How I Saved Over $3,000 on My Kitchen Remodel
/Let me tell you the story about when I bought my house. I bought my in 2017, just a year after I left my husband. When I left, I moved into these luxury apartments that were amazing, but the issue was that it was an apartment. So you know I have 2 small children and they love to play and run and jump. I had this neighbor below me who complained about everything. It got to the point that I didn't want to be in my house because he complained about any noise. One day, I got out of my bed in the middle of the night to get water and shortly after, I heard him banging on his cleaning (which is my floor), as if that was too much noise for him. GO TO SLEEP MAN!
Anyway, this was the 2nd or 3rd time the office emailed me about his complaint. I was so frustrated that I called them and asked to speak to the lady who emailed me. When she got on the phone, all I said was "This is Clarissa in building 600, apartment 202, please take this as a verbal notice that I will not be resigning my lease." I was furious, I pay my bills way before the due date because as you know, I don't play with my bills, and this is how they treat me.
I was planning to buy a house a year from then, but thought it was silly to rent another apartment when all that money can go towards my new home. So this is how I made up my mind that I was buying a house. I realized that I was acting out of frustration, and when I calmed down, I thought of all the things I should have done before I made that decision. Now, I bought my house and I absolutely love it, but it could have been a bit less stressful had I know these 7 Things To Do Before Buying A House.
Now I'm an HGTV junkie. I can literally watch that all day and never get bored. When I bought my house, I loved everything about it, but the kitchen. I absolutely hated the yellow walls, the brown back splash and the brown cabinets. I didn't like it all. I can't do brown in a kitchen, that's not an appealing color to me, not for a kitchen. I wanted something more modern, fresh, and clean.
BEFORE
I contacted someone who does freelance work on kitchens and told him that I needed the kitchen painted, I need new cabinets, new counter tops, and new backsplash. He came to assess the kitchen and said it would be over $3,000 if I wanted to have him do the work. I was like HECK NO! I immediately thought he was trying to cheat me. I googled how much this work should cost and he was absolutely right, it would cost over $3,000 to do the work I was asking him to do.
So I got the great idea to do all the work myself. Now, I'm no professional, I've never painted anything, let alone a kitchen. I've never put in backsplash, but I kinda know what I'm doing from watching HGTV and it can't be that bad. Well it wasn't that bad. Below is how the kitchen came out after I completed all the work.
AFTER
What I Used-
Backsplash: $128.65
I got the Backsplash from Wayfair, but I checked and they no longer have it in stock. You can get it from Amazon for a better price though, its called Smart Tiles Sm1080-1 Metro Carrera Decorative Wall Tile. The backsplash is a peel and stick, but it looks so real you cant even notice. I used the peel and stick because I didn't want to mess anything up and it was more cost effective.
Paint for Cabinets: $34.98
My favorite color is gray, so I knew I wanted my kitchen to be gray. However, when you are choosing paint, it's very difficult to know how it will look when it dries. After my second try, I was able to get the right color. This color is called Pencil Sketch by Behr. I got the Eggshell Enamel Interior Paint from Home Depot. It's always a good idea to take a sample of it home and try it out first, I didn't do that the first time and wasted money on paint. I'll use it for something, eventually.
Cabinet Hardware: $86.48
I saw this amazing sleet hardware for cabinets at Home Depot, it was called Center-to-Center Polished Chrome Bar Drawer Pull. They are beautiful and just what I needed to finish off my cabinets. I was shocked at how expensive it was, but if you want to get a more cost effective version you can get it from Amazon for $33.97. I purchased a pack of 24 and I only needed 21, I used the other 3 to replace the hardware in my master bathroom.
Paint for Walls: $0.00
I used some left over off-white paint the previous owners left in the basement to cover up the ugly yellow walls.
Lights: $27.99
I needed something to add to my kitchen that made it a little more cool and modern. I saw the under cabinet lighting on a HGTV show and thought that would be perfect. I ordered the LED Strip Lights from Amazon and stuck it up myself. It plugs into the wall, so you must make sure you have an outlet near by for a power source. They come with a remote so, you can dim it and program different features.
The LED Puck Lights work well too if you don't have an outlet nearby. I have those for another area of my house, they come with a remote as well, so you don't have to turn each one off individually. The only issue you’ll have is replacing the batteries. There are about 3 batteries in each one, so it can get pretty expensive when you have to replace the batteries. Those cost $34.98 for a pack of 6.
Behind the Scenes
So when I was putting my kitchen cabinets back up, I stood on my stove and cracked my glass top. I know, I know, that was stupid of me. See, what had happened was, I stood up there to take them down, and nothing happened. So in my mind, I didn't think twice about having to stand up there again to put them back up.
It cost $30 to have it replaced, the real price is so much more, but I have a handy man who did it for $30 (Labor and Part included). Praise God!
GRAND TOTAL: $308.10
That's not bad for an HGTV wannabe.
Let me know what you think and if you have any questions about what I did or how I did it. I'd be happy to answer any questions from the comments.
