Renter Friendly Kitchen Makeover for $100

Happy New Year! It’s January and time for another $100 Room Challenge!

Hosted by the lovely Erin of Lemons, Lavender, and Laundry 

What’s the $100 Room Challenge? The rules are simple: One Room. One Month. $100. Just the type of challenge that this budget loving-DIY-crafting-make-do kind of girl loves!

Count me in!

This will be my fifth time taking part in this challenge. Let’s get started…

Renter Friendly Kitchen Makeover for $100

For this month’s $100 Room Challenge I have decided to do a simple Renter Friendly Makeover for our Kitchen.

You know what that means- PAINT!

I really enjoyed working on my past $100 Room Challenges– they were such fun. I love the creative side of trying to keep room makeover costs super low. Using as many supplies and decor that I already have on hand.

It always amazes me just how a deep clean, a little paint, creative crafting, some smart (cheap) shopping, and the tiny details can all add up to make space feel so much bigger, better, and brighter!

That’s why we all love a good before and after makeover, right?

Check out my other $100 Room Challenges below!

• Our Tiny Bathroom Refresh– it’s all about that shower curtain in this room refresh
• The Boy’s Bedroom– my adult son let me paint and sew just for him. I still love how this room came together
• No Spend Dining Space Update– using mostly what I had in my stash and very little shopping this makeover only cost $34!
• Back Porch Makeover– this one was all about paint and the details

First, let’s look to some inspiration

I always look to Pinterest for inspiration for many of my projects. This time was no different. I searched for other rental kitchen makeovers and loved that what I found was just the direction I wanted for my own Renter Friendly Kitchen Makeover

The kitchens that I pinned all had white walls, with elements of natural wood. There were lots of painted cabinets, fresh green plants, open shelving, an ornate rug, and little gold or brass accents.

Let me show you how I plan to put some of that inspiration into my own little Rental Kitchen Makeover for $100

118 square feet, with very little counter space, and no dishwasher

This Mid Century home has good basic bones- but how they lived with so little counter space I will never know.

The maple cabinets are original to the house and in near perfect condition. While the beige laminate counters are not my favorite- they are also original and only have one tiny scratch. It’s pretty impressive for a home that was built in 1958.

As we are renting I will not be changing anything with these two elements in the kitchen or the floor. I will concentrate changing as many other items that I can with paint. To get me a bit closer to that Pinterest look I am craving.

We have lived here for more than 7 years without a dishwasher. Can you believe it? Let me tell you- it’s tough but doable.

Since there is no dishwasher- we always use this spot for dishes to dry on. Which leaves a very small space on the other side of the sink for food prep.

Painting the walls white will brighten up this space for sure. I am trying to decide between stenciling a tile backsplash or use some removable wallpaper. So far I am leaning towards stenciling- it’s a super cost-effective update to any space.

And I haven’t found any wallpaper that I really like at a good price.

To add some much needed storage and counter space we added this vintage sideboard when we moved in.

I like the dark blue color- but this piece will be getting a paint color makeover for sure! And I am toying with the thought of stripping the black paint off the top and bring it back to natural wood. Doing so would give me the butcher block look that I would love in my inspiration photos.

A messy pantry clean up is coming!

Over the holidays our pantry got filled many times over. Now is the time to purge and donate anything I don’t think that we will be using anytime soon.

Then the pantry will also get a new coat of paint to brighten up this side of the kitchen. And I may be swapping out the gray metal bins for woven baskets for some warmth.

As you can see above I tested a beige color for the pantry a couple of months ago. I hated it- so it went no further.

Now it’s time to decide on a final color and get these pantry furniture pieces painted all to match. Which will help make the kitchen feel a little more pulled together and the mix of furniture pieces look on purpose.

Here’s the plan:

• Deep clean everything from top to bottom
• Paint the ceiling
• Paint the walls white
• Stencil or wallpaper a backsplash
• Purge the pantry
• Paint sideboard, and other furniture pieces to match
• Swap out all cabinet knobs for something gold or brass
• Change metal bins for woven baskets
• Bring in more low light plants
• Add vintage-looking style rug

Sounds pretty doable to me! I hope you come back next week to see what progress we’ve made.

Now go and check out what Erin and all the rest of the bloggers are up to in the links below.