Kitchen Redo - Before and After

After 2 years of living in our house, I finally decided to do away with the boring white kitchen. I had to keep myself busy while Nathan was studying for his board exams, so I decided it was time to re-do the Kitchen. I enlisted my good friend, Ashley, and we got straight to work.

We had a budget of $100 for the kitchen, and I am proud to say that we were right within our budget. We have also budgeted an extra $100 for a new kitchen table and chair set, but we haven't found the perfect one yet. So, hopefully that will come sometime soon. For now, enjoy!

* Before *

This is the dining room. I had previously made this curtain for our old house, which had a smaller, and shorter window. As you can see, it looked pretty silly on this larger window. We also needed to add something more to the space. This other picture is the blank wall above Natalie's play kitchen. It had to go, because it just screamed of unfinished whiteness!

The actual kitchen. See - not much to look at. It was just a plain ol' white kitchen, and I seriously didn't have anything on my walls. It was quite depressing, so obviously, a makeover was necessary!

* During *

We knew we needed to add paint to the entire space, so we prepped with painter's tape.

Working all day in the kitchen left little play time with the girls. So, we kept them entertained with some paint projects of their own!

This is my friend Ashley, hard at work!

We took ordinary things that I had around the house, and re-purposed them to fill up the space. Luckily, we had some spray paint, some round stickers, and a vinyl cutter for plates.

Ashely and I got pretty ambitious, and decided to add some chair railing to the dining room. We had quite a fun trip to Home Depot, where the guys thought we didn't know how to use a saw. But, we showed them what girls are all about, and came home to paint our railing.

* After *

This is our new dining room. We added paint, chair railing, and a ruffle to the curtain. I am still going to add some candle sconces to the sides of that picture on the back wall. Then, I plan to redo the high chair cover to modernize it (and put away my sewing stuff that's hiding underneath it). And, lastly, I hope to get a new table and chair set . . . if I can find one!

Next, we took some poster board, quilt batting, fabric, and ribbons to make this awesome picture holder. It really fills up that boring white space without too much clutter, and the fabric matches the dining room curtain to tie everything together a little more.

And finally - our Completed Kitchen! It looks so much better with some paint and decorations on top of the cabinets. I still have to add some finishing touches (like a picture in that frame), and a few other things I have. I am also going to add a clock above the kitchen sink and some vinyl lettering. But, even without all that - it still looks so much better, and all for under $100!