Are you tired of your kitchen? Do you need a new look? Makeover your kitchen in just a few days with these simple but effective projects. Little experience required, plus, these ideas won’t break the bank and leave your kitchen in shambles for weeks.
- Assess the Condition: Before you jump in, be realistic about what you want to achieve. If the big-ticket items like counters, flooring, and appliances have seen better days, you may want to replace these during a more involved remodeling project. If a refresh is a goal, there are several small things you can do to make a big impact.
- Deep Clean: Start your project with a good cleaning product and some major elbow grease. You’ll be amazed by the difference when your kitchen is grime and grease free. If wall paint is on the agenda, this is a good time to prep for painting by washing all surfaces.
- Power of Paint: Don’t just slap a coat of paint on your walls. Create a color scheme to liven up your kitchen. Whether subtle or bold, paint can freshen up your room when applied to walls, floors, cabinets, or doors. Use a gray wash to make new wood look weathered. Sand, prime, and paint your cabinet doors or mix it up with paint and wood.
- Light it Up: Install new light fixtures to enhance the existing style and add additional, brighter light. Undercabinet lights are a great way to light up your countertops.
- Wake up your Windows: Consider painting the trim to make the window a focal point in your kitchen. Try a new window covering such as a fabric blind to add style and texture to the room.
- Shiny Stainless: Replacing your old, stained sink and corroded faucet can make a huge impact. Pick a faucet that fits your design aesthetic.
- Hardware is Easy: Tired of your traditional worn out knobs and pulls? Replace them with bright colors or mismatched, antique knobs, or consider installing them as a design feature on flat panel doors.
- Brighten your Backsplash: Jazz up your kitchen by covering the walls between the countertop and wall cabinets with stainless steel. Have a sheet metal fabricator cut the material for you. With a few common tools, you can do the installation yourself. Or, let your personality shine through by installing decorative tiles as a backsplash. This option may be a little more expensive and may require additional work.
- Convert your Cabinets: Create display spaces by converting a few wall cabinets to open shelving. Not only does this open up your kitchen, it allows you to show off your dishes and glasses, and to keep cookbooks and cooking supplies handy. Just remove the doors and hinges, fill any holes, sand, and paint the cabinet interior. Replace the existing shelves with glass ones with an open, airy feel.
- Storage: Build a kitchen storage shelf and pot rack to free up cabinets and drawers. Stain a nice pine board or find a unique slab of barnwood. Add a top for display, or a bottom for storage for cookbooks, small appliances, rolling pin, etc. Hang your pots and pans from metal hooks. Create more counter space by hanging items on the wall. Instead of a fruit bowl on your counter, mount wire baskets on a wooden board to hold your fruits and other goodies.
- Bridge the Gap: If you have dead space areas in your kitchen, fill it with butcher block on legs to gain extra counter space. Butcher block goes with pretty much any countertop color or style.
- Accessorize: Choose accessories that emphasize your personal style such as bright or pastel colored towels, rugs, dish racks, etc.
Take advantage of the multitude of DIY ideas available through magazines, websites, and television. With so many options and how-to instructions accessible to you, the right project is just waiting for you. Sometimes it’s the small things that count – adding your personal touch can make all the difference.