Update: Our home is in Total Remodel Mode since this post was written. Everything has been expanded and changed. This is still one of my most popular posts. It revolutionized our thinking to: we CAN do it ourselves and not hire out. We’ve made mistakes but still the costs have been minimal compared to hiring labor.
Please feel free to sign up for our RSS feeds or like our Facebook page. We are constantly doing a new project!
I have shown this kitchen re-do before. So, many people are having a hard time financially I thought it would be worth to show it again. If you have seen it – “go on with your bad self”, as my three year old would say. If you haven’t, it is a cheap easy project to upgrade your cocina (Kitchen in Spanish – sorry the Homeschooling Mom came out).
My inspiration: Kitchen Redone Cheap but Beautiful |
First of all, I can’t believe I’m showing you our kitchen. But, it is an easy project if you would like a re-do that is inexpensive. I have more time than money so it works for me!
My precious Crafty Sister-n-law! |
Kitchen who needed a maid |
Kitchen – sterile without the clean factor |
Don’t mind the bleach on the floor. Notice the white cabinets, white walls, white sink, white everything!!! Yuck, unless you are into that! We happened to have gotten rid of the white floors before we took the picture.
Kitchen Cabinets Refinished without Sandpaper |
Kitchen Cabinets without costing a lot of money |
(It was a late night, however.) But, totally worth every minute!
We didn’t have enough money for new cabinets or really did not want to darken the cabinets too much, so this was a perfect solution.
- liquid sand paper (found at Hardware Store)
- Minwax® Gel Stain (Walnut Color) I do wish we had gone a shade lighter.
- Mineral Spirits
Instructions:
- Apply the liquid sand paper with rags. This makes me the paint sticky.
We did NOT use sandpaper! We wanted it to stay white underneath. - Apply the stain to the cabinets with foam brushes.
You have to play around here to make it look the way you want. -
Use mineral spirits to remove anything you don’t want or to touch-up. We used a LOT of old T-shirts here. The idea is to get the gel into the crevices for effect.
Be sure to tell me if you have done this…I like seeing different results.
My new back-splash! |
The paint color is Fragrant Cloves (B24-6) from Lowes. It reminds me of University of Texas, orange. Even though we are Aggie fans – I still love it! It goes perfect with my cobalt blue.
Hope you enjoyed your tour of my kitchen today! I’m so embarrassed and must go find where the kids hid the maid.
Click on the link, Decor Gone Easy and other projects, to see some of our other works.
Tree House made out of old Fence
SnoWhite says
What a beautiful transformation! We just did this at our house – just painting the cabinets and adding a backsplash made such a difference. We found our tiles marked down at Lowe’s too! That was a HUGE blessing and meant big savings! Come take a peek if you’d like.
Cozy Home Scenes says
I like your “new” kitchen, especially the tile. I really like white cabinets and wish I had them in my house, but I understand the need for change. Looks like what you did was easy, but I bet your arms were killing you after doing all that in one night!
Michelle "Picklewart" says
I just found your blog and this post. I’ve been wanting to do the same thing to my kitchen cabinets! Thanks for taking the time to post this for all of us!
I love the rest of your blog too! You have some great ideas on here. I’m going to had you to my blog list on my blog so I can keep up with your posts each week!!!
Thanks again!
Crystal says
Looks great!!
Dawn says
Your kitchen came out great!! Love the cabinets-wow-don’t know if I would have had the courage 🙂
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Honorablyfallen says
I just found your blog through The secret is in the sauce ! This is beautiful and it is just more inspiration for me because I have been trying to get up the courage to do that to my kitchen cabinets thank you so much !!! Sarahlynn
foxy says
So cool – it looks great! Hmmmmm… my kitchen could sure use some work!!!
Marie Cole says
You really did a great job, congratulations! 🙂
Morgan says
The kitchen looks great! You did an amazing job! My husband and I are in the process of doing some things to ours.
Visiting from SITS
Brandi says
I’m so impressed! What a fantastic job you did. Kitchens can be scary to tackle too…all those cabinets and what not.
