A $600 Makeover Gives a Gray Flipped Kitchen Its 100-Year-Old Vintage Charm Back
ABOUT THIS BEFORE & AFTER
HOME TYPE: Historic Home
PROJECT TYPE: Kitchen
STYLE: Cottage, Farmhouse, Vintage
SKILL LEVEL: DIY
RENTAL FRIENDLY: Yes
Every once in a while, style switch-ups are good for the soul — even if the room “before” isn’t terrible to begin with. For Emma and Zack Shay, their kitchen wasn’t bad-looking by any means, but they wanted to ditch the blue-gray cabinetry for something that felt more warm and homey.
“Our house is a 100-year-old Craftsman-inspired bungalow with charming details like original wood floors and wide trim, but the kitchen was unfortunately changed by previous owners to fit the ‘gray’ trend, which is absolutely not a style that suits our old home,” Emma says. “The blue-gray cabinets, gray flooring, and gray walls were a bit uninspired and not our style.”
Emma’s goal? Add quaint coziness back into the kitchen. “I took notes from the Craftsman style of our home, but also took notes from my style that I’ve infused into the rest of the house, which includes vintage and cottage touches,” she says. Here are the changes that made a difference.
Peel-and-stick flooring adds vintage vibes.
If you’re looking to ditch the gray in a cookie-cutter home, consider turning first to the floors. That’s what Emma and Zack did right upon moving in. They swapped the gray peel-and-stick flooring for a black-and-white vintage tile-looking peel-and-stick. “Someday, we’d love to truly honor our home and replace it with linoleum sheet flooring,” Emma says.
She and Zack also replaced the trim and floorboards with a wider option to add some historic charm back.
The cabinets, walls, and (new) beadboard were painted.
The majority of the work happened during the Spring 2024 One Room Challenge. Emma and Zack painted the cabinets and walls — including the new (better) beadboard paneling they added to give the room a more cottage-y look.
They selected Benjamin Moore’s Simply White paint for the walls and beadboard and a color match for Farrow & Ball’s Lichen (a sage green) for the cabinets. Emma says painting pre-existing cabinets is easier than you think and is a great way to save money in a kitchen revamp. “Two of our cabinets don’t close properly, but that’s something I’m willing to deal with to save several-thousand dollars on new cabinets,” she says. (And her makeover cost about $600 total!)
“Before we installed the new stuff, we had to fix the plaster to the best of our ability, and ultimately decided to cover it back up with beadboard and trim,” Emma says. “The hardest part about this project was living with our kitchen in disarray for two months.”
Vintage-inspired knobs and pulls complete the kitchen.
The easiest part, Emma says, was adding new hardware to the cabinets. “I’ve heard of people struggling hard with this, but I discovered a template at the hardware store, and that made installing the new hardware easy,” she says. She and Zack opted for brushed nickel bin pulls and glass knobs “to honor what might have been in our home in 1924,” she says.
Next on Emma and Zack’s project to-do list is to update the countertops. “They’re tan tiles, painted white by previous owners, and they chip very easily, but we’re choosing to make them work!” Emma says. “I still need to repaint them, but I know once I do, they’ll be manageable for another couple of years.”
Overall, the Shays are thrilled with the vintage (and personal!) feel they added back into the space. “Having a kitchen that feels like us AND honors our home in many ways is such a mood-booster,” Emma says. “We spend so much time in the kitchen, so having it reflect our personal style makes me excited to cook, bake, host, and hang out.”
This project was completed for the Spring 2024 One Room Challenge, in partnership with Apartment Therapy. See even more of the One Room Challenge before and afters here.
Inspired? Submit your own project here.
Further Reading
I Just Discovered the Smartest Way to Store Paper Towels in Your Kitchen (It’s a Game-Changer!)
Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About Article’s DTC Furniture
