DIY

Just in case you weren't aware (which if you recently started following, I wouldn't think you would be) me and the hubsy are big DIYers. I wouldn't say because we love to do it or are extremely good at it- insert YoungHouseLove (they litteraly are DIYer extraordinaries). In our 7.5years of maritalness I can't say that we have ever paid a single soul to come into our home and do any kind of remodel work on our home. We have been in our current home for almost 6 years now, and have done several improvements. Namely our Kitchen, fireplace, entryway, powder room, wet bar, office and dining room. So, today I will show you one of my all time fav's. Now this was a game changer- seriously.

Lets meet le kitchen...
                                                                            Before

Jealous much of those turquoise green laminate countertops?

The hubsy and I are huge fans of dark furniture/cabinets/accessories, etc. SO, we went completely opposite with our cabinets and said au revoir to our white cabinets. For the countertops- we would have loved to call up our neighborhood granite man, but we didn't have several thousands to drop on our countertops...besides, didn't you catch the title of this post? So, we took a jaunt (of about 3 for this one job) to Lowe's and found what we wanted to do with our countertops.

Meet our Kitchen in reno-mode...
     Step One: Cabinets

This would be the appropriate time to tell you this was a HUGE pain. Taking off all of the doors, in which there are about 25+ doors and drawers to sand, prime and paint. But never the less we forged ahead and finished it in a weekend.

       Step 2: The countertops

 Here are happy cabinets after painting

 And you'll also notice that we were simultaneously switching out our appliances for stainless steel. Meet our $175 oven. Though he was a bit dirty- he was in awesome shape- and I found him for $175 thanks to Craig and his List. Something else to know about me? I always get things on sale or clearance. Always.

 And who could ignore a tiny fluff who would help if she could?

 For our countertops we used Tavy to prep our laminate. Yep- you got it right, we tiled right over that fugly laminate. Here are the counters with the layer of tavy (that you can't see), a layer of fiberglass paper and a thin layer of mortar. This had to set overnight.

PS- fiberglass paper + bare hands= bad news.

 Hellllloooo, my gorgeous tile!

Are you getting the picture? So lets recap:

Repainted all cabinets and doors
Swapped out our appliances for stainless steel
Replaced all hardware for brushed nickle (shoutout to Ebay for 35knobs for $30. A steal I tell you!)
Tiled our countertops
Replaced sink
Replaced kitchen faucet
Repainted walls with the help of Behr and Eiffel Tower

And here my friends, is Mr. Gorgeous afterwards...

What do ya think?
We are extremely pleased with how it turned out- and I'm so happy to see NO MORE green laminate. Though that will come back to haunt me in one other project- stay tuned!

Have you guys done any recent remodels? Any DIYers out there? I have many more projects to share- so check back soon!

Hugs!
S