Weekend renovations: What I did to transform my kitchen

If the media are to be believed, you should be spending tens of thousands of dollars on renovating your kitchen. For me, this just wasn’t possible.

Instead, I gave myself a weekend and set myself the goal of making the best of the room as I possibly could. I had a few hundred dollars to spend and through today, I’m going to document my renovation from start to finish.

Step #1 – I changed the internal door handles.

I’ve been wanting to change these handles for a long time. They were the original ones put on by the builder and I just didn’t like them. It’s amazing what a difference this made. The new handles are much more modern looking and really update the look of my kitchen.

It cost me $50 to have them changed over, but it was well worth it!

Step #2 – I painted the walls.

The paint in my kitchen is the original from when we moved in almost four years ago, so it was definitely time for an update! I chose a very light grey color that would brighten up the room while still being neutral enough to not be overwhelming. This is one of those things that makes such a huge difference without costing much at all.

Step #3 – I bought new cupboards and shelves. 

I’m going to be honest here: I don’t know anything about cupboards or how they’re supposed to work or even how you’re supposed to hang them on your wall (although apparently there’s some kind of special hardware you need). All I know is that our old cupboards were falling apart, so we decided to buy new ones instead of repairing/painting/staining/whatevering’ them again (and again…and again…).  We went with high-street cupboards because they fit into our budget ($400) and because they had lots of options for different sizes and styles that would fit into our space nicely.

Step #4 – I freshened things up.

There’s a big thank you to Avas Flowers at this point. Avas Flowers helped me choose a fresh bouquet for my new look room, and it really was the finishing touch. This was the basic, colorful accessory the room needed, and I couldn’t be happier. There’s some great Avas Flowers inspiration on this page.

Step #5 – I bought a new faucet and sink.

The original sink came with our house and it was just ugly, plain white porcelain (although there are worse sinks out there). We didn’t want to spend too much money on this part since we’re going to be moving soon anyway, so we went with something cheap ($50) that would do for now. The faucet cost us $80 and it looks great! It’s nice having an actual tap again instead of just a hole in the countertop…it feels more like a real kitchen now.