DIY Kitchen Renovation on a really tight budget

Here is a before pic of our beautiful (not) retro style kitchen. It probably was beautiful in it's day!

I do alot of baking so staring at this everyday wasn't doing much for me. Our new flooring looks awesome but the kitchen brings it down. A new kitchen was way out of budget for us and I like to think we are pretty creative doing all our renovations ourselves... So being our second house renovation I have learnt patients and prep is key so I thought "Why not? How hard can it be.. right?" right! A bit of patients, a few days without a kitchen and bingo a new kitchen for the price tag of around $200 - $300 bucks = Happy everyone!

Here is an after pic of our kitchen.

Not bad for a tight budget huh! We still need new appliances (especially that grubby looking exhaust fan) but they will come in good time.

We get asked alot how we did this and if it is holding up well. We are happy to announce it has held up awesome! The cupboards wipe down great and the bench tops do also. We love it and the green has grown on us ;-)

You need to be careful putting hot stuff on the bench top though. And no scouring the bench tops or it will leave marks. But I have found everything wipes straight off, even with a hard rub using a smooth cloth or sponge.

The worst bit is waiting in between coats of paint. You must use oil based paints and primers. Trust me! We didnt to start with and it doesn't cover the surface, at all. An oil based paint literally grabs and coats and sticks to it, nice and thick :-)

It has been almost a year since we finished the kitchen and it is holding up perfectly. The only thing you must be super careful with, is the boring but MUST BE DONE PROPERLY preparation work. There are about 3 tiny spots (seriously like 1mm teeny tiny spots - annoying - Luckily my bench tops are black and I used a permanent black texta to cover the yellow spots showing through) around the stove top where I slackened on the cleaning and prep. They are oil spots from prior splatter and because I didnt thoroughly clean and rub with sand paper properly before hand, the paint has come off from the bottom coat. So I have learnt my lesson and am sharing it with you.... clean and sand paper thoroughly... Take most care and time with this and the rest will fall into place! I know its the most boring part of doing a reno but from years of experience it is definately the most important, with mostly everything and anything you do.

What you need

See what you can find laying around the house. We used existing white oil based paint for our doors and existing wall paint for our walls, saving us money there. We used old curtains for our paint drop sheets. Alot of cleaning products we already had. So check what you have before spending any money ;-)

• Cleaning spray that cuts through grease
• Vinegar in a spray bottle
• Cloths and scourers for cleaning
• 10 pieces or a roll of fine grit sandpaper
• 2cm paint brush for edges
• Small paint roller kit (they are like mini rollers)
• 5 extra small rollers to fit (saves you washing out oil based paint each time)
• Big paint roller kit (if you are painting your walls also)
• Turps to clean the roller tray and paint brush
• Drop sheets for floor
• New door handles (or save your old ones if they are ok)
• Putty or filler (for holes and smoothing imperfections)
• No more gap (if your tile grout needs fixing)
• Water based wall paint (if your walls need painting also)
• Oil based primer for benches, doors and tiles
• Oil based paint colour for bench tops
• Oil based tile paint colour for tiles
• Oil based paint colour for doors
• Oil based floor varnish to seal and toughen the bench tops

* Amount of paint all depends on size of the area you have to paint, work out the square meters for each colour and it will say on the back of the paint tin how much coverage you will get out of it. Remember, everything needs 2 coats except the primer (it only needs 1 coat).

If you have wallpaper you will also need -

• Sugar Soap & warm water in a spray bottle 
• 2 or 3 pieces of medium grit sandpaper
• Fine grit sandpaper
• Metal paint scraper

Before you do anything, take photos of how your sad kitchen looks before it's exciting re-vamp! It's so rewarding looking at what you, yourself has achieved. 

We suggest doing ALL of the prep-work first, then you won't have dust sticking to your paint and it is a much smoother process. 

Prep-work - the most important step!

Wallpaper

If you have wallpaper, well this is a mission in itself.

1. Scratch up the wallpaper with the medium sandpaper.
2. Completely saturate the wallpaper with the sugar soap and warm water spray bottle. It is easiest to do it in sections as when it dries it becomes hard to get off again. Let it soak for a few minutes and keep it wet. 
3. Using the smooth metal paint scraper, start to scrap up and down until you are able to get under the wallpaper... If its wet and moist all the way through it should starting peeling off. 
4. Do this until all of the paper if removed. You will probably be left with a sticky mess of glue. Use more sugar soap and try to wipe down and scrap as much of it off as you can, so it is a smooth surface. 
5. Once it dries go over it with the fine grit sandpaper and smooth it out. 
6. Fill any holes or dents with the putty and let it dry. 

You may paint this first or last (coats dry quickly with water based), you may not even need to do your walls. I won't go into painting the walls, but can if anyone wants me too.

Tiles

1. Using the scourers, clean the tiles thoroughly with the grease cutting cleaning spray. Concentrate in the gaps and grooves of the tiles and around your stove top. Grease will cause the paint to peel away, so we must be completely grease free!!!! 
2. Using a cloth, clean the tiles again with the grease cutting cleaning spray.
3. Go over the tiles again using a fresh cloth with the water and vinegar spray bottle mix. Make sure the tiles look completely grease free!
4. Let them dry.
5. Go over the tiles with the fine grit sandpaper, lightly. 
6. Wipe down with a wet cloth, ensuring all dust is off and let dry. They are now ready for painting.
7. If you have any grout that has come loose, use no more gap to fill in the holes.

