everything was installed, it was time to paint the kitchen cabinets. The couple opted for a light gray-green sage color for the cabinets, but it didn’t quite sit right with them.
“At first, I thought that the best thing was to just keep the kitchen as neutral as possible so I wouldn’t regret my choices — but that was the worst thing I did! I regretted it from the second it was done,” Emy says about the cabinet color.
It wasn’t that she didn’t love the kitchen’s design, but the paint color didn’t excite her as much as she’d hoped. So, she lived with it for a few years and then asked Joakim if he’d be open to repainting the cabinets. Of course, he agreed, and the pair painted the cabinets using bright, vibrant colors to match the rest of the house.
Before the new pink, the kitchen was stunning but more subdued and neutral, while the rest of their home burst with color. However, with the help of a couple of paint cans, they were able to turn their kitchen into a warm, inviting space — without the help of professionals.
“I’m proud of it because it’s the first kitchen I designed, and it turned out quite well,” Emy says. “When we went to IKEA to order it, I got compliments for making it all by myself without help from their kitchen planners. And now, when everything is painted in such lovely colors, it’s even more satisfying!”
To see the rest of this colorful home (including an ingenious kitchen storage hack), visit the full house tour on Apartment Therapy.
This post originally ran on The Kitchn. See it there: Before & After: Pink Cabinets Brightened a “Regrettably Neutral” IKEA Kitchen