A “Cold” Rental Kitchen Gets a $428 Glow-Up That Exudes Warmth
Apartment kitchens are often located near the front door, and as you work your way back you reach the living room and bedroom and bathroom. That’s the case for Julia Lee’s (@mejulialee) 590-square-foot apartment. You have to walk through the galley-style kitchen to get to the rest of the apartment after you enter the space — and as such, it was bringing down the vibe.
The rest of Julia’s apartment was decorated to her liking, but the kitchen “looked cold and lacked character and felt depressing,” Julia says. It had dark gray backsplash tiles, white laminate cabinets, stainless steel hardware, and a granite countertop. It was in great working condition; Julia just wanted to give it an aesthetic makeover. And she did so using all peel-and-stick materials for $428.
Contact paper for the cabinets was a game-changer.
“I knew I wanted to bring in warmth and have it match the organic and calm vibe of the rest of the apartment,” Julia says. “The faux wood contact paper on the cabinets made the biggest difference, as the cabinet fronts are the largest surface area you see.”
She adds that she was pleasantly surprised at how real the faux wood looks and feels — and that it complements other wood tones in her apartment nicely.
Her advice for applying contact paper to cabinets is threefold: First, use a scraper and heat when applying to ensure a flat final look. (Just your hands won’t work.) Second, if you need to use more than one piece of paper for a wider cabinet, join them where the pattern is similar so that it looks seamless. “Join them where it’s a grain pattern versus a knot,” Julia says.
And third, if you’re running short on contact paper, you can go lighter on areas people won’t see as much, like the back of the cabinet or the inside edge of the cabinet.
There are 2 other peel-and-stick upgrades in the kitchen.
The easiest peel-and-stick material to add was the new tile — it remained sticky and was easy to peel up and redo if mistakes were made — and the hardest was the countertop contact paper.
“I tried to apply it as one single piece and cut around the sink so that it would be seamless, but the rounded edges of the sink made it difficult to apply as it kept pulling at the paper,” Julia recalls. “I gave it my best shot, but the single-piece approach was too difficult and wasn’t working, so I ended up cutting it and applying it in two pieces to save my sanity.”
And even though she cleaned around her sink thoroughly, water residue made it hard for the contact paper to stay sticky around the sink — although the final result looks good! “I love the warmth and coziness of how it looks now — it’s calming and delightful.”
The ceiling got a glow-up, too.
The beauty doesn’t stop at eye level, though. “I decided I would also paint the kitchen ceiling in the same faux limewash paint that I did in the rest of the apartment, as it’s also the only part that’s flat versus a popcorn ceiling,” Julia says. She used Benjamin Moore’s Pale Oak and White Dove for this.
She also swapped out the kitchen light fixture — a DIY “first” that she’ll definitely do again. After testing out three different light fixtures (the hard part), the actual installation of her final pick was easy. “It’s actually quite a straightforward and easy to-do approach that makes a massive difference in the vibe of the space,” Julia says.
And she describes the entire “after” as “homey and cohesive with the rest of the apartment.”
Inspired? Submit your own project here.