Before and After: This Rental Kitchen Spruce-Up Cost Just $150

Chelsey Brown’s kitchen was pretty nice from the beginning: It had modern-looking appliances and cabinets, and there was enough square footage to move around without feeling like the walls were closing in. But Chelsey found the space a little too boring for her liking. She wanted to make the room brighter and more open, while also respecting the terms of her lease and keeping costs down.

She totally pulled it off. To be clear, this is not Chelsey’s first rodeo: She knows how to make a few small tweaks look like a complete home makeover. She took what she learned from decorating her previous rental kitchen and made it even better.

How could she possibly create that gorgeous backsplash under $100, you ask? Adhesives. That beautiful herringbone backsplash is actually vinyl stickers and the marble countertop is contact paper — two easy and affordable solutions with major impact.

Once she was done applying the herringbone to the backsplash and the plain marble to the countertops, Chelsey wanted to keep the non-white distractions to a minimum. She traded her Keurig in for a sleeker white model and accented it with some white flowers. The dark floor tile distracted from that continuity so she laid out a light-colored rug that makes the room seem more spacious.

Aesthetics weren’t her only venture, though. To free up some of her limited cabinet space, Chelsey mounted a pot rail to hang some of her more decorative tools — like a gold set of measuring cups and the cheeseboard she uses when she’s entertaining. She also decanted a few pantry staples into glass jars so that they could sit on the counter and leaned her wooden cutting boards against the backsplash.

Four hours and $150 later, Chelsey had totally transformed her kitchen into one with class and character. She proved to all of us that we can create the kitchen of our dreams even on a tight budget.

Thank you Chelsey!

This post originally ran on Apartment Therapy. See it there: Before and After: A Super Low ($150!) Budget Kitchen Spruce-Up