It’s finally that time!  I couldn’t be more excited about revealing our DIY vintage farmhouse kitchen project!

This project has been in the making since about November of 2019.  What made this project different than most is that we did not stress over a timeline, nor did we place unnecessary pressure to get it done right away.

While it was strange to not have the usual feeling of “we MUST get this done NOW”, it was most welcomed and helped the overall creative process with our kitchen.

Our DIY Vintage Farmhouse Kitchen Transformation…

First, a before picture.  The original kitchen was not that bad as far as being updated.  However, it had little functionality and was not our style.

The challenge we faced is that there were only four cabinets that were usable for storage.  The small over the appliance cabinets were installed unusually high (and not easy to reach), so we didn’t store anything in them.

Additionally, the cabinets were very basic and not user friendly when it came to functional storage.

There was a lot of empty wall space to the left of the cabinets….space that we knew could be used in a more efficient way.

I started by drawing out the kitchen plans.  Nothing fancy here, I just grabbed a pencil and paper and started to draw out what I wanted the kitchen to look like:

Out goal was to stay under $3,000 for the entire kitchen project.

We knew we’d have to get creative to stay within budget.

A few ways we saved:

• Completed the work ourselves
• Only replaced one row of cabinets with new cabinets (from Ikea — LOVE Ikea cabinets)
• Painted the existing island cabinets to match the Ikea cabinets
• Painted the top of the kitchen island with a faux marble design
• Custom built the pantry with used/reclaimed materials
• Painted the tile floor (verses replacing it)

And so the journey began.  We made the 4 hour drive to the Utah Ikea to decide on the cabinet style and purchase the new cabinets (that’s one drawback to living in a smaller town now — no Ikea nearby!)

The 4 new cabinets took up the bulk of our budget at $1,800.  But boy are they WORTH IT!  Ikea’s kitchen storage solutions and functionality are the best I’ve experienced.

The remaining budget was spent on applicable materials, fixtures, paint supplies, and decor.

When possible, we used materials/decor found at thrift stores or found free on Facebook Marketplace/Craigslist.

The beauty of DIYing this project is we didn’t experience a huge ol dusty demolition.

Cully took out one cabinet at a time and replace it with the new cabinets.

Next up was the electrical.

We had to cut the drywall in order to add the new lights. This was the messiest part of the entire project.

We are incredibly fortunate to live next to an electrician, so he helped us with wiring the new electrical (and helped us fix some existing electrical items that were not to code!)

After the new electrical was wired, we moved on to building the stove hood.

We used new 2×4’s for the structure part of it…then finished it off with reclaimed wood (sourced FREE from Craigslist):

Next up was the faux brick wall in the kitchen nook area.  We used 4×8 faux brick wall sheets from home depot and dry painted them with Crisp Cotton Furniture Paint to give them a whitewashed look.

It was pure luck that the shade of Cast Iron Furniture Paint was the perfect match to go with the new Ikea cabinets.  So I painted the island cabinets in Cast Iron, then protected the paint finish with 3 coats of Protective Finish:

I refinished the top of the island in a faux marble look using Crisp Cotton and Denver Slate Furniture Paint:

As I was working on the island, Cully started the building of the pantry and the pantry door.

This is one of my favorite features because it adds additional storage space for us!

Similar to the stove hood, the pantry door was made from reclaimed wood — this wood came from a barn that was estimated to be 100+ years old!  Another amazing free material find on Craigslist.

The old kitchen had hardwire under cabinets lights.

Using the existing electrical work, Cully hard wired in the new under shelf lighting by cutting holes in the wood shelves that hooked up to the existing wires.

He made the cuts so all the wiring was hidden (he’s is quite skilled at the details of things like these :))

Last, but not least, I painted the tile floor.  There was a LOT of floor to paint and this part of the project was (funny enough) the part that held up the project most.  Reason being is I did the project in phases to ensure we would always have access to the areas we needed on a daily basis.

Since the surface was super slick and is a high traffic area, I started with Zinsser Primer.  Then, I painted 2 coats of Denver Slate Furniture Paint and protected the surface with 3 coats of Protective Finish.

There it is! I am so pleased with how everything turned out and that we stayed within budget!

Until next time,

Krista

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