Before and After: My Kitchen WIP

Let me start this post by saying that this renovation was a long time coming. When we first visited this home – as perspective buyers – we were instantly intrigued by this space. It was quite large and obviously hideous. EVERYTHING needed to GO! The floors were dirty and sticky. The appliances appeared to be original to the house. The counter tops were held together with tape. However, the most hated feature in this space had to be the tan rubber baseboard. It was a breeding ground for grime and gunk. 

Kitchens are a costly renovation. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. Don’t be fooled by house flippers on HGTV who completely transform their spaces for $8,000. That’s not real life. In real life, sh*t is expensive. Our cabinets alone cost more than $8,000. I’ll dive into “what was spent where” in my next post. My point is that we needed to save up for this renovation. After putting our 20% down on the house, we were feeling a bit strapped for cash. We waited two years to tackle this room.

Alex, my handy husband, tackled this whole project himself – with minimal help. His ability to work his a** off after his 9-5 work allowed us to save a good bit. Labor costs can be pretty close to material costs. With this $25k kitchen project, we probably saved about $15k on labor alone. 

Luckily for us, Alex enjoys this sort of work – though he has since vowed to never tile again. That’s the pits! 

To see more progress photos from our renovation, check out #gagekitchenreno.