Renovation on a budget is all about prioritizing. Since we put so much of our financial resources in to our new roof, new bathroom, and other general must-be-done repairs, our kitchen is the biggest temporary DIY make over. Truth be told, I had NO hopes of resurrecting our kitchen. It was awful and I wanted to tear every single thing out as soon as we could. But as everyone knows kitchens are crazy expensive. So we got out the paint, sanded and repainted every.single.surface and upgraded the little details.

I replaced all the knobs with decorative glass pulls from anthropologie and my husband installed a brand new light fixture from Ballard Designs along with a shiny new Moen faucet. We embraced the quirks (like the missing doors) and I'm displaying all my white dishware. Hey, open shelving is country classic right? There are still a few to-do's like removing the oversized wood stove, and doing something about those bright red counters - but for now, It's been a pretty welcome change. Best of all - the elements we did upgrade, are all pieces we will be happy to see stay when we do get around to a full kitchen remodel.