Kitchen makeover for less than $500

[nemejia]

The story in a few key points:

1) Bought a house in November 07
2) Painted kitchen walls and cabinets before moving in
3) Lived with blue floors and blue counter tops for over a year
4) April 09 decided to bite the bullet and paint my counter tops
5) Hubby looking for a new job
6) After a month of planning and putting it off I painted 1/2 the counter tops - May 09
7)Hubby found new job - current company closing office
June 09 - Replaced flooring and finished counter tops while packing for a move to another state
9) June 22 finished poly on counter tops and moved out!

We now have friends renting our house and enjoying my beautiful kitchen. Hopefully we can move back to TN when the economy picks back up. I know there is a nice kitchen waiting for me! It's amazing what a little paint and a lot of elbow grease can do.

there are more pictures and a how to on the counter tops on my blog:
http://blog.petitdebutant.com/2009/07/kitchen-before-after.html

The awesome "after"


The ugly "before"

[Belladune]

okay, so you painted you countertops?  what with and how did you seal it?...   wait  now I see you have the how to on you blog...  its 8am.  no coffee.  sorry.

I do however want to say I love the outcome.  the dark cabinets are gorgeous.  and I like the new color of you countertops.

[Tiph]

Looks great!

[laurend1982]

Ooooo, I can do this. I never even thought of painting the countertops! Thank you and your kitchen looks fab!!!

[amaryllisroze]

We too are cursed with blue countertops. Its a terrible plight.

Yours look fantastic. How well do they seem to be holding up? Any chipping?

[nemejia]

We too are cursed with blue countertops. Its a terrible plight.

Yours look fantastic. How well do they seem to be holding up? Any chipping?

None so far. I did 2 coats of polyurethane letting dry completely and sanding in between coats. The key to not chipping is a good primer and allowing the primer to cure the length of time specified on the can - it hardens/cures as it dries

[blungoldangel]

I think your before cabinets are exactly the same as ours.  I really want to paint ours black.  I have to convince FI first though and it's not working so far.

[lefty8881]

I LOVE your cabinets!  Do you have directions on how you painted them?  I'm also looking to paint our kitchen cabinets and am looking for good directions.  What paint did you use?  Thanks!