Kitchen Remodel on a Budget

I realized that I have never shown any of you the Major Home Remodel that we took on about 6 years ago.

In 2003 We found the house of our dreams in Tyler Texas. We took a year doing our work on the weekends and moved into an unfinished home in 2004. Now that we can officially call it finished I reflect on all that we did. When I say "we did it" I mean that Mr Roboto and I got down and dirty in all the muck and did much of the work ourselves. I'm particularly proud of the budget kitchen re-do.


There was nothing wrong with the house per-se. The previous owners did some major remodels that we consider "Phase 1" of the remodel. I did not care for the plaid wallpaper in the kitchen, or the faux butcher-block formica counter top. The sink and oven/stove needed replacing and the cabinets needed new doors.
The layout was fine so it was mostly a "facelift" remodel.


Above I made good use of a steam Wallpaper remover tool, as I removed a lot of wallpaper in this place.


Alex (he looks so small) even got in on the fun.




I had already done several tile projects in our old home, so I knew what I was doing. The back splash is 6" ceramic tiles, and the counter top is a speckled Granite. We later added a bullnose edge to the counter. I set all the tiles myself, Yep and I even cut them. I'm the tile guru in my house. You can see some of the new cabinet doors installed in the pic above. And notice the vent a hood cover that Mr Roboto built.

The color on the walls is a great Burnt Orange called Decorous Amber from Sherwin Williams. It was a bold choice, and I still love it.

Large Scale remodels are usually filled with stories. A few months into this adventure, Mr Roboto broke his foot in a remodel related accident. This was taken the weekend it actually happened. But we continued working doing what we could. See his foot brace?


And here is the finished product. I've changed the countertop decor a bit since this pic was taken but you can see the bones of the project. See the bullnose edge on the counter tops.
And Mr Roboto build the island. Also notice the details we added above the sink and around the bottom of the cabinets and crown at the top. It's similar to what he did above the stove. I call it the "Poof Out"

One other thing we did in here was to add lighting. We added the 2 pendant lights you see below as well as under cabinet lighting. I don't know how the previous homeowner could see anything before. I have really enjoyed this extra lighting.

There is a lot you can do with a much smaller budget, and have it look good. Like only changing the doors and leaving the cabinet boxes in place. Using Granite tile instead of Granite Slabs. Painting yourself, Learning to Tile yourself etc. Doing the work yourself will save approx half of the cost.

I'm proud of our home remodel, and all the projects we did taught me a lot of things that I use in my junking work as well.

This was only 1 room of a whole house remodel. When I look back at what we did, I can't believe it. But it feels like such an accomplishment.

Thanks for reading.
Margo