We are lucky enough to have some very talented friends, and we thought this kitchen makeover was too good not to share.
This is our friend Tracey. She has been mentioned many times on our Blog, just not by name. For some reason, I always say things like “I was talking to a friend” or “My friend said” because we talk a lot about decorating and she has great taste, so here she is in real life:
She has great style–fun, colorful, fresh and she’s made her house amazing on a budget. In fact, we came to photograph her kitchen but wound up taking pictures of several rooms, so we’ll be back with her Dining Room, Living Room and Office in a Part 2 post.
Here is the “Before” of her kitchen. This renovation is close to my heart because she had the same cabinets I had in my former home and wanted desperately to paint. Tracey and her handy husband recently tackled remaking their standard kitchen into something really fun and beautiful.
And (drumroll….) is the AFTER!
They painted their maple cabinets, added new granite counters, hardware and lighting–including converting recessed cans to pendants and added under cabinet lighting.
Here are some pretty pictures~
She has such appealing accessories and vignettes.
We loved that Dash, the dog, has his own treat “Bar”
You can also see the under cabinet lighting a bit in this picture.
Here is the great in-process shot of the lighting going in. Since I have known them, Tracey’s husband has completely finished their basement, redone bathrooms and built their deck (a full story off the ground). He is very, very “handy”, as you can tell.
While they intended to do the painting of the cabinets themselves, and even followed Christy’s Tutorial on painting cabinets HERE. They had some issues with paint on the doors, and wound up having the doors sprayed professionally–a great timesaver, and they look great.
I really want a cute Pantry sign like this now too.
Thanks Tracey, for letting us share your makeover! Did you like it? We’ll be back with more of her cute house, so stay tuned either by Facebook or Email Subscription.
Thanks for stopping by!
This is beautiful…so many wonderful ideas. Helps to have a beautiful Kitchen to begin:)
wow! the kitchen looks beautiful! i love the white against that pretty green!
Thanks Cassie–its a great space, we were thrilled to share it. I know the homeowner, Tracey was flattered by everyone’s compliments!
Have a great day,
Amy
Gorgeous. Love the classic neutral look with the green walls.
I know its a great color combination! Thanks for your kind words 🙂
Amy
Love the curtains. Where did she get them? Absolutely beautiful.
Hi Kelli–Aren’t her curtains adorable? Unfortunately they didn’t have the french door curtains done till the day after we shot the kitchen, but they made them all (Tracey and her sister-in-law) the fabric came from JoAnn’s fabric. Aren’t they great!??
Thanks for your kind words,
Amy
What a beautiful kitchen! If mine looked like that, I don’t think I’d ever leave it! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Ellie–they are lucky to have such beautiful space, and we appreciate the kind words to share with them after all their hard work!
Have a great day,
Amy
You did a fantastic job! I could definitely cook in that kitchen…or just hang out with a glass of while while you did the cooking. 🙂 Seriously, you have a beautiful kitchen. Love all the details!
Thanks Loribeth, Tracey is loving all the kind words. And, yes its a great space to hang out in!
Have a wonderful day,
Amy
Oh this is so cheery and beautiful! I love the doggy treat bar too 🙂 Can I get one of those filled with snickers bars?… Lol, this was just a treat to look through. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks Miriam, I know its nice for them to read your kind words…and just wait till you see their cute dog, he’ll be in the next post. Yes, I would take a snickers bar over a dog treat any day too!
Have a great day,
Amy
What a difference the white paint made! I love it paired with the lime green on the walls – what a fun space!
Thanks Lisa! I can’t believe the difference, especially seeing what my old kitchen “could have been”! They did a great job on it, and I know they appreciate all the positive feedback 🙂
Amy
Wow, your friend did such a great job on her kitchen!
dee dee
Thanks Dee Dee! She has such a fresh cute style, we were glad to be able to share it.
Have a great day!
Amy
That is such a gorgeous kitchen!! They did an amazing job transforming it into a bright and cheerful room with tons of charm. Thanks so much for sharing this with us at Inspiration Friday!
Vanessa
I know it is terribly rude to ask but do you happen to know an estimate to have the cabinet doors sprayed? We are hoping to buy a new home soon and if the cabinets are in good condition, we would like to paint them instead of replacing. I know all markets are different, but a general idea would be wonderful! BTW, the kitchen looks fabulous! I adore painted cabinets!!
That’s a great question, and I don’t honestly know. Tracey did say that she had already referred someone to the same painter and he wasn’t willing to do another job, and that it was more work then he expected 🙁 I would suggest calling a “good” paint store in your area and asking for the names of painters that would do the job. Then you can call them to ask for an estimate. Having the doors only would be significantly less then the cost of professionally painting the whole kitchen, so its a great way to go. Good luck!
Amy
I love all the very kind comments!! It was a lot of work, but so worth it. To comment on one for the e-mails, I was quoted 25 dollars a door, but he came back with 30 dollars a door($1350). Not to happy about that, but very happy with the end result. My husband and I agreed if we were gonna spend so much on the granite, we didn’t want our cabinets to look homemade. I think two very important elements are the backsplash and the under mount lighting. thanks again
Hi Tracey and Amy,
I am loving this blog as well as this post. I have so much in common and I am leaning toward switching my cubbords to white. When I just came upon this post and I must say it turned out fabulous. I have the same color cubbords as in the before picture. The good news is that my color is already that green on the walls. We bought the house two years ago and I know it will be a long while before I get my dream kitchen so I was thinking of ways to spruce up the kitchen now and make it look a little more modern until that time comes. I have three kiddos though. Would you ladies recommed me changing to white? I just think it looks so clean and crisp. My hubby and I are DIY a lot this year so maybe I could think about it for a project next year.
Do you know what the paint color is? It’s a gorgeous green!
We’ve asked her, we’ll get back to you as soon as we hear. Thanks!
Hello, I absolutely love Tracey’s kitchen. May I please have the name of the granite? Cabinet color? Subway tile color? I have black appliances and I am getting ready to update my kitchen. I’m in love with this one. Thank you!
Under cabinet lighting can really show off a kitchen and it makes Tracey’s look great. I couldn’t help notice that the lights were plugged into a wall socket. That’s a bit inconvenient for switching them “on and off” as well as losing the use of a socket. By fixing a switch to the underside of one of the wall units you could run a cable out and link all the lights together. You will have to run a live cable to the switch, but it makes life a lot easier once it’s done. Doing it this way makes switching easier and safer. Hope that helps anyone thinking of installing under unit lighting.
Beautiful kitchen! What is the name of the granite you chose? We are trying to choose granite for our new kitchen and I love yours!
What paint color is that green? Love it!
I will have to check with Tracey, she lives abroad now so I am not sure she knows anymore! But thank you 🙂
Amy
This kitchen looks amazing. I am having my cabinets painted white as I type this 🙂 I was really worried about how my black appliances would look against the white cabinets, but seeing this kitchen eased my mind. I would also love to know the granite color.