My Colorful Modern Kitchen Makeover on a Budget

It's funny how many times I find people gathering in my Kitchen. No matter how many times I welcome people into my home and tell them to pull up a chair and relax, they always seem to flock to the kitchen. We stand (somewhat uncomfortably) leaning against the Kitchen countertops talking over life until someone finally says, "Hey, let's go sit down in the other room."

The Kitchen has definitely become the new living room. It's where quick coffee dates happen in the morning with your husband and homework gets done by your children in the afternoon. It's the heartbeat of your home - where all the life is flowing from and to.

It's funny how Kitchens have evolved into this Family Room type of setting rather than the servant's quarters they used to be. When my husband and I toured the Biltmore House last year in Asheville, the Kitchen was tucked away in the basement...only to be accessed by the house employees. Yet, now the Kitchen is the epicenter of our homes. We see the new trend is open concept floor plans that open the Kitchen up to the rest of the public living spaces.

My rental Kitchen, however, still feels slightly like a back-of-house space that I don't want my guests to see. With it being the first room off our Hall Entrance, its kind of become a sore spot in my mind. Its one of the first impressions my guests get of my home and design, and its the one room that is least reflective of my style. I've struggled over the past year with whether I should even bother trying to update a Kitchen that's just a rental. But the longer we stay here, the more inclined I am to make it my own.

I know that updating my Kitchen is going to mean lots of hard work and sweat as well as a very tight budget. I'm limited to what I can (and want to) do since I'm just renting. But I think it's important that I make this space beautiful again.

For my design, I wanted to carry the colors I started using in my Hall Makeover and Living Room Makeover into my Kitchen Makeover. Bright colors, I know...but I'm quite tired of the grey that we Designers are seeing everywhere. I'm keeping the existing white tile countertops, wood cabinets, and brass hardware. The floors are a 1990s school cafeteria style vinyl tile that I'm not thrilled with. I'd love to paint them to look like a faux concrete tile or put down some peel and stick morroccan floor tiles. But I haven't exactly made up my mind whether to put in the time and dollars to do that yet!

My plan is to update the walls to be white-ish grey. Since they are covered in two layers of 20-year-old wallpaper, I'm not sure whether to paint or re-wallpaper with something temporary. We've decided not to remove the existing layers of wallpaper since we fear it may start peeling off the drywall. I'm either going to paint over the existing wallpaper and hope it works or add some sort of peel-and-stick wallpaper over top of it.

For the wall behind my Eat-In area, I am going to a blue frond pattern wallpaper to create a nice pop of blue in an accent wall. I'll be DIY-ing (hopefully!) an old wood desk into a mint green, mobile island with a faux marble countertop. And I'll be bringing in my coral colors in accessories and more!

Stay tuned for updates as my Rental Kitchen Makeover on a Budget progresses! I'll be sharing Before & After Pictures, DIY projects, and Layout tips! In the meantime, check out my post 10 Ways to Update your Kitchen without Renovating >