Kitchen Upgrade on a Budget

First, I’ll say, this post has affiliate links (you pay nothing more, I just gain a small commission – to cover blog expenses – if you should purchase anything from here.)

Now on to better things…. I’m baaaaack.. with my finished kitchen.  So grab your cup of joe and some vittles to come say bye-bye blues!!!  I will spare most of the small details and jump into the new look.    In my last post, I showed the blah-blah blue before and clearly explained how much I hated my countertops and that was the catalyst for me to finally bite the bullet, buckle down and make the change happen.  After several weeks pondering which pattern I wanted, I finally decided on black granite.  After dolling out the hefty cash of $3065, which included the new double deep sink (smelling salt came afterwards -lol) this is what they look like.  Naturally I couldn’t bare the thought of re-using my previous faucet, so I splurged on a swanky nice new faucet by Amazing Force.  It’s the creme de la creme of my sink (minds well go for the gold right!)

This is the main counter space area – aka – work station.

This is the unorganized tv/hubby’s drop zone station.  But these counters are definitely the best decision I made.

The new counters made a huge difference, but my next item up was to choose a paint color, and after what seems to be about a million swatches, I finally decided to paint it a pink color called White Truffle by Sherwin Williams (did you see the little swatch above?).   I also had to address the plant station issue.  The antique buffet that once held them was sold (it paid for the light fixture) and I used this fantastic Japanese bamboo trolley cart (this piece is on borrowed time – it belongs to my sister) so needless to say I’ve got 5 years to find another to replace it.  She scored it at an estate sale for $20 (what a wonderful steal of a deal)

I cleaned and painted it all black.

and now the fluff & stuff that made this kitchen my style.

I’m going to dub this as my “that’s so “80s meet boho chicness” kind of style.. and it’s because of the mixture of this new beaded light fixture by Newrays and the vintage mirrored art.

What a difference right!!!

(peel & stick updated to black)

 

I found the piece at a local thrift store for $4.00.  It paired nicely with the custom made curtain panels. I fell in love with the fabric pattern last year when the fabric store was going out of business.  I had no idea where I was going to use it at the time, but I knew I had to have it.   It was later on I decided to have the panels made (glad I did) because they are absolutely perfect.  This corner which was filled with cords, soundbar and my husband’s dump zone is now organized.  I added a shelf and the little basket trio hides the cords and holds the remote controls. (I can’t do anything about the exposed cords.. that’s life – and I wasn’t busting open walls to have them inside)

This costed zero dollars because I already had the brackets and board lying around the house.  I painted the wooden brackets gold.

The sink area was given an update with this peel & stick tile by Art3D.  Whoever created this was completely genius.. because if I ever decided to change.. just peel it off and replace.. It beats cutting, tiling, grouting, and all that jazz.  Did you peep my nice new swanky faucet?  Yea..I’m smiling at that too.

 

 

In addition to the the faucet, I ordered the gold sink drains by LQS – I love it because it has a basket strainer and separate stomper… (I’m feeling a little bougie now – hahaha)

The lucite/brass hand towel holder was another thrifted find from a while ago.

I store all my dishtowels in this handy container (I want to paint it but haven’t decided what color).  The cute little banker’s light was another $2.00 thifted find.  I like having some sort of night light on in the kitchen at night.

The little crystal ring dish was also a thrifted item for $1.00

This $1.00 footed brass container holds my washing items and sink stompers.

Moving around to the stove area, I painted the tile backsplash black for a bit of drama and re-upholstered the stool with leftover fabric.

I brought out more of my cookbooks (finally) to display.  The tablecloth was indoor/outdoor fabric I bought from the fabric outlet along with the pom-pom fringe (when they were going out of business – again- glad I did).

I love the pattern mix here… everything goes with cheetah 🙂

The vintage Germany decanter set was a birthday gift from my dear sister/friend Jan.  We were at an estate sale shopping and I saw them and told her how my grandmother had some and I always liked them.. (needless to say she scooped them up behind my back and later surprised me with them – sniff, sniff – thank you again Jan) so they had to make their grand appearance.

(spray painted the existing outlet covers with metallic gold).  I also purchased these stove guards to stop crumbs from getting between the stove and cabinets (if you don’t have them, trust me.. you need them) and they’re also heat resistant.

Painted the kitchen door black (of course)

This vintage USA pottery holds my rosemary plant (and it’s the perfect pink too).

A silver decanter holds my wooden spoons and my vintage (Cadillac) egg beater for easy access which also stands on a cake plate stand ( I just love those decanters). It’s not really a cadillac, but the darn thing runs and purrs like one- I LOVE IT!

The botanical painting was $2.00 and the vintage bread basket made it’s way back on the counter.  The wooden bowls were snatched from our yard sale – nope – wasn’t putting those out again.  (nobody bought them last year) so they’re mine.  I also spray painted the previous rods metallic gold (no need to buy new ones right?)

The coffee station has vintage Limoges dishes to hold sugar packets, creamer and the black/gold mini teacup holds the silver teaspoon stirrer – sidenote- another yardsale snag for myself (it’s gorgeous!!)

Brass pineapple spoon rest sits on the oven

Again I shopped my own sale… heeheee and snagged these lucite bookends.  They were perfect for the kitchen – again they weren’t purchased last year and I waited for day 2 before they became mine.

The trolley cart holds my plants along with the big basket on the bottom which houses all those plastic shopping bags and cloth tote bags (boy am I going to hate giving this up)

This brass swan trivet was going to be trashed, but I couldn’t bare seeing it going to the dumps.. I washed the grime off and just used it on the cart (for now)… one day I’ll devote some time into polishing it – poor thing.. I’m still a sucker for swans..

The cute picture hanging was another birthday gift from my neighbor.  She photographed my Irises and had it printed and framed (what a thoughtful present – thank you Cassie) now I get to see my iris all year long and underneath is another USA pottery vase I found for $3.00.  I used leftover peel & stick wallpaper from this post to cover a shelf made to hold my vintage stand mixer.

I really like the beaded light.. however, at night it’s not throwing off a bright light.. (I may need to change it but I’m scared to tell my electrian lol… I’ll get the evil eye frfr)

 

I installed under the counter strip lighting by Govee all across this area.  It has two settings where you can dim it down if you prefer a softer look.

This mid-century vase was actually my wall color inspiration.  Sometimes, the oddest thing can be just what you need to inspire you.

I found a huge basket wall hanging at At Home store and wanted to do something different with it instead of hanging on the wall, I hung it on the ceiling.  So there you have it.. my finished “not giving me the blues” kitchen.  Other than the cost of the counters, and chandelier, I basically spent under $150.00 because I used the money from the server I sold to cover costs.

By shopping my  stashed goodies really helped with creating this look.  I’m glad I purchased items just because I liked them and had no idea what to do with them because in the end, the were needed after all.  Sorry about the long post, but I wanted to share all the goods.  I hope you enjoyed it and were inspired in any way to create your own look.  I’m so happy about my kitchen and thank God I was able to do it without creating debt.   Next on the list is our family room – but that’ll be a while from now.. (maybe first of the year) – girlfriend is tired – lol.   Thanks for joining in my Bye-Bye Blues Kitchen party and happy hunting while you thrift your house into a home!

CIAO!!!!!