Remodeling the Family Kitchen on a Modest Budget
Some spaces in a home have to work harder than others, in particular, the hall, living room, and kitchen. This is where traffic tends to be heaviest and where general day-to-day wear and tear has the greatest effect. If a hardworking space arrives at the point where it’s shabby but not chic, then it must be makeover time.
However, this doesn’t have to be a glaringly expensive undertaking, as there are many ways to give a kitchen a fabulous facelift, even on a modest budget. But first, you’ll want to use a kitchen planner to recognize and narrow down the most important parts of your kitchen that need the well-deserved help. By using design software, you can create your dream kitchen, to see what works well and what doesn’t, which saves you from having to break the bank with unnecessary design changes. Here are some top tips to whet the appetite for clever kitchen facelifts.
Target zones
Just as crafty ideas can help improve general home décor, in this age of recycling, upcycling, repurposing, and generally taking a creative approach to every task, kitchen refurbishment can be handled to impressive effect and at a modest cost. Let’s start with the areas that should be targeted first.
- Kitchen cabinets and countertops need revival after a few years, and there are several ways to tackle this.
- Walls and floors often suffer over time and need to be refreshed and revitalized.
- Lighting makes a tremendous difference in any room, and learning how to control both natural daylight and artificial lighting is a big help.
- Simple finishing touches will add glamour and elegance to achieve a dream kitchen.
Walls and floors
A kitchen stuck with tired vinyl from the 1970s or 1980s is not going to make a desirable style statement, so it makes sense to do a little research and seek out some affordable alternatives online. Remember that a kitchen gets rough treatment compared to the rest of the house, so while stone and wood can be very attractive, they are also likely to gobble up a large chunk of the budget.
Brick flooring is a viable alternative and much cheaper than the other options. It doesn’t need specialist installation, although some expert advice could prove very useful. Also, it must be properly sealed after it is put in place, and the seal must be regularly renewed over time. Concrete flooring is also relatively cheap and very hardwearing, while inexpensive cork flooring is coming back into fashion again for 2017.
A fresh coat of paint on the kitchen walls will make a huge difference to the ambiance of the room. Muted, neutral shades are elegant, and the space can be transformed by adding a cheeky splash of color on one feature wall.
Another trick is to make the most of openings, including doors and windows. Swapping fussy floral drapes or door curtains for the smooth, clean lines of inexpensive full height shutters increases the feeling of space, and there is the added bonus of better insulation and improved control of both daylight and external noise.
Key work areas
When it comes to replacing kitchen cabinets, it’s not necessary to rip everything out and spend a fortune on replacement units. These days you can replace the doors only, repaint them and/or simply change the door furniture such as handles and motifs to achieve a different look. All these options save money; the same applies to replacing countertops and backsplashes. Making changes without resorting to expensive professional installations merely takes basic do-it-yourself skills and common sense.
When it comes to choosing Residential Lighting Upgrades for your home, there are many factors to consider, including the type of light bulb and fixture you want, the brightness of the light you need, and how you want to control your lights.
Lighting is an important part of any home. Whether it’s just for ambiance or for safety reasons, there are many options available on the market today that can give homeowners what they need.
Lighting a kitchen effectively can transform the atmosphere and improve the efficiency of the working spaces. Architects work on the principle that there are three types of lighting – accent, ambient, and task lighting. Accent lighting is used to emphasize a feature and create a little drama, just like lights that are focused on china or glass in display cabinets, houseplants, paintings or sculptures. Ambient lighting is the general lighting used to illuminate a room, usually from overhead.
Finally, task lighting is positioned so as to make it easier to undertake specific jobs: in the kitchen, perhaps for reading a recipe and preparing food. Lighting units that shine on countertops from underneath wall cabinets are a good example of task lighting. Additional lamps for the kitchen are usually cheap to add and can make a real difference to functionality.
Finishing touches
When the flooring, shutters, painting, and cabinets have been overhauled, and the lighting has been adjusted, it only remains for those personal, creative finishing touches to be put in place; perhaps some new house plants here or brighter candles there will do the job, so the kitchen makeover is completed without the need to empty the family wallet.
There are a lot of different ways that you can update your kitchen. Sometimes one area of the kitchen is still in good shape but another is a little worse for wear. For example, perhaps your cabinets are in excellent shape still but the counter tops are cracked or stained – in this case you can just have the counter top replaced. If you want to freshen up your cabinets a little bit after replacing the counter top, just change out the hardware as it is a quick and easy way to refresh the look. Great tips, thanks for sharing!
What great ideas! I am need of remodeling my kitchen, so these are all great things to consider. Really appreciate the post.
My husband wants to renovate our kitchen, and I think it is time to as well. Thank you so much for discussing the importance of making sure you set up an appropriate budget. It makes understanding that taking the time to do this can help you prevent spending more than you need as well as making the most out of your materials.