Before and after of this
Home Type: House
Project type: kitchen
style: Cottage, Vintage
Skill level: Handmade
Perfect for rental: no
Unfortunately, you may have seen “renovations” at the beginning of a home renovation show or in an older apartment or home you've toured before that don't match the interior or exterior of the historic home (think a sleek Art Deco high rise in Miami with a farmhouse-style interior).
DIYer Courtney Deiter's (@heart.and.home.crew) 100-year-old home was eventually updated with a standard IKEA kitchen, but she didn't love it. “We moved into a 100-year-old home that had been previously owned by an investor, who had gutted the entire kitchen and put in some IKEA cupboards,” Courtney explains. “The cupboards were grey and had no hardware and everything was basically a blank slate.”
Courtney lived with the grey for a while, but over time she found that her kitchen was able to regain some character and better match the appeal of the rest of her home. For our Spring 2024 Studio Challenge, she decided to tackle a complete makeover.
The first thing removed was the grey cabinets.
Courtney says the gray paint on the cabinets made the kitchen feel “too cold and modern for the home.” She knew she needed to warm it up with a soft white paint to match the more vintage feel she was going for. She used Benjamin Moore's Natural Cream paint.
“The biggest change was painting the cupboards, which instantly warmed up the space!” says Courtney. “Adding hardware makes it feel more authentic and more functional.”
Courtney said she'd never painted cabinets before, but after a little research, she felt confident tackling the task. “I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was!” she says. “The hardest part was waiting for the paint to dry in between coats.”
With the grey gone, the whole space feels brighter and more inviting. “The cabinets were a breath of fresh air,” says Courtney. “And of course, now that we have all the hardware, it's great that all the cabinets and drawers are easy to open!”
Secondhand clothes and DIY items create a vintage atmosphere.
The best way to add a vintage feel to any space is to find authentic vintage pieces and incorporate them into your design, and that's exactly what Courtney did, customizing some thrift store finds to make them even more useful in her kitchen.
She added wheels to a vintage desk, built a custom center island, and stuffed vintage and antique décor pieces here and there to add to the charm. She also thrifted on some Rub-N-Buff she already had to paint her faucet gold for $0. “I also DIYed a second-hand pleated lamp by painting the base and adding fabric to the shade. It was a big hit online!”
“By doing your own things and buying second-hand where possible, you can definitely save a lot of money!” she says.
Hide your trash can with a DIY skirted table.
Courtney wasn't going to let a trash can get in the way of her beautiful new kitchen, so she got inventive and designed a beautiful system to camouflage the trash and recycling bins near the front door.
“I didn't have a place to put my rubbish so I decided to build a shelf and hang a curtain out of conduit pipe and hide my rubbish and recycling underneath,” Courtney says.
And this DIY project has become one of her favorite outcomes of the entire design. “I'm really happy with the idea and execution of the open shelving and bins!” she says. “I'm glad I don't have to see the ugly bins anymore. It makes me feel so much calmer and happier.”
Restoring this IKEA kitchen was a challenge, but Courtney is very happy with the results. “It forced me to think a little bit outside the box, figuring out how to hide trash and looking at recycled items in a different way to make them my own.”
This project is Spring 2024 One Room ChallengeIn partnership with Apartment Therapy, Click here for the before and after of the One Room Challenge.
Inspired? Submit your own project here.
