I’m very excited to be making over this kitchen on a budget because when Carter and I redid our own kitchen on a budget, I didn’t document it. That was long before I started this blog so being able to refresh another kitchen makeover and share with you exactly how to work with the kitchen you already have is going to be a lot of fun. Whenever I start a project, I always take an extensive amount of time to create a design plan based on inspiration around me, so that’s what I did for this kitchen makeover on a budget.
Makeover Update
To catch you up to speed on this project we are planning to freshen up our friends’ kitchen using mostly money saving DIY’s. I’m super excited that we will be partnering with KitchenAid on the appliances. I have KitchenAid appliances in my own home (that I LOVE!!) So when they reached out to me about working together, I was ecstatic to make it happen.
If you are planning on DIY-ing your own designer kitchen, my recommendation is to allocate the majority of your budget towards high-quality, premium appliances and find other ways to elevate the rest of your space. You can’t DIY beautiful, functional appliances… but you can DIY cabinets, tile and more! Investing in the right appliances will make your space feel instantly updated and give your kitchen a designer feel.
While KitchenAid is providing the appliances for the space, everything else needs to be done under $2,500. Everything else includes… The floors, cabinets, counters, fixtures, faucets, and hardware. I went into detail about some of my main ideas for the space and shared all of my inspirations. Today I am sharing the final design plan.
After committing to this kitchen makeover, I did break my foot… I am happy and healing! But I am wearing a boot and hobbling around. I decided I needed a little extra help with the labor. We’re lucky enough to have the best handyman in St. Pete on speed dial. Jacob is a close friend and neighbor who runs a handyman business here in St. Pete and is graciously helping us with building cabinets and tiling the floor. If you need a job done, don’t hesitate to reach out to him via email Jacob@handymanstpetefl.com or cell at (858) 353-1708. His craftsmanship is amazing and he is so easy to work with!
How I Find Inspiration
When you’re doing projects on a budget and working with what you already have, it’s important to find the right inspiration. After talking with my friends about what they would like to see in their kitchen, they requested that we keep some of the wood tones and add earthy greens. When I started searching for inspiration ideas, I went to Pinterest and tried focusing on finding spaces that had all of the elements I wanted to use in this kitchen space.
I take those elements and try to recreate them in different parts of the kitchen. For example, this beautifully designed kitchen has everything I’m looking to add to our space. And of course, we’re not going to be able to mimic this design exactly, because what’s the fun in that?! 😉 So instead, I’m going to take similar elements like the warm woods and mixed metals and try to implement them into the kitchen in my own way.
Being Mentally Flexible
When designing spaces on a budget, or really at all, it’s important to be mentally flexible. Of course, this kitchen is not going to look identical to any of the inspiration pictures I share. Oftentimes times people will get fixated on mimicking a certain room rather than understanding how the designer ended up with the overall style for the space.
Staying mentally flexible and picking parts and pieces of your inspiration can really create the perfect balance of a well-designed room.
Making a Mood Board for the Design Plan
After lots of curating and researching, we ended up with this mood board! We’re so excited about the green cabinets and the patterned floor.
The thing I’m spending the most time contemplating is the color of the green cabinets. They have a beautiful green dining room right next to the kitchen. While I love the look of a monochromic space, finding the perfect shades of any paint color can be daunting! There will be lots of samples and I’m confident by the end it will look amazing!
Executing the Design Plan
Executing this kitchen makeover on a budget is going to be so much easier now that we have a design plan and direction.
