I love a good DIY project! There is something about them that is so rewarding, especially when they can be done on a budget. My husband and I have done so many projects over the years, and somehow, continue to find more things to put our own personal touch on. It’s like an addiction. At least it’s a good one to have.
When we moved into our current home, we decided to change up the kitchen and we did it in the first week of closing on our home. When we get our minds on something, we go for it. You can check out our kitchen flip post here. We finished it within a week! Since we made over our own kitchen, it’s only fair that the girls’ kitchen got a makeover, too.
I was recently inspired by my friend Casey over at CollectivelyCasey.com. She recently did an adorable makeover on her daughter’s play kitchen, and it made me wonder what I’ve been waiting for with the one we have. It stood out like a sore thumb in our house. We have it downstairs in our home, where most everything else coordinates pretty well. The play kitchen was pink, yellow, green and in pretty rough looking shape.
BEFORE
It was still adorable in it’s own way, but definitely needed some love. The first thing to do was pick colors. I knew I wanted it to match the rest of our home, so I chose white and gray for the majority of the kitchen. I decided on a muted gold color for the hardware. Then for the countertops, I thought about painting them white, but wanted to do a little something more. I found this marble contact paper on amazon and I love how it turned out!
I knew I wanted to freshen up the “backsplash”, too, and originally wanted to paint it white because the old “backsplash” was pretty gross looking. I wondered if there was a subway tile contact paper, and of course amazon had some. It ended up being a little bigger than I thought it would be, but still looks so much better than it did. I had to put two layers of this contact paper on because it was pretty thin. Painting the old “backsplash” white would have solved this problem, so just remember that if you decided to use this contact paper.
A small thing we did kind of on a whim was tint the oven screen. The screen was pretty scratched up and also pretty see-through. Tinting the plastic helped hide the scuffs and scratches and also hid playfood, etc that the kids stuff and store into the oven, for a cleaner look when it’s not in use. We used this lens tint spray.
With a fresh and neutral kitchen, I didn’t want to use the old colorful food bins. We had some extra wire baskets around the house, so I took the cloth liner out of them and spray painted the baskets with the same muted gold color as the hardware. I think these coordinate really well with the style of the rest of the kitchen.
AFTER
For the final touches, I put a mini plant and wreath on the counters. I also put a few fall decorations on there, too. All from the dollar spot at Target. I think these pulled it all together so well. The girls LOVE their “new” kitchen and keep telling me how it looks like “Mom’s kitchen”. I’m so glad they love it and I love that it compliments our home decor instead of standing out. This project was done all in one day, so it’s definitely the perfect project for a fall Saturday or Sunday with the cooler weather.
What will our next project be??
