Using Beadboard & Paint To Update A Kitchen

When Jessica sent us her before and after kitchen photos we could not believe she and her hubby stretched their $400 budget so far. Here is her letter:

I am consistently inspired by what I see going on at your pad! My husband Josh and I lately took on a low-cost-o kitchen makeover and found that $400 goes a quite long way toward bringing an 80’s kitchen into 2010. That budget covered paint, an electric sander, a jig saw, hardware, primer, Liquid Nails, “real” nails, and beadboard- which is all it took to truly transform the space. The “before” picture was from before we moved in, so please excuse the terrible light fixture and furniture. We truly hated the fake wood paneling under the bar and around the sides of the cabinets, so we covered it with beadboard that we then painted white. It was straightforward to install (especially since we had the wood cut at the store & borrowed a tack gun) and it is certainly our go-to part of the whole makeover. As for our paint sources, the green is Benjamin Moore’s Mountain Lane and the white is Sherwin William’s West Highland White. Oh and there is more info about the whole kitchen redo on our journal. Our next step is a nursery (we are adopting a baby from Russia) and I cannot wait to see how yours turns out! I am sure I will get some strong ideas. Thanks for all you do! -Jessica (& Josh)

Here is their kitchen before the big overhaul:

And here is the same space after simply $400 worth of upgrades:

Is not that remarkable? We enjoy Jessica and Josh’s infectious Hands-on spirit and we totally appreciate that they were not afraid to use some bold color and a little creativity (in the form of beadboard and paint for those cabinets) to cover up the things that they did not like and draw attention to the features that they hoped to highlight. What do you folks think? Are you itching to paint your walls a bold color, overhaul your cabinets or tack up some beadboard? We certainly enjoy that not every kitchen makeover calls for several thousand dollars of work and tons of hired assist. Inspiring!

Psst- Looking to paint your cabinets like Jessica and Josh did above? Here is a swift and straightforward walkthrough to assist you get ‘er done.