Caroline says
Oh my goodness! This is (I think) almost the exact same paint color in my kitchen! Is it Terra Cotta? We have enjoyed it–a very cozy and warm color. Although, I have been thinking of repainting to light blue.
I adore ht blue and white plates above the cabinets–that’s a nice touch!
(I’m from SITS–thanks for letting me look around)
2busy says
If I had painted white cabinets, I would so do this. It looks great!
Gamma Sharon says
Your kitchen looks great… all in 1 night… WOW!
Hope your SITS day is great!
sandy says
That looks great! I love the tile back splash!
Complicated Mama says
I wish I could distress my cabinets… but mine are formica.. or something glossy lol… whatever they are… they arent wood.
((sigh)) I will wait probably 20 years.
Cara and Jenn says
HI dropping by from SITs (and Happy “Day by the way) We are thinking of painting our cabinets too but I think we are chicken. And my wall look almost the same color as yours…mine is BM Audubon Russet which I love. Enjoy looks great!
Cara
Yaya says
That’s AWESOME!!!
Jeannie Finelli, RN says
PAINT EFFECTS GENIUS! 🙂
Annie @ astonesthrowfrominsanity says
I too am in the middle of a kitchen redo. I only have 3 kids but it is still crazy! yours looks great!
AmericanTribal says
Wow!! That was quite the re-do. It looks awesome! 🙂
Christina says
Great job!
Happy SITS day!
Kim @ Cheap Chic Home says
I would like to do this to my cabinets, but they’d need to be painted first. I don’t know if I’ll have the “get-up-and-go” for that! Nice job.
Ma What's 4 dinner says
So impressive. Well done. Can you come over to my house and do that when my kids go to bed????
Alex aka Ma Whats For Dinner?
http://www.MaWhats4Dinner.com
Creative Junkie says
omgosh, that looks gorgeous! Well done!
Angelia Sims says
This looks great! What a difference. Excellent job!
Kerri says
BEAUTIFUL! Very nice job.
singedwingangel says
That is so beautiful.. I Love it unfortunately our cabinets are dark brown already.. Sighs fortunately my hubby works for a cabinet manufacturer sooo we get our cabinets at 1/4 of the cost of the stores price.. if we ever get the ability to redo them all..
Sherri @ Luv a Bargain says
WOW…that looks awesome! I can’t believe you did that in one night! I am a total DIY’er too. Last Fall, we totally gutted our bathrooms. I am now a mad wet saw user and toilet installer. Who would have thought? Then we did a tile backsplash in the kitchen too. It feels so good to look at it knowing all the hard work that went into it. Boy, I’m glad I found your blog:)
Elizabeth a.k.a. Type A Mommy says
Wow, that looks awesome! I wish my cabinets were white, that would be so much easier to work on – mine have a nasty faux wood laminate type cover to them, so I haven’t done much in the way of a kitchen redo yet, because we can’t afford to replace them. Thanks for sharing, and happy SITS Day to you!
Fruitful Vine2 says
A labor of love and with your own hands gives a feeling of complete satisfaction. I’m glad you got to upgrade inexpensively.
Cairo Typ0 says
Happy SITS day!
The kitchen looks awesome! I’m so impressed at people who can DIY.
Proper Prim says
You did a fantastic job… looks so much richer now… love your colour choices too… give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.
Funky Junk Interiors says
I love the look of glazed cabinets!
For the faint of heart, to get an idea on how a bigger area would look done up, I like going to thrifts and picking up old cabinet doors and doing up a sample.
Looks fab! And thanks for linking up to the party!
Funky Junk Donna
Time For Beads says
Looks awesome! I’ve been sitting on the fence about doing my cabinets and I think I keep overanalyzing it! I may just be putting a new link about my new kitchen. Pray it happens!
K @ Thrifty Teacher Blog says
Your kitchen looks awesome! Your hard work paid off 🙂
Teri says
Wow! I can’t believe you did that in one night! Great job…it’s beautiful!
Blessings,
Teri
{ L } says
Wow! This must feel amazing. Very nice work! I think I’ve told you this before…but I home school too! <3
Dragonfly Treasure says
How awesome your kitchen looks now!! Great job!
