This “Cheap” Gray Kitchen Gets the Boldest Makeover (for Under $1,200!)
Some kitchen renovations, while making the space feel modern, can lack personality or oomph. That’s what happened in Mary Darling’s colorful Indianapolis home. The kitchen had been updated in 2018 before she and her husband bought the house, but it lacked charm and was filled with a color she wasn’t fond of: black.
“When we moved in, the kitchen had cheap black countertops and black knobs on the cabinets and drawers — black is not in my color vocabulary,” Mary says. “We had stainless steel appliances and, of course, all gray walls.”
Mary wanted to replace the black and gray with more vibrant shades — like the lilac on her front porch. As soon as she saw it outside, she knew it would make for a great color for kitchen backsplash. Mary wanted to get creative to find a stunning, inexpensive solution to make it work (without splurging on tiles). “I never give up on an idea until I’ve exhausted every option. I figured I could make a faux tile backsplash in exactly the color I wanted,” she says.
To achieve the tile look, she started by washing the walls and painting them white. Next, she measured 5-inch squares and used thin masking tape to create a grid layout. Using a 4-inch paint roller, Mary then spread a mixture of white and Behr’s Grape Hyacinth over the grid pattern.
“I made sure to get a thick coat on the wall in hopes that it would have a 3D effect when I peeled off the masking tape, leaving a white ‘grout’ around each ‘tile,’” Mary explains. “To further give the impression of tile, I cut out squares of clear contact paper to put on each lilac square so it would have a bit of a glossy look.”
The room popped even more when Mary painted the walls in the same shade and covered the stainless steel appliances with pink contact paper (which she calls her “most clever hack”). “I had been looking at retro pink fridges especially, but putting contact paper on our existing fridge was much more cost-effective,” she says.
Mary brightened up the space by replacing the black counters with IKEA’s LILLTRÄSK white counters and replacing the existing sink with a fresh apron sink (which was the most expensive item in the new kitchen). While she did most of the work herself, she did have help installing the sink and a garbage disposal. Because she did most of the work herself, she says it cost around $1,190 total and only took a few weeks to complete.
It’s no surprise that the color in Mary’s new kitchen is her favorite thing about the room. The rest of her house is just as vibrant as the kitchen — if you want to see more, visit the full home tour on Apartment Therapy.
This post originally ran on Kitchn. See it there: Before & After: This “Cheap” Gray Kitchen Gets the Most Whimsical Makeover (for Under $1,200!)