3 Easy Ways Update your Kitchen

2020 was an unpredictable and unusual year for a lot of people but it’ll forever be memorable for me in a different way. I purchased my first home! Fortunately, the home is very familiar to me and I’ve spent a lot of time here over the years because it was previously owned by my grandparents. I basically grew up here so when my grandparents passed and the house was for sale, I knew it was the right time for me to buy it and make it my own.

While I’ve always loved this house, my style is very different from my grandparents and on top of that, the house hadn’t been updated in awhile so I knew I was taking on a big project. At first, I was very overwhelmed because there was so much to do but a friend gave me the advice to start in one area and go from there. So that’s what I did, starting with the kitchen.

A major remodel of the kitchen would require a lot more resources than I currently have so everything I did was mostly cosmetic and made for an easy kitchen upgrade. The three easy ways that updated the entire look of the kitchen were:

1. Installing new kitchen floors
2. Painting the kitchen cabinets and walls
3. Adding cabinet hardware and kitchen fixtures

Installing New Kitchen Floors

Before I began my renovations on the house, each room had a different type of flooring. I spent weeks looking at samples and finally decided on a Shaw Luxury Vinyl Tile. I used it throughout the house to create a cohesive look and open up the space. It’s the perfect neutral shade to compliment the other colors I have in the house.

Painting Kitchen Cabinets and Walls

As you can see, the kitchen was very dark. The wood paneling covers all of the walls in the house but it’s still in great condition, so I decided to leave it on the walls but paint it white to brighten the space. It took an oil-based primer and 3 coats of Benjamin Moore Simply White paint to coat the walls.

I used the pictures below as my inspiration for the cabinets and went back and forth at least a dozen times deciding between mushroom colored cabinets or light blue cabinets. After trying many, many paint colors, I ultimately fell in love with a blue from Farrow and Ball, Parma Gray. My local Benjamin Moore store was able to color match it for me.

The blue is a nice contrast with the white walls and neutral floors. The long-term plan would be to eventually gut the kitchen and rearrange the layout of the kitchen with the dining room, so for now, it’s fun to play with color and trendy design. Plus, my grandmother LOVED blue so I thought this would be a nice way to remember her.

Adding Cabinet Hardware and Kitchen Fixtures

One of the biggest highlights from updating the kitchen was discovering a lot of real copper accents including the hinges on the cabinets and a beautiful plate behind the fridge that was previously used as protection from a wood burning stove. The original cabinet handles must have been copper too, but somewhere along the road, my grandparents swapped them out with white ones. I wanted to embrace that by adding copper light fixtures and handles.

Real copper handles were a bit pricey and as any of you who have updated a kitchen might know, finding handles that match the current holes is a challenge. After a lot of searching, I found rose gold handles and knobs on Amazon and the actual color is a pretty good match to the copper already in the kitchen. This copper faucet was also a great find from Amazon. It’s really affordable and looks great in person!

There’s still a lot of finishing touches that need to go in this room, like filling the knob holes, adding a soap dispenser, putting down rugs, and updating the outlets. Something I’m learning as a new home owner is that there’s always something to do but I’m learning to enjoy the process and the progress, even if it’s not immediately perfect. I’m so happy with the results and was really pleased that I was able to completely change the look of the kitchen with just three easy cosmetic changes.

I’ve got more home updates planned so make sure to subscribe or follow along on Instagram @lauraalldaylong.