Bench tops

Most concentration needs to be taken on the bench top as it is used the most. 

1. Using the scourers, clean the bench tops thoroughly with the grease cutting cleaning spray. Concentrate around your stove area where most oil splatters.
2. Using a cloth, clean the bench tops again with the grease cutting spray. 
3. Go over the bench tops again using water and vinegar mix. Make sure there is no more grease or grime. 
4. Let it dry.
5. Go over the bench top with the fine grit sandpaper. Don't be afraid to scratch it up a little so the paint can stick to it. The paint will fill in any light scratches. Make sure every surface area is scratched up and sanded. 
6. Wipe down with a wet cloth, ensuring all the dust is off and let dry.
7. If you have any joins or imperfections use the putty the fill them up. You will need to re-sand when the putty is dry and re-wipe everything down with water again.
8. Your now ready for painting.

Cupboard Doors

1. Take off the door handles. 
2. Using the scourers, clean the doors thoroughly with the grease cutting cleaning spray. 
3. Using a cloth, clean the doors again with the grease cutting spray. 
4. Go over the doors again using the water and vinegar mix. Make sure there is no more grease or grime. 
5. Let it dry.
6. Go over the doors with the fine grit sandpaper, concentrate on the corners and edging if they are rough.
7. Wipe down with a wet cloth, ensuring all the dust is off and let dry.
8. If you have any holes or imperfections use the putty the fill them up. You will need to re-sand when the putty is dry and re-wipe everything down with water again.
9. Your now ready for painting.

Painting your kitchen

Lay a drop sheet on the floor to prevent any spills or splatters.

Step 1

1. Starting with the tiles paint the oil based primer on around the edges and fidly bits using the paint brush. Paint the larger areas with the mini roller going over any brush marks as best you can. Make sure the paint is on every surface as we are only doing 1 coat. Be careful painting the section along the top where the tiles meet your wall. As wall water based paint won't cover oil based paint.
2. Move onto the bench tops and paint the edges and fidly bits around the stove first. Then using the mini roller paint the larger parts of the bench top, trying to get it as smooth as possible.
3. Lastly move onto painting the cupboard doors. Starting with your edges doing 1 door at a time. Use the mini roller for the large section of the doors to avoid paint brush marks. 
4. Once everything is painted, let it dry for the recommended time.
5. Wash out the roller tray and paint brush with turps, ready for the next step.

Step 2 - Tiles

1. Lay another drop sheet on your benchtops.
2. Using the chosen tile paint colour, start painting the edges of your tiles with the paint brush and the larger parts with the mini roller. Don't worry too much about where your bench top meets your tiles as the bench top paint will cover this. But be careful painting the section along the top where it meets your wall. As water based paint won't cover oil based paint.
3. Let it dry for the recommended time. We found we only needed 1 coat of the tile paint as it went on really thick. See how yours looks and go with your gut. 
4. Wash out the roller tray and paint brush with turps, ready for the next step.

Step 3 - Benchtops

1. Make sure your tiles have dried properly or you could have paint colours mixing together where the benchtop meets the tiles.
2. Starting with your paint brush, paint your benchtops with the oil based paint of your chosen colour. Go over the larger areas with the mini roller, trying to get the paint as smooth as possible. 
3. Let it dry for the recommended time and cover your paint and brushes in plastic bags (so no air can dry them out whilst you are waiting for the paint to dry - saves you cleaning them again)
4. Once dried, go over in a second coat.
5. Let it dry again for the recommended time. 
6. Wash out the roller tray and paint brush with turps, ready for the next step.

Step 4 - Benchtops sealer

1. Starting with your paint brush, paint your benchtops with the oil based floor varnish. Go over the larger areas with the mini roller, trying to get the varnish as smooth as possible. 
2. Let it dry for the recommended time and cover your varnish and brushes in plastic bags (so no air can dry them out whilst you are waiting for the varnish to dry - saves you cleaning them again)
3. Once dried, go over in a second coat.
4. Let it dry again for the recommended time. 
5. Wash out the roller tray and paint brush with turps, ready for the next step.

Step 5 - Cupboard doors

1. Starting with your paint brush, paint your cupboard 1 door at a time with the oil based paint of your chosen colour. Go over the larger areas with the mini roller, trying to get the paint as smooth as possible. 
2. Let it dry for the recommended time and cover your paint and brushes in plastic bags (so no air can dry them out whilst you are waiting for the paint to dry - saves you cleaning them again)
3. Once dried, go over in a second coat.
4. Let it dry again for the recommended time. 
5. Wash out the roller tray and paint brush with turps, ready for your next painting adventure.
6. Once dry, attach your new door handles.

Congratulations you now have a brand new kitchen at a fraction of the price!! And how proud do you feel when you stand back and look at your own handy work ;-)

Enjoy x