I have lived in my house for the past 22 years.  Not many people who is 34 can say that, but with saying that I have turned my house into my home over the years.  The kitchen has been one of the rooms I didn’t upgrade because lets face it, its expensive!  About 10 years ago, I did put down the wood flooring myself, so that did help!

It was December of 2017 when I had went house looking with my friend and when I walked into my house, I saw my kitchen.  The same kitchen I have walked into a gazillion times and this one time, I saw it!! I saw how outdated my kitchen truly was.  So what do I do?  I go out the next day and buy everything to redo it!!! WRONG (goober)!!!

I am a visual person and I have to sit there and stare at my kitchen and then I look at other kitchen ideas online and then last but not least, I look at my pocketbook, just keeping it real girlfriend.  This past May is when we decided it was time.  Actually Joseph told me that time a year before to get ready and to do my homework because we knew it was going to be a big project, not one of those weekend projects.

So May it was and we started.  We practiced on our bar first and it took way too many coats than I was expecting, but nonetheless when we got our routine down, it went by faster.  After all the cabinets and hardware was put back in, next was the counter tops.  This was my biggest fear, because yes I like to be crafty, but I am no expert and since I was trying to mimic Carrara Marble, I was even more scared.  I actually did paint the bar for a first time and HATED it, so I re-did it.  I walked away many weeks and let it sit there before deciding what I truly wanted and learning the techniques to do.  Most of our summer our kitchen was under construction, but here it is and it is all finished!

After the counter tops was the back-splash and I went back and forth a bit on the color and design I wanted, but remember we were on a budget!  So stick on white subway tiles it was!  We went between gray and different designs, but since the walls are a brown color we kept it white.  I also asked my husband if we could paint the walls gray to match, but that was a hard no and since he was letting me the kitchen, I wasn’t going to argue!

So after the kitchen was done, we super cleaned one day and I realized that we needed a new couch, because the dogs just about tore it up and truth be told, I have had it for like 15 years.  Then while sitting and debating on a new couch, Joseph said we should hang the TV and then of course I was like “We could get a white fireplace to go under it for stockings” (cause girl, Christmas is all year with us, in our hearts).  He said we could look, but to not get our hopes up.  We looked and we found a couch, super cheap cause we waited for their sale and then found a cheapish fireplace and of course had to hang up the TV.  So then we have these side tables that were dark colored and I got some white paint and painted those and BAM!!! The kitchen and the living room now flow pretty good with each other.

We don’t live in a fancy house, but its our home and we are proud of it and want to take care of it and also turn it into our own little home.  When we try and sell it, having it more updated will help  sell it too, so double whammy!  The living room is an odd shape so I haven’t gotten to experiment with alot of rearranging, but this current way was Josephs idea and it had to grow on me, but now I love it!

We arn’t experts, but we put alot of love and research into it and we are proud and excited.  When we first took the before pictures we had summer up and now you saw the finished look with fall.  We now have Christmas up, but that may be another blog.  Tell us below what you think and if you have redone your kitchen on a budget, let us see!! I want to see those pictures!!