Lake House Cabinet Redo

My husband and I purchased a lake house last year, mid summer and have had the most wonderful time redoing what has turned out to be a little diamond in the rough.  I will be posting on the entire lake house renovation within the next few weeks, but wanted to take a minute and share with you my Christmas present from my husband!!  So let me start from the beginning.  When we bought the lake house, I loved everything about it.  It is a little 1,000 square foot home sitting an a little slice of heaven on Lake Sinclair in Eatonton, Georgia.  We got a great deal on it, and knowing the Mr.'s amazing abilities with tools it was destined to be a perfect little get-away home for our family.  My hope is to have it long into retirement so we can enjoy our grand kids here (when it's time for grand kids of course).  We spent several months going through a renovation on a limited budget.  Mr. Handy really, really did an amazing job as I love every single thing he did to make it perfect for our family!

When we started the details of the renovation, I turned directly to Pinterest for my inspirations for decorating and design!!  And if you look at my lake house board you will find a lot of ideas that have come from those pages to our little cottage at the lake.  The one thing that just seemed to escape our budget though was the kitchen.  While I HATED, the cabinets, I decided I could live with them for now and eventually we would gut the entire thing and make it what I wanted it to be. 

One day, while surfing through Pinerest looking for ideas, I came across a pin that changed the entire experience of owning this place!!  There was a pin from www.theletteredcottage.com Inspiring Designs (click the link to take you directly to the article I read)  that was amazing.  I literally screamed out loud and tears came to my eyes!!  I had discovered, through a pin, how to make my kitchen what I was hoping for on a shoestring budget.  And the most amazing part is the cabinets they showcased on their blog were exactly, exactly (did I say exactly) the same cabinets in our kitchen.  It was fate...no it was the law of attraction...even better...it was pure Pinterest magic!

Check out the pictures below showing our before and after - then I will walk you through how we did it and what it cost!!

You have to love the 1980's engraved look with the uneven Formica!!  We added a tongue in grove back splash in an effort to try and Gussie it up, but it didn't do much!  However, the end result is breath-taking.  I couldn't be more excited about my little kitchen if I tried!!

Below are the steps we took to make this a reality!!

 The Cabinets Before - Solid Wood, but not very attractive

We took all of the cabinets off the hinges and lined them up one-by-one for trim and sanding.

The trim is craft trim from Lowe's

 Primer coat to create a smooth finish

The ultimate goal was to make these outdated, yet solid wood, cabinets more modern and sleek all by using a limited budget and tools that we had at the house.

 

We started by removing all of the cabinets from the hinges and sanding them down.  We found a thinner wood trim in the craft wood section at Lowe's Home Improvement store.  Mike sanded to create a nice grip for the primer and then primed each cabinet.  He then painted each cabinet, with a paint gun.  We own one, but you can rent them as well.  We did the same sanding, priming and painting to the base of the cabinets as well.  He used an oil based paint to allow for a nice washable surface that also had a shine to it.  We also painted the hinges with black metal spray paint to prevent us from having to purchase new hinges.  The door knobs came from an economy sized kit purchased from Lowe's.  They were inexpensive and certainly gave the kitchen the look I was going for!

 

The butcher block countertops were from Ikea and ran about $129.00 for a 6 ft piece (we used two pieces) and $169.00 for an 8 ft piece (we used one piece).  Grand total, between the trim, paint, countertops, sink and faucet, we spent around $800.00!!  This is a far cry from what we would have spent if we had contracted a cabinet company to do this for us.  I am elated and thrilled with how amazing they turned out!!  Thank you to my Handy Mr. for making this my reality and for his focus and attention to the beauty of our surroundings!  He always trusts my crazy ideas and that truly means the world to me!! 

 

Check out the final results!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until next time!!

 

~Amanda