How We Remodeled Our Kitchen On A $200 Budget
Having a baby after just relocating to a new city and starting a new job means there’s not much flex room in the bank. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t things to get done and ways to get them done. I’m lucky to have grown up on HGTV’s Design on a Dime and TLC’s Trading Spaces. I’d sit on the floor watching these shows while my mom combed and tugged at my hair trying to achieve a decent hairstyle for school the next day.
From a young age, I knew that fixing up a house or freshening up a space didn’t have to be a cash-cow kinda project. I watched my parents flip houses. They did elaborate tile designs in our kitchen’s backsplash. They laid hardwood flooring, and even stained a burgundy leather couch brown! Exactly! How!? All this to say, I am no stranger to a home reno or decor project.
This may be why last week, in the middle of the night, I woke up from a restless sleep and walked into the kitchen (because midnight snacks and pregnancy) and decided it was time for an upgrade. My wonderful husband woke up that morning to all the doors of the cabinets missing. I didn’t have a plan yet. All I knew was that I was tired of looking at my kitchen. Kalvin kindly refrained from reacting the way he totally deserved to and instead took me to all the hardware stores to gather supplies, advice, and paint - he’s a good husband and better human. None of this could have happened without my cousin Bj who painted night and day and picked up my slack doing all the things pregnant people probably shouldnt be doing.
Before…
The Step-By-Step Process
Take doors off cabinets and sand them down if they have a finish on them already. We had a glossy polyurethane on our cabinets that needed to be knocked off in order to paint.
Wipe the cabinets down with a liquid sandpaper to get any finish/glossiness that you missed. We used Klean Strip Liquid Sander & Deglosser from Lowes. Don’t forget to do the same to the actual cabinet frame built on to your wall!
After sanding everything, you’ll need to clean the cabinets so there’s no dust particles in sight. We cleaned ours with soap and water which may have been overkill but it was effective. Remember to never submerge your wooden cabinets in water unless you want warped cabinets.
Once you’re sure all the dust and gloss/finish is off your cabinets, it’s time to set up for priming! Okay, this is where things get tricky (but just for a minute!) There’s two types of paint and primer that could be used for this project but you have to make sure you pick the right one - oil based or water based. There’s some tests you’ll need to do using acetone nail polish remover on your cabinets to tell if they need water or oil based paint and primer. Youtube this step for all the chemical jargon that I cannot repeat because I don’t understand. We needed oil based primer because the acetone didn’t take any color off our cabinets. Using regular-degular oil based Killz Primer did the trick. We used paint brushes and foam rollers to apply. Foam > knit for an even coat.
Allow the primer as much time as needed to dry because you don’t want to try and paint over sub-dry primer. This stuff dried overnight in the garage and within a few hours in the house.
After priming, we sanded each cabinet one more time with a fine grit sand paper to just knock down any blotches of paint/streaks, or drips.
Wipe the cabinets clean again after sanding
The fun part. Time to paint! Since we wanted white cabinets to brighten up the space, we found a white that went with the color of our granite counter tops. There’s whites with gray undertones or yellow, etc so choose wisely but don’t kill yourself in the process. We went with Sherwin William’s Emerald paint in Alabaster White.
You can paint your cabinets wherever you have space but we painted in our garage with 2 horses and 4 long 2 x 2 pieces of wood. We screwed screws into the 2 x 2’s about a foot apart so the cabinets can dry while sitting on the tips of the nails. This allows you to paint one side and immediately flip it over to paint the other without ruining the paint. I’d recommend just watching a Youtube video to find something that works best for you.
Paint the cabinets - I recommend painting any details/edges first and then going over the flat parts with a foam roller to achieve the flawless “my cabinets were custom sprayed” look.
After painting both sides, allow them to dry as long as they need. Do not handle your cabinets while they are still tacky to the touch because you’ll end up leaving finger prints and other stupid stuff in the finish.
When they are ready, remand them and pick out new pretty hardware! If you’re on a budget like me, the old hardware will do just fine and probably even look brand new on your new cabinets!
Supplies:
Palm sander with sanding pads - $60
Sand paper block (medium grit) - $2.50
Klean Strip Liquid Sander & Deglosser - $9
Lots of t-shirt rags - $3
Killz Primer (figure out if you need oil or water based). One gallon - $20
acetone nail polish remover - free, shoutout to under-my-sink-land
paint brushes meant for oil based paint - sitting in our garage from another project
smallish foam rollers (not knit rollers!) - $20
Sherwin William’s Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel in Alabaster White. One gallon - $90
Drill to take down and put up cabinet doors. A screw driver will take you forever - wedding gift
Tips:
Find someone with a Sherwin Williams account so you can get a bit of a discount or just wait until they’re running a sale, which they do often
You’ll want at minimum one other person helping you with this but 3 people total is probably best
Tell your spouse/person before starting a big project on their off-day
Order take out. You won’t want to or be able to cook while your kitchen is dusty and disheveled
Gather as much advice as you possible can before beginning. Go talk to people at paint stores, hardware stores, and watch Youtube videos. Collect all that info and figure out what makes the most sense to you and go for it!