TRICIA @ The Zoo says
Your kitchen looks fantastic! I really like the before pic for maximum effect. On the other hand, maybe that’s because mine ends up looking like that all too often. 😉
XO*Tricia
Lindsey@creativeattempts says
That looks wonderful!! I love the distressing of the cabinets. GOod Job!
Crazy Daisy says
Love the tiles! Very cool!
My project is posted here: http://foreverdaisies.blogspot.com/2009/09/scrapbook-room-remodel-revealed.html
The DIY Show Off says
Wow! What a beautiful transformation! I love the new look on the cabinets and the tutorial. Great job! It looks awesome!
Thanks for joining the Show & Tell! if you hadn’t – I would’ve missed this! If you get a chance…add a link in your post today (and to the party) to show everyone, I bet others may have missed it and would LOVE to see it too. Not to mention – your tips are so helpful!
Thanks!
Roeshel
Nicole @ BugaBoos says
Love it! Beautifully done, it looks awesome!
Kammy says
Great job , love the new color ! It is very polished looking now !
Hugs ~ Kammy
Julia says
Totally Gorgeous! Isn’t God good in how he gives a way to be content with what we’ve got!
jskell911 says
Those look awesome! Great job!
Bella Casa says
Hi Lana,
Thanks for visiting my blog from the Blog Party 🙂
I love what you have done with your kitchen, it’s absolutely beautiful! I have a kitchen set that looks like that (cream paint with stain distressing) and I love it. I wish our cupboards matched, but they don’t. And my dh painted our cupboards in House #1 and I did it in House #2…so this is House #3 and I don’t think either one of us wants to tackle the job here, lol.
Very pretty!!! Nice to meet you 🙂 I am having a giveaway on my blog for a $100 Lamp, so make sure to come by and enter 🙂
Girly Stuff says
It turned out great!!! You should have gone with the maroon…but other than that…
Living with Lindsay says
Wow! What a great transformation!
And as a Longhorn, I think the paint color is just perfect! 😉
Better Is Little says
Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful! Amazing what a little paint and inspiration can do!
Janel@Dandelion Dayz says
Awesome! We are getting ready to re-do our kitchen. It is not cheap!!! But we have laminate everything! It is in need of some serious changes. Great job!
I am thinking about painting my bathroom cabinet. I am going to bookmark this for sure.
Kara says
You did a fabulous job, I love your “new” kitchen!!
Joy says
Looks great, love how you did the cabinets and backsplash. Really like your blog background too.
Lori@EnjoyThe Process says
Your kitchen looks really nice! Great job!!!
Kirby3131 says
Whooo Hooo!! It looks fabulous! I’m so proud of you for making your kitchen into something that you love to be in – for a minimal amount of money.
I just have to tell you – I don’t have 5 children – Heck I don’t have any children and my kitchen has looked like your before photo LOL
Kristi says
Gorgeous! Way to go!!!
happylittlehouse says
Lovely! What a nice turnaround!
Jerralea says
Great redo! My daughter’s favorite color is orange — she would totally love your walls.
yestheyareallmine says
Oh wow, that looks so nice! I really like the new wall color.
Addy says
Hey my kitchen is that exact same color! I love Fragrant Cloves so much I also painted my master bath with it! Ha ha! Great job!
I repainted my cabinets a few months ago and I love love love it with the orange wall. here’s a link to a pic of my kitchen.
http://x01.xanga.com/385825f575ca8221214911/z173526116.jpg
The Blossoming Skillet says
It looks so great. I love the orange on the walls.
The Nester says
VERY nice! It looks fantastic!
Becky says
You did a great job! Thanks for sharing – it’s motivating me to do something. Have a great day 🙂
Daiquiri says
Love this! We have plain oak cabinets…just like every single other house in this area. We’ve been searching for a way to make them a bit more unique. Maybe some twist on this trick….hmmm…
Muthering Heights says
Your cabinets look GREAT!!
Maya says
Great makeover. The cabinets look stunning and expensive! I also like the orange a lot…
Holly says
Oh my goodness! The cabinets look fantastic! Seriously awesome! Great job! Love the backsplash too.
Hi! It's me, Jen. says
It looks awesome! I love everything, great job!