An Affordable Kitchen Overhaul: a house log

When Rachel sent us her lately DIYed kitchen makeover we had to share the goods. Here is her letter:

To say that there are touches of YHL in our newly renovated kitchen/dining room would be an understatement. I “borrowed” many of your ideas! First we took out the upper half of the wall separating the kitchen from the dining room. And after the dated wallpaper came down we painted both rooms with a 5 gallon bucket of Valspar paint to cut costs. We took out the upper kitchen cabinet doors to create an “open” look while the lower doors are original (we sanded, primed, & repainted them). We also brought in new hinges & hardware. Then we installed a beadboard backspash to take attention away from the original formica counters that we could not yet upgrade. We also got a cast iron sink from Craigslist for $30 which included a faucet. The dining room light as well as the shelves on the wall are both YHL steals (the light is a direct CB2 light copy of the one in your dining area and the Ikea shelves are like the ones you have next to your table). All in all, our project cost was under $1000 and we did it ALL ourselves with the assist of my handy carpenter dad and remarkable husband. I relied heavily on your advice & before/after pictures during the renovation and I could not have done it without you! Thanks for such a strong site, and congrats on the little one!! There are more photos on my journal along with some pics of my two little helpers (we did this all with an nearly 3 year old and an 8 month old!). – Rachel

Here are the before photos of Rachel’s closed in kitchen and dining room:

And here are the after photos of her amazingly open and updated kitchen and dining area:

Is not that fantastic? We enjoy how Rachel was not afraid to knock out that wall for a much more airy and expansive feeling, and the fact that she was able to add a new backsplash, hinges, hardware, and even a new cast iron sink for under 1K is fairly remarkable (thanks to budget saving methods like repainting her existing cabinets and removing the doors on the uppers). Plus we cannot forget that figure also includes the work they did in the dining area (from creating the pass through and bringing in that new pendant light to the floating shelves and the window treatments). Is not that a vivid two room makeover on the low-cost? We enjoy inspiring overhauls like this where it is all about creativity, elbow grease, and a bit of Craigslist and Ikea deal hunting.

What do you folks think? Did not Rachel do an remarkable job stretching her moolah and gaining an entirely new area in her home without doling out the big bucks? What is your go-to part? We are thinking we most adore the open feeling they created between both rooms, but all those lively red accents in the kitchen (along with those breezy red curtains in the dining room) are quite charming as well.