$387 Budget Kitchen Update

We gave the cabinets several coats of paint (at least 4) to get rid of the brush marks from the rollers. After painting and letting the cabinet doors and drawers dry, we reattached them to the bases. We chose to do all of the base cabinets first, then the upper cabinets, so we could manage our available floor space and not feel overwhelmed!

Some progress, right? . Then we started attaching the new hardware we bought. HUGE difference already!

About half way through our painting project, we stopped into a discount tile store in town. Just to look. Kind of. They happened to be having a clearance event, and we found the perfect marble mosaic tile for a half off ($5.99/sq ft)! So, we caved and got it for a backsplash.

For our little kitchen, we needed the following supplies to get the job done: . 36 sq. ft. of marble mosaic tile – $204.50 Tile adhesive – $13 1/4″ trowel to spread adhesive – $3 1/2 gallon of white premixed grout – $17 Grout sponge with haze remover – $2.50 9×4 rubber grout float – $4 . The total came to $244.

More progress! It took us a few days to get everything done, but we are so so happy with the way it turned out. . The last thing we did was spend $30 to replace the almond colored switch plates with stainless steel switch plates. It was a small touch, but something we notice everyday. . Here’s what the looks like now.

Here’s a few more. Our stove area before…

… and after!

Our sink area before…

… and after!

In the future, when the time and budget allow for it, we’ll finish off this kitchen by updating the counters with something that will contrast the white cabinets and backsplash. Maybe DIY cement? Maybe paint? Maybe replace them altogether? Anything is possible 🙂 We’ll also replace the floor with new tiles. . Check out our blog for more details on what we have in mind, as well as more (better) photos, instructions, and details on how we did our cabinets and backsplash. . Even if you aren’t a white cabinets person, or a marble backsplash person, switch it up! Do what makes your heart happy. Everybody has different taste. This post is meant to show you that you can make a really big impact on a room, even a scary kitchen, on a really tiny budget.