Kitchen Before & After: A Super Budget Kitchen Makeover For $500

Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold is the Executive Editor of Cubby, and one of Apartment Therapy Media’s first full-time editors from way back when. She was the founding Design and Lifestyle Editor for Kitchn and the Managing Editor for Apartment Therapy’s green living site, Re-Nest (RIP). After a few years offline and then working elsewhere, she’s back to share ideas about design, kids, and family life. It’s helpful that she now has two little kids and lots of thoughts about all those things. She lives with said kids and their father in St. Paul, MN.
updated May 2, 2019
pinterest
comments
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Post Image
(Image credit: Beautiful Matters)

When Shauna started planning for her kitchen renovation, she had a very limited budget to work with. As she writes on her blog Beautiful Matters, “The main theme throughout this entire process was always CHEAP” — specifically, $500 cheap. But we think you’ll be impressed, as we were, by what can be done on such a small budget. Check out what Shauna’s kitchen looks like now.

(Image credit: Beautiful Matters)

Behold the power of paint! The countertop and appliances all stayed the same (those are expensive items to replace), but everything else got a little sprucing: Shauna painted the walls and cabinets bright white, removed the doors on one cabinet and painted the interior to make her dishes pop, and stripped the awful linoleum floor to reveal the original hardwood floors underneath.

Dealing with the floors was “the most dreaded task… but the hours (and hours) spent scraping, sanding, staining, and sealing were worth it to reclaim the original flooring, and it really saved our budget,” she writes.

(Image credit: Beautiful Matters)
(Image credit: Beautiful Matters)

Shauna also removed the outdated burgundy wallpaper in the adjoining dining room and gave the whole room a fresh coat of white paint. She finished with a newly painted glossy black pantry door, new door knobs, artwork, and yellow flower curtains, which really make the space feel fresh!

(Image credit: Beautiful Matters)
(Image credit: Beautiful Matters)

Head on over to Shauna’s blog to see more photos and get a full budget breakdown:

Read more → $500 Kitchen Renovation Reveal at Beautiful Matters

Thanks for letting us share this, Shauna!

Have a kitchen tip, project, or renovation you’d like to show off?Every week we feature a reader kitchen project, and we’re always looking for submissions. To submit your own project, follow the instructions in this post and you could see it end up here on The Kitchn.

See more home Before & After surprises at Apartment Therapy!

Filed in:
Before & After
budget
renovating