6 Kitchen Remodel: Budget Breakdown

Before I officially start rolling into the home stretch of my kitchen/laundry room remodel, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane and revisit the budget to date. 

Although I’d been dreaming up this kitchen of mine in my head for months, before demo could march its happy little self into my casa, plans had to be finalized. The time had come to gather dozens of estimates and finalize plans & materials. Not to mention this is the time when the budget becomes very real and you have no choice but to mentally prepare yourself for the checks to be written. Yikes.

Hands down my favorite part of the remodeling process is demo. Mainly because there is no looking back once you start ripping a room to shreds, but also because if you are willing to swing a sledgehammer yourself, it’s 100% free…which is a four letter word we DIYers live for.

 
Now that plans were set, my kitchen was officially a train wreck and I was washing dishes in the bathtub, it was time to reassemble this space into a usable (and much more chic) kitchen. On to Phase 2.


Putting this bad boy back together required patience. With construction dust covering the entire house, cabinetmakers hammering away while I tried to take business calls, and a minor plumbing emergency that left me without water for over 36 hours, a little juggling and a lot of patience were needed.

But once the cabinets were reconstructed, refaced and painted…



Hardware attached…



Appliances in place (sort of)…



Countertops installed…

 
and backsplash tiled…



I was one happy DIYer. For one thing, I had fully functioning kitchen (click here for more after pics), which this house hadn’t seen in years and secondly, because I took on the role of onsite general contractor/handylady I saved oodles. Let’s talk about my final budget at this point in the game, shall we? 

 
Not a fun number to see fly out of my bank account but considering what kitchens run, I’m more than pumped. Pumped to have a kitchen. Pumped I saved bunches. Pumped I’m giving myself the week off of extreme DIY before I knock a hole in the wall and jump right into the final phase of this remodel.



Pumped. I may even do something girly this weekend like get my nails done or go shopping for clothes that don’t have paint on them.

Read more...