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Love Your Abode

Recipes, Do-it-yourself, Interior Design and Lifestyle

Our Kitchen Before and After

May 11, 2015

It’s finally time to reveal our kitchen before and after photos!

I can’t believe it’s finally time to share our kitchen before and after the DIY cabinet makeover. It was a major project but one that I have absolutely no regrets doing. Before I share the photos, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend celebrating Mother’s Day. Jimmy let me sleep in and made me a yummy breakfast. I’m certain that letting me sleep in is the best gift anyone can give me. 

For Mothers Day, my kids cracked me up with their precious, handmade gifts. 

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Wow, I didn’t know I was so “frazing!” Man, that’s the best compliment I’ve received all week! #MOTHES #frazing

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Love these poems!! I am so nice. I make rice 😀 lol!!! These poems were the best!

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JJ made a really beautiful pen and pen holder from a can and also this lovely self-portrait! Gotta love my crafty, diy kids. So handsome right?? 😀

Anyhow, the kitchen is completed! I can’t believe how bright and beautiful the kitchen looks. To say we love it is an understatement. I learned so much about the proper method to painting cabinets. I became very comfortable with the electrical sander (thanks, Kims) and Jimmy became a pro with the paint sprayer (thanks, Taningcos). It took us 2.5 weeks to complete. Enjoy the pictures and feel free to share this with anyone who is thinking about doing a similar project.

BEFORE: We bought our house in great condition and it’s about 9 years old now. The kitchen is my absolute favorite. I hang out here majority of the day. It’s truly the heart of our home.The island is where we hang out, eat, talk, do homework and crafts. It’s just a natural hang out area for everyone who comes into our home.

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I crave sunlight and we only get it in here during the morning. By the time it hits noon, it already starts to get dark in the kitchen. The dark cabinets, wood flooring and granite made the room even darker. As you can see in the picture, it’s still bright outside but dark in the kitchen. 

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Some parts of the cabinets were getting a bit scuffed up as you can see. That’s the natural part of living in a home!

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It’s so weird to see these pictures now! It looks like a different kitchen!

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Ok, you ready?

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My baking area

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Kitchen desk area. Remember that diy chair? I love that my rose bush is producing such pretty blooms.

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I did a dark gray on the island. The color is called Dawn Gray from Behr Marquee in a satin finish. Oh, it’s such a good color. The gold hardware really stands out! I spray painted all the knobs gold cause you know. #goldlovah

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We can’t believe the difference!!! Paint is amazing!

kitchen-diy-cabinet-transformation-12 The transformation is astounding to me!

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Here’s how I felt about completing it before Mothers Day 😀

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We even took some Mothers Day pics in the new kitchen. #middlechild 

Here’s one more BEFORE and AFTER

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Amazing right? I love the contrast between the light gray cabinets and dark gray island. The color from the cabinets is called Gray shimmer from Behr Marquee in a satin finish.

In the evening, it’s still so bright in the kitchen now because of the light cabinets. Oh man it took a lot of elbow grease but I think the results speak for themselves. If you’re thinking about doing this, it can be done! To have this professionally done, the estimate would probably have been somewhere around $4000. Our kitchen is rather large with 39 cabinets and 23 drawers. We spent less than $300 and have a ton of paint left over. If you have a smaller kitchen, I think it’s totally doable. I’ll post the details of this craziness sometime this week.

*EDIT: Here is the post with all the DIY tips for this project. So far, it has held up great for the most part with minor scratches here and there where the cabinets get the most use. I usually just touch up in those parts and it’s fine. It was truly a labor of love! Be sure to pin this image if you’re interested in a similar makeover. 

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Who wants to come over, hang out and eat?! We love our kitchen as it’s the place where we share our love for hospitality. 

*Second EDIT: Check this post to see an update after almost 3 years. 

xoxo,

yuni

Let all that you do be done in Love. 1 Corinthians 16:14

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Filed Under: DIY/Projects, Home Tour

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Comments

  1. Aleks says

    May 11, 2015 at 9:27 am

    Love the cabinets. I think that’s a project I want to do next. Send me the details!!

    • Yuni Min says

      May 11, 2015 at 9:33 pm

      awesome!! will do sometime this week! thanks, aleks!

  2. Karolyn says

    May 11, 2015 at 11:06 am

    Love love love your new kitchen. My husband is getting ready to go to India for 10 days and I am wanting to chalk paint my kitchen table. Already have the paint and wax. You are sooooo talented Yuni (and since I’m generally transparent…I’ll add a little crazy too; taking on such a big project with 3 little ones). But you inspire me to tackle my own projects. Comparison trap can be ugly but in this case, it’s a good thing. Glad you had an awesome Mother’s Day!!!
    Hugs!

    • Yuni Min says

      May 11, 2015 at 9:35 pm

      awwww, awesome karolyn!! call me over and i’ll come help you! yes, it was a big project. haha but you know i’m crazy like that. thanks so much for the encouragement!

  3. V says

    May 11, 2015 at 11:12 am

    WOW. strong work Yuni! I will definitely refer to you like 10 years down the line when I own my own house 😉 Happy belated Mother’s Day!

    • Yuni Min says

      May 11, 2015 at 9:35 pm

      thank you, vera!! and yes please do! 😀 miss ya!

  4. Sunny Yoon says

    May 12, 2015 at 4:19 am

    wow!! The transformation is truly amazing!!!

    It is really encouraging to see how you can redo your house without professional help. Obviously, you need to put in a lot of effort and hard work but still the results are amazing!!! I’m waiting anxiously for your next post because diy is something I’m interested in as well. So happy to actually know the blogger~. 😉

    • Yuni Min says

      May 12, 2015 at 6:36 am

      thanks so much for that, sunny! yes, it’s a lot of work but it can actually be pretty fun too. it’s so satisfying learning new skills and accomplishing these diy projects. so glad you are getting some inspiration here. hope you’re well, friend!!

  5. Athena says

    July 1, 2015 at 6:56 am

    WOW. strong work Yuni! Comparison trap can be ugly but in this case, it’s a good thing. Glad you had an awesome Mother’s Day!!!

    • Yuni Min says

      July 1, 2015 at 1:38 pm

      Thanks, Athena for your kind words!

  6. Lauren@ Mom Home Guide says

    June 26, 2016 at 3:41 pm

    Your new kitchen really does look great. It totally brightens up the space — congrats!

    • Yuni Min says

      June 28, 2016 at 10:24 pm

      Thank you so much, Lauren!!

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