My dream home has always been a two-story, 1920s craftsman bungalow with a big porch on the front. Full of character, clean lines, gorgeous woodwork and most of all, the grand staircase that greets you as you walk in the front door. Instead, I bought a 1984 ranch style home. Trust me, I’m aware of what a huge departure this is.
It still feels weird saying that I bought a ranch because I hated ranch homes. They’re long, bland rectangles with no character & so far from what I wanted. The thing is I realized when I began house hunting, that this house I had put on a pedestal for so long was perfect but not perfect for me. All of the older homes I toured were way too big for just me and the layout was such a huge change from the cozy one bedroom apartments I had grown accustom to. This ranch home offered me everything I need except charm & character. The location is serene, it’s a large corner lot & the room layout couldn’t be more perfect. It is still totally a bland rectangle but that just means I had a blank slate to start with. I can change bland into beautiful. That I’m sure of!
The first area I really focused on was the kitchen & dinning room. I love this area of the house because it has a big sliding door to the back yard & deck that brightens the space. Unfortunately, there were upper cabinets over the peninsula blocking light and making the kitchen dark and closed off. Those cabinets lasted about 5 days before they came down & look at the difference! It not only brightened the kitchen up but it makes both spaces feel so much larger. I kept the cabinets that I took down and I’m using them in the basement. It’s a project I’m kind of geeking out over and I can’t wait to show you when it’s done!
Next thing in the kitchen was to get rid of the 80s oak and breath some life in to these cabinets with some color. I decided to go with a two-tone look with white on the top to brighten it up and a rich gray on the bottom for a bold look. I’ll be sharing a tutorial on how I painted my cabinets in the near future but lets just say it was a doozy of a project! Everyone makes it sound like it’s so easy but I have easily spent 50+ hours on these cabinets. I added sleek, modern pulls on all of the cabinets & drawers to finish off the update. They were the perfect finishing touch! As tedious as this project was, I would do it again in a heart beat. I got a whole new kitchen for under $500 and I’m so in love with it. It’s my favorite space in the house so far.
Something that didn’t fall within the $500 budget were the brand new Kitchen Aid appliances. Sadly, almost every major appliance in the house died in the first year. That’s one of those thing you think will never happen to you and then it does. It was an expense that I was hoping to avoid for a while but on the bright side, they were a much needed upgrade and they look amazing! Only appliance that was left to replace was the dishwasher and that just died two weeks ago. Oh the joys of home ownership!
Squirrelly Girl DIY 