Can We Even Do It?! The 3-Day, Low Budget DIY Kitchen Makeover We’re About to Attempt…

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As I write this, we are about to begin the most ambitious project we’ve ever undertaken. We’re going to do a complete low budget DIY kitchen makeover in just three days – oh, and it’s in another country. Does this sound crazy?

That’s a rhetorical question, because, yes, of course, it’s an absolutely insane idea. But, because we are who we are (potentially delusional DIY obsessives) we think we can actually pull it off. (Plus we’ve done a DIY low budget makeover before (here) albeit over a half dozen weekends, not three days.)

And the family we are doing it for believes in us. (Haha – that’s actually a bit of a joke because they kind of think we can’t do it, but are somehow – mostly – trusting us.)

Here’s the plan…

We’re going to drive about 7 hours, across the US-Canada border, to make over Ed’s brother’s family’s kitchen. Jason and Meaghan have somehow been convinced to not only trust us to do this – on their dime – but to also be out of the house on their cottage vacation while we do it.

They are a blend of trusting-and-dubious that has made planning this together fun.

The back story is this: next year they are building their dream home on a river property they bought years ago. It’s a lovely treed spot in a good school district (an American thing – for those of you who this sounds weird to.) But, they have to sell their current home for top dollar to afford their dream.

Their current home is a cute Cape Cod-style home, built many decades ago. They’ve been very focused on their post-secondary schooling and careers as well as raising their son. So, before they can sell it their home needs work – and no room needs more work than their kitchen.

Here’s what we’re starting with. The kitchen before:

Planned improvements:

• The cabinets need to stay. There isn’t a budget to replace them. We will update them with paint, new hardware and some DIY fixes to make them seem custom.
• The countertops. Clearly, they need to go – not sure when red laminate was in (1982?) but it sure isn’t now. And the laminate is peeling. We’re going to replace them with darker butcher block.
• The range hood. The over-the-range microwave is a bit of a black hole visually and set too low to cook easily. We’re going to replace it with a simple entry-level range fan. Early on I was thinking of designing a fancy DIY range hood, but realistically there just isn’t time. So we’re opting for something affordable that isn’t visually distracting. (There will be a new microwave in their pantry.)
• Undercabinet lighting. They’ve installed some, which is great, and we will improve them by hiding the wires.

• The sink is staying. We’ve tried to talk them into a new one, but they’re committed to this one. We’re wary that it will have surprises for us – and not the winning lottery ticket kind.
• The backsplash. The teal is a bit jarring, but the beadboard wallpaper is in good shape. So our plan is to just paint it white and call it done.

• The lonely fridge. We’re trying to talk them into letting us build a surround for the fridge. It will make the fridge placement look more intentional and give more storage above it. They are resistant to the idea, but we’re going to push harder. We think it will make a big difference to the impression of quality in the kitchen. Wish us luck!
• The wall colour is staying – they are committed to it. No problem here – it’s a soft yellow and pretty easy to live with. Plus, we just don’t have time to also paint the walls.

• The floors are terrible. As you can tell from the photo above, they weren’t even good when they were first installed. They were installed wonky in lots of spots. They give a real “80’s school cafeteria vibe” that no one has ever been into.

• Baseboards. We got them to pull off the black rubber baseboards. You read that right – the baseboards were industrial-style plastic in the subtle colour of black. As you can see, they’ve done some damage to the cupboards – so we’ll have some repair work ahead.

• Lighting. This ceiling fan has seen better days and we’re going to replace it with something more modern, yet appropriate to the style of the home. They say they never use the fan part, so that opens up more attractive options.

The Planning Process…

We’ve been planning the design together with Jason and Meaghan using Google Photos.

They upload photos and we discuss the changes we have in mind in the comment section. It’s working pretty well! With all four of our busy schedules, I can’t picture us all having the time, or patience to set up Zoom calls or something ‘live’ like that.

With some back and forth we’ve been able to settle on some design choices.

Our 3 Day, Low Budget DIY Kitchen Makeover Design Plan…

Not shown:

• This beautiful and low-cost ceiling light fixture
• This very basic ductless range hood
• This cabinet box we will use to build the fridge surround around (fingers crossed the quality is good – but the price is amazing!)
• All the trim choices.

OK. I think that’s all for now. They’ve ordered the supplies from the links we sent, so we’re hoping to have very few hardware store runs eating up our precious time. (But who’s kidding who…)

Now we just need to: pack, get our kids set up for success while we’re away, take the dogs to the boarders, load the car with all the tools we should need and drive 7 hours to the job site. No big deal.

Soon we should have our budget friendly kitchen makeover reveal – unless something truly terrible happens…

Ready to see the “After”? Here it is:
The Reveal: Our 3-Day DIY Kitchen Makeover on a Budget ~ under $1300!

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