My Kitchen Facelift

We bought this house in the summer of 2007. The previous owners built it themselves in the mid-fifties and raised their family here. The family grew up, moved out and had families of their own. As years came and went, the man of the house passed and the lady of the house was living here alone. As she aged, she moved closer to her children and placed the house on the market. I believe she’s now in her late eighties. This house has already raised one family. Now it’s raising mine.

We are only the second owners of this house, which is truly a joy considering the age of the home.

The decor was very seventies when we bought it. The kitchen cabinets were hand built and constructed well, they just didn’t look the way I wanted them to. My husband and I squabbled about staining vs. painting. I won. We painted.

We spent many years renting. While our current home isn’t the first house we’ve owned, the pride of ownership is so different from renting that it’s liberating. Sure, we always decorated our rentals to fit our personal needs, but when it came to any type of major renovation, if the landlord wasn’t willing to pay for it we didn’t do it. Owning your own home and having the freedom to do whatever you want is a wonderful feeling. It’s important to keep the resale value of your home in mind, even if you don’t ever plan to move.

My husband and I love to watch the home improvement shows, the real estate programs, and all the DIY channels. There are some great websites out there too that can really help you when it comes to making changes to your house. “houselogic” was created by the National Association of Realtors to help homeowners find the resources they need to express their pride in ownership. There are plenty of DIY articles, tips and tricks, so be sure to visit their site for your next home improvement project.

When the decision had been made to paint the cabinets, we wanted to make sure we did it right. Because our cabinets were old there really wasn’t much finish left on them. I washed them all and sanded them lightly.

My son Dominic really wanted to help with the project. You can see him here removing the cabinet hardware. It’s also obvious from the paint all over him that he helped with that too. 🙂 While the hardware looked old and dated when we removed it, I decided to give them a makeover too, saving us even more money.

Once Dominic had removed the hardware, I washed and dried them all really well. One of the reasons they looked so dated was the faceplate that each one had. I ditched the faceplates and spray painted the hardware using Rust-Oleom Hammered spray paint in black.

Each cabinet received two coats of Kilz primer and two coats of paint, with some light sanding in between. We painted the kitchen walls as well, going with a darker color to contrast with the creamy off-white cabinets. The hammered black hardware is a gorgeous contrast in its own right and I couldn’t be more pleased with my updated country kitchen!

When taking these pictures I counted how many of my crafts are in here. Not counting all of the fridge magnets, there are 15 total!

Hope you’ve enjoyed this little tour of my kitchen. It’s not huge, but I love it. Maybe someday I’ll be able to expand it and have a bit more counter space. When I do, I’ll be sure to head over to HouseLogic to get some expert advice!

I plan to finish raising my children here in this house and welcoming them and their children back when that time comes. I want this to be the home that they remember and the place where they always feel welcome and safe, no matter what age they are. I plan on hosting countless holiday dinners here, making crafts with my grandchildren, and growing old with my husband inside these walls. So we are making this house into a home… our home, one step at a time.

HouseLogic is a free source of information and tools from the National Association of Realtors^® that helps homeowners make smart decisions and take responsible actions to maintain, protect, and enhance the value of their home. HouseLogic helps homeowners plan and organize their home projects and also provides how-tos, news, home improvement advice, and information about taxes, home finances, and insurance. Learn more at www.houselogic.com. 

Compensation was provided by HouseLogic via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of HouseLogic.