4 Ways to Renovate Your Kitchen Without Remodeling (Part 1)

Have you ever loved everything about a home except the kitchen decor? The way people decorate kitchen has changed a lot in the past 80 years in which your home may have been built. Older homes tend to have bold designs that seem overdone and tacky these days and even with a perfectly modern kitchen, there’s a good chance that you and the previous owner simply don’t agree on which colors are attractive. Kitchens of the past tend to be brown, yellow, or white while modern kitchens tend toward blue-gray, white, black, and stainless steel. Renovating your kitchen without remodeling can be done.

Whether you want a cozy cottage design or something sleek and minimal, you don’t actually have to rip anything out or spend a fortune to completely remake the appearance of your kitchen. No doubt you’ve heard about changing the cabinet handles or the faucet and light fixtures, but to completely transform even the big sections of your kitchen, all you need is a little creativity, perspective, and contact paper.

1) Contact Paper

Contact paper is one of the best things that has ever happened to kitchen remodeling. Contact paper is a sturdy plastic sheet printed with attractive patterns on one side and coated in sticky glue on the other. All you have to do is press the contact paper flat and smooth onto a surface and it magically takes on the appearance of the paper (which is really plastic). The best part about contact paper is that it can be made to look like other things.

Most people use contact paper on the surface of kitchen cabinet shelves because it’s easier to keep clean and can be replaced if it gets too grimy from spilled spices or a leaky jar of molasses, unlike the wood shelf itself. However, if you want to completely redo the appearance of your kitchen, consider new contact paper textures on everything from the cabinets to the dishwasher. Marble contact paper can class up an old chipped countertop without shelling out for real marble (just be careful about hot pots) and ‘stainless steel’ contact paper can be put on plastic appliances to make them appear more modern as well.

2) Stain, Paint, and Finish

Of course, if you’d rather change the color and texture of things the old-fashioned way, there’s nothing stopping you from simply re-staining, painting, or finishing any surface in your kitchen. Cabinets are the easiest to adjust the colors of, especially if you don’t need to change the color inside. Simply strip off the old finish, re-stain, and seal with a new finish so you can scrub your cabinets safely later on. Hate your kitchen backsplash? You don’t have to tear that out either, simply slap on a coat of complementary paint.

If you paint, use a sturdy glossy paint that will withstand the scrubby side of a sponge. Remember that everything has to be cleaned in a kitchen so any paint, stain, or finish you use that still gives off color when scrubbed isn’t sealed enough yet.

Join us next time for the second half of this two-part article where we’ll talk about cabinet doors, area rugs, and how to find a handy person to help you if you’re not exactly a DIY Diva. For more interesting tips and tricks on home improvement, to talk to a handy-man, or to read the end of this article, contact us today!