Remodeling can be a real b*@ch, am I right?! Not to mention, very expensive. I want to share how much we’ve done to our kitchen and the lessons we’ve learned. If you are on a budget like myself you might want to consider doing some projects yourself before paying a contractor. Do your research! Keep in mind that we plan to do more updates to the kitchen over time but these are the projects we’ve done so far and price we’ve paid for them.

BEFORE PHOTOS

Let’s start from the beginning…

The first pricey change was knocking out walls to change the floor plan a little to open up the space. We decided to open up the ceiling which required adding lights, updating electrical work, redoing drywall, mud & taping, skim coating and finally, painting! The previous owners boxed the ceiling in with panels for florescent lighting. NOT so cute, buh-bye. OH and under the paneling was popcorn ceilings…so we had to pay for removal of that as well (UGH!!!) Unfortunately, it all had to go.

The second not so cheap part of our remodel was skim coating the entire main floor of our house, kitchen included. As you can see in the before photos the previous owners apparently LOVED textured walls that made my head spin. SO we asked our contractor to put skim coating (youtube DIY tutorial) on every wall and ceiling to cover up all of the texture. We now have BEAUTIFULLY smooth and texture free walls. But it came with a high price tag.

The third change that cost us is one that I would not pay someone else to do in the future. After realizing how easy it was to do I do not think it was worth paying for. The original cabinet layout was really awkward… nothing made sense and it definitely wasn’t pretty. As you can see from the photos, the fridge was not in an ideal location so we had them move around the cabinets and the fridge. Considering that only requires a drill to remove screws from the cabinets to detach them from the wall and some muscles…we could have 100% done this ourselves and saved about $450. LESSON LEARNED.

AFTER PHASE ONE PHOTOS

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Price Breakdown

Note: These prices will vary depending on who you hire, every contractor is different. And because they broke out cost based on our entire main floor by task and materials the exact cost of just doing one room might be slightly off. But it gives you an idea.

Contractor materials & labor:

• Remove/scrape popcorn ceilings – Approx. $200 for just the kitchen
• Demo soffit & ceiling – $350
• Scrape/remove wall texture, mud/tape, skim coat, prime and paint – Approx. $750 for just the kitchen
• Moving fridge & kitchen cabinets – $450
• Installing 6 recessed can lights – $430
• Moving kitchen switches – $120

Approx. Total Cost: $2,300

Projects we did ourselves + approx cost:

• Cleaned/painted kitchen cabinets (see this post) – $110
• Kitchen handles & knobs – $98
• Painted floor tile grout – $12
• Labor – FREE

Total Cost: $220

Future projects

Our vision for the finished kitchen includes:

• replacing countertops
• replacing sink (maybe)
• framing in the fridge
• adding an appliance cabinet (can’t decide on the size/shape!)
• floating shelves
• pull out trashcan cabinet

Stay tuned for a Phase 2 blog which includes a breakdown of projects we did ourselves…some easy some not so easy. Let’s just say painting the kitchen cabinets was my least favorite project we’ve taken on and if I had to do it again I wouldn’t 😉 Just kidding, I’d just do it VERY differently.