A $6 Kitchen Refresh

Happy Friday! It’s almost the weekend, folks! This is equal parts good and bad for me. This is technically my last one before I report back to my day job of teaching. I am never ready to go back after summer break. I could seriously get used to the housewife life. 🙂
I’ve had a good summer, though, and have accomplished several tasks I had on my to-do list. One of them was to give my kitchen a refresh. With my creativity flowing after doing a rug switcheroo at my parents’ house, I started “shopping” my home and reorganizing. Then I got a notion to change the hardware on the cabinets and drawers. That google search lead to many unnecessary dollars potentially being spent, so I decided to really get creative in how I could change the existing knobs.

Before

When we moved in I was really just trying to get the kitchen to function for us. We’d come from a larger kitchen with tons more storage, a full pantry, and an island. This downsize was tough because I didn’t know how to store things like spices and appliances and lids for the travel cups. Luckily, the deep window sills acted as shelves, and they looked a lot like this for a very long time. Like, up until a week ago.

Meanwhile

In the summer of 2017, I had a badly sprained ankle and was on crutches with not much else to do, so I decided to sew myself a valance for the kitchen. Paul and I lean very heavily to blues in our decor, so the orange rug from when we moved in got thrown away. (Who knows how long we’d had it in Louisiana?) And the very amateur curtains were hung. Still the same clutter in windowsills and on the counters.

Then

Then I found buffalo check shades on the Walmart app for $15 a piece and hung those. I loved them so much! Still do, actually. As I mentioned before, the windows are very deep-set. I chose to hang the shades at the front of the window and kept the blinds lowered. However, they always stayed open because neither of us all tall enough to reach back that far to close them each night. Haha.
I’d like to point out now that when we moved in, the hot water handle in the sink was broken. Paul’s parents (our landlords) had them replaced, but they didn’t work out so well, so we put back the broken ones.
We also have the same white knobs on all drawers and cabinets in the kitchen. The hinges are brass but needed a good polishing.

Now

Like I said at the beginning, my mom ordered a new rug for her living room. When I went to help my dad switch out the one she had for the new one, we started getting all kinds of ideas for her house and how we could decorate around this rug that she chose. Well when I went home, my brain was on fire with ideas of things I wanted to do in my own home, so I pulled up the blinds, cleaned my windows, and pushed back the shades. Instantly, I knew I was on the right track.

After that I started “shopping” my house. I had various sizes of cutting boards, and lots of serving pieces and things I’ve collected over the last nine years. I used those to decorate the windowsill over the sink. The baskets of kitchen towels now lives under the sink out of sight!

Part of my Christmas present this past year was a new faucet. I remember sending the link to this one as a hint to Paul. I still don’t know if it was an actual gift from him or from the landlords, but I love it, and it works way better than the old one.

So far, I’ve not spent any money. I don’t count the faucet. However, if you did, then the refresh would cost you about $150.
I briefly talked on Instagram about painting the knobs a while back and how happy I was with the way they turned out. Let me talk you through that process. I knew I either wanted gold or black, and I seriously considered taking the cabinet doors off and painting the hinges. But then I was talked out of that by the lovely Laura at lballardlifeandstyle. She’s a pretty skilled woodworker, so I trusted her judgement. She also suggested that I paint one knob gold and one black and see which I liked best. Hands down, the simplest and yet most effective bit of advice I received on this project. Well, that and not taking off the cabinet doors.
Needless to say, the gold won out. The black was too farmhousey, and I just didn’t want that look. I know I have buffalo check curtains, but I’m not ready for full-blown Jojo vibes in my house.
I already had the black spray paint, but I needed gold. I opted for a $6 can of spray paint and went to town. And I love the results.

And because my design journey follows the theme of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, you won’t be surprised that I’m on the hunt for a new rug. I do not want this blue one anymore. It also traveled with us from Louisiana, and I definitely don’t remember how long I’ve had it. I’m even considering a runner to span the length of the cabinets. I’ve also looked into one large rug since the kitchen is a big open space. So many thoughts. I have a blog post coming up on that exact topic. Stay tuned.

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I’d say this little kitchen has come a long way. And since my most recent refresh only cost me $6, maybe my budget for rug options can be expanded a little. 🙂 I’m forever a work in progress.