The kitchen may very well be the room where the most money is spent in a house.  From cabinets to appliances to countertops you can spend a lot of money really quickly.  When my husband and I bought our home a few years ago I loved the bones and layout of the home.  The kitchen was large and open with a center island and huge corner windows at the sink looking out over the horse pasture behind.  The style of the kitchen though was not really us.  The cabinets were an orangey oak and I had my heart set on light, bright and airy. We wanted to do what we could to make it fit our style more without spending a ton of money.  The first thing I knew that would make a big impact for little cost was paint.  I painted…a lot.  We painted the walls, all of the cabinets, and get this, even the countertops.  In a previous home I had painted cabinets and countertops, so I knew that I could do that again.  Here is a picture of our kitchen before we moved in.

And here is a picture of our kitchen as it looks today.

For the countertops, I used a product called Giani Granite Countertop Paint.  You can purchase off of their website or Amazon.  I used the White Diamond kit.  It is really so easy if you have a couple of days to do it.  The kit comes with a primer, paint and topcoat as well as the sponge and roller you will need to apply.  My tip would be to find pictures of granite or marble that you like and have that to look at as you are painting to have a better idea of the look you want.  Also, practice on some cardboard they send you with the kit.  They have different colors to choose from, as well as a new marble looking kit that I have seen used and really liked the look of.  We plan on eventually getting either stone or quartz countertops, but at the five thousand dollar price tag we were not quite ready to pull the trigger on those.  Our countertops have been painted now for about 3 years and have held up pretty good.  I have had to touch up a few areas in that time, but we are pretty hard on our countertops and the kit cost me only $75.  We are totally happy with them until we are ready to spend money on new ones. 

A few other things we did were buying and installing new cabinet hardware, a new sink and faucet and a backsplash.  Little changes like that can really make such a big difference in a kitchen.  We went with a white subway tile backsplash.  You can get white subway tile for pretty cheap.  We found ours at Lowes and had a friend install for us.  The latest update we did was adding some beautiful vinyl plank flooring that we purchased from Lowes.  It instantly warmed the whole space up and I love how it turned out.  

My favorite change in our kitchen though is this little corner here.  The side of this tall pantry cabinet was just bare before.  I wanted to fill it up with something.  So I found a cute little picture clip hanger from World Market to put family photos on and a wooden knob hanger for our aprons and pot holders.  It makes our kitchen feel lived in and homey.  I love it!

Then right next to that is the doorway to our dining room where we have been marking our kiddos heights.  Walking into my kitchen and seeing those little marks just makes me smile, and sometimes cry because they are growing so fast.    

We really love our kitchen now.  It is just perfect for our family.  Don’t be afraid to paint some stuff and find little inexpensive ways to update your kitchen and make it yours.