This 1970s Kitchen Makeover Has the Most Brilliant Cabinet Hack I Want to Steal
I cover about 370 room transformations every year, so for something to stick with me it needs to be especially good. This boho kitchen makeover is that good. Even two years after I first saw it, it lives rent-free in my head — especially its renter-friendly cabinet upgrade. It makes me want to transform my standard-issue rectangular cabinet doors.
The major reason this makeover speaks to me is because it’s only $180, and it looks so different. DIYer Lisa Ksprzok (@knots.and.pots.home) used two shades of neutral-toned paint, a $26 wood grain contact paper, and a $30 subway tile peel-and-stick to keep her transformation budget-friendly.
Second, I love that it’s renter-friendly. Lisa got permission from her landlord before painting, of course, and the backsplash and countertop upgrades can be reversed before she moves out, but the true pièce de résistance is the renter-friendly cabinet upgrade that turns flat-front 1970s cabinets into arch-shaped beauties.
Lisa removed one tall cabinet door and two smaller ones above her sink, cut arches out of 1/4-inch plywood, and added it to the cabinet fronts with small nails “so I would be able to easily remove them and reattach the cabinet doors when moving out,” she says. In other words, she added open shelving in a renter-friendly way, and it makes her once- “dark, dirty, and dingy,” cabinets incredibly chic.
Lisa previously told Apartment Therapy she wanted her kitchen makeover “to really reflect [her] neutral and boho style,” and by adding arches, she introduced more organic, less rigid shapes, and plenty of spots to display plants and woven textures.
I’m so inspired by this redo! You can read about the whole makeover here. For even more ideas, check out these no-reno kitchen projects you can do to spruce up a rental.
Correction: A previous version of this article says the arches were cut from 1/4-inch nails. It was supposed to say the arches were made from 1/4-inch plywood and has been updated.