The Kitchen Transformation

After having tile pulled up in the kitchen and putting down the same hardwood that was in the living room, I couldn't stand how matchy matchy the kitchen cabinets were to the floor. I definitely did not want to spend a bunch of money replacing the cabinets so I decided to paint them. Annie Sloan's chalk paint is amazing!! It took about 3 cans. Don't worry about the first coat, it looks horrible! But after you apply the second you'll see the light :)

So of course the "domino effect" kicked in. The cabinets looked better which made our counter tops look horrible. We decided to use our Amex points to get Home Depot cards and install the preformed counter tops. Installing counter tops is a DIY project but definitely one of the hardest ones we have taken on. We also removed the original backsplash and added a great peel and stick metal tile.

At this point I thought we were done but my husband convinced me to upgrade our appliances to stainless steel. Geez! Have you seen the prices of appliances these days??? I couldn't deal. So, I got on Craigslist and found a local appliance refurbishing company- we were able to buy our stove which retails for over $2,000 for $499 including delivery, installation and warranty. We sold our stove for $200 so we technically were only out of pocket $299. Woo hoo! We did the same for the refrigerator and dishwasher.

Because our kitchen is small, I wanted to have an island but I knew we would need to have something narrow. I found this Ikea kitchen island on Craigslist and painted it (again with chalk paint)

To top it all off we replaced the big fluorescent light in the middle of the kitchen with track lights and our kitchen was complete!!!

Old Copper Utensils

I found these vintage copper utensils at a thrift store. After some quick research, I learned that they sell for $50-75. Although they were in really bad shape, I figured at $5 for the lot they were worth a shot. Here's how they turned out.

Not the baby too!

Painted Kitchen Cabinets

I've lived in this house for 9 years and I have always hated the look of the kitchen but did not want to pay thousands to update it. So I decided  that Step 1 of my Frugal Fannie kitchen makeover was to paint my cabinets. Thank goodness for Annie Sloan Chalk paint- no sanding, no prep, just paint.

The pic shows the original cabinets up top and the painted cabinets on the bottom.

Here's the final result of the painted cabinets but not the overall makeover.  More to come...

Penny Top Coffee Table

Found a table at Salvation Army.  It was a little beat up but the dimensions were exactly what I was looking for.

I originally thought that I would just add black and white photos and cover with glass but changed the plan once I realized that I was going to use the metal legs from our existing table.  To tie in the metal legs, I decided that the top must also be metallic and so pennies became the plan.

I wasn't too confident in the outcome so I got some plywood cut to fit the top of the table. My thought was that if I started and didn't like it, I hadn't ruined the top of the table.

I started off by spray painting the plywood black and gluing the pennies on. 

I started with Gorilla Glue, which I do not recommend because it swelled once it dried and starting spilling from beneath the pennies. You can see it a little bit in the picture. I tried coloring on it with black marker which I also would not recommend because once covered the pennies with epoxy it became a greenish color and I now LOATHE that end of the table and try to keep it covered with remotes.

Here's a picture of all the pennies on and the insert in table. I later decided to fill the edges with half pennies.  I had my husband cut pennies in half with pliers (I could not muster up the arm strength). For the table, I sanded down the sides and stained them to make the table two toned.  I love the effect!

To finish it off, we covered the pennies with bar epoxy. Now drinks can be set on the top without concern of tarnishing the pennies.

Foiled Crib

Since the boys will be sharing a room, I finished the baby's crib to look like his big brother's dresser. Again, the crib was purchased from Craigslist, 2 for $50.

Sheet Music Decoupage- Dresser

So after taking on my son's room, I decided that I also wanted to create a piece for my daughter.  I found a Stanley dresser on Craigslist for $35. It was in good structural shape but had been painted white and chocolate.  I was not worried about the white paint so much but the chocolate was going to be a pain so I decided to decoupage the drawers.  Now the big decision was what the heck do I decoupage to it? My fear was to use too many colors or images and make the furniture look more like a joke than a true piece of art, so I decided to go simple and use sheet music. I purchased the smaller sheets of vintage music from Etsy as I did not want to use our sheet music because they were all different ages.  Some were more white or more brown than others.  My goal was to have a uniform color.

Before 

Mod Podge is your friend. I had never decoupaged nor used mod podge but I found it very easy to use.

*Tip*Set up the images on the surface as you want them before you start to glue them on.  Once you start adding the mod podge it will allow you to make changes for a short period of time but after a while it becomes super sticky and the paper pulls apart.

After

I painted the dresser a bright pink and filled the trim with the tan acrylic paint I had left over from the faux granite kit. I purchased new knobs ($1.15) each from Home Depot and painted them the same bright pink as the dresser.


If Mod Podge is your friend, Polycrylic is your best friend! I apply at least two coats to all of my furniture makeovers to protect all of my hard work.