Timeless Farmhouse Kitchen Renovation on a Budget

How can you update an entire dated kitchen when your budget is next to nothing? That’s the situation we’re in and I can’t wait to share our plans for a Timeless Farmhouse Kitchen Renovation on a Budget.

Making over a kitchen is a big project with lots of details.

Which also means this is a long post, but I want to make sure to share the step by step process in case you are also thinking of tackling a kitchen renovation yourself.

The main goal for this makeover is to minimize as much cost as possible but still end up with a stunning kitchen.

Now here’s the big issue.

Our budget is….

well…

There really isn’t a budget to speak of. This is penny pinching at it’s finest, so that means I need to be really creative with how I can transform this space.

Thankfully, working with a few sponsors will help complete this space. But when all is said and done, I promise to list out the bottom line as far as expenses go.

Let’s start with the before. This home was a rental for many years which means it wasn’t kept in the best of shape.

Meet my kitchen.

Timeless Farmhouse Kitchen Renovation
on a Budget

(Some affiliate links are provided below. Full disclosure here.)

The Before

Our home was built in 1985 and from the style chosen, it looks to have been updated in the late 1990s.

Tuscan green cabinets with glaze, travertine backsplash, and granite counters all topped off with a hexagonal kitchen island/eat-in space.

The first thing to go will be the kitchen island.

The big items are staying like the countertops and the appliances.

The counters are not my favorite. But that is too big of a cost to replace at this time, so we will save up for that down the road.

We plan to frame in the refrigerator so that the ugly gray side isn’t staring at us.

And since the appliances don’t match, we will be using a stainless steel film to cover the fronts of the appliances to create a cohesive look.

The microwave is going bye-bye as well.

We plan to get a vent hood and build a box around it to make it hidden and part of the existing cabinetry.

So for the cabinetry – this will be getting a fresh coat of paint.

I plan to pull a lighter, neutral color from the granite in the hopes that it will lighten them a bit.

The inside cabinets will need to be refreshed as well. This eggplant color has got to go.

I’m was really on the fence about our backsplash. The natural stone tile is in great shape, but it’s that thick grout line that keeps it looking dated.

We have some leftover wood from our shiplap walls in our Master Bathroom Makeover.

I’m toying with the idea of using those pieces hung vertically as a temporary backsplash.

Then when we can afford to replace the counters, I will install a tile backsplash at that time.

One item that will definitely be gone will be this black sink.

It’s enamel coated cast iron that has taken a beating from the renter’s that lived here before us. The coating is gone and rust is starting to seep through, so it always looks dingy.

I love apron-front sinks – it is the showstopper for any modern farmhouse style kitchen.

So that means we will be cutting the granite and cabinet base to make that fit. That sort of scares me a bit!

But if we cut a hole into a vintage marble top for our bathroom – we can do this!

Another thing that we can’t wait to do is get rid of the popcorn ceiling!

Finally, the last thing will be to tie up all the loose ends that keep it dated. This support beam will get a new look as well as all the trim in the room.

We are keeping some of the hardware, but plan to replace the drawer pulls with some beautiful pewter cups.

We plan to replace the light fixture and to get a vintage table and chairs for the eat-in nook.

Demolition Week

When you are making over a room on a teeny budget, sometimes the tough stuff is left for you to do.

For this Demolition Week, this kitchen was the perfect place to stretch our DIY skills!

One of the first things to go was the huge kitchen island. We already have a small kitchen and that island just took up too much space.

Let’s take a moment to admire this HUGE open space! It immediately gave us a bright kitchen.

Our biggest concern was if the wood floors ran underneath and hallelujah – they did!

We just need to refresh the finish on the hardwood floor and we’re good to go!

Not only is the huge island gone, but we were also able to sell it on the Facebook marketplace that same day!

So after that was gone, we started removing all the trim in the kitchen.

We were able to remove the wood from the support pole.

We also took down the chair rail and crown moulding that was original to the house.

This house only has a ceiling height of 8 feet, and sometimes the moulding around the top makes the walls appear smaller.

So we are leaving the crown moulding off to help bring a more modern style to this dated home.

After all the trim was gone, we started the messy task of scraping the ceiling.

After scraping almost all the ceilings in our home, I’ve learned a few tricks that help control the mess and make for a quick DIY.

Here’s a nearly mess-free way on how to remove popcorn ceilings.

Next up was removing the dated travertine backsplash tiles.

You always run the risk of ruining the drywall when you remove the tile.

Behind the sink went pretty well with minimal damage.

However, the tile behind our stove did not come off so easily.

Once we removed the tile, we learned that this wall was not one solid piece of sheetrock, but 5 – maybe 6 – different smaller pieces put together like a jigsaw puzzle.

It basically crumbled as each tile fell.

The last thing to demo was the microwave oven. We moved that downstairs to our kitchenette and we’re ready for a new range hood.

Painting Week

One of the easiest ways to transform a room is with paint and that is certainly true!

My finger has a huge callous on it and I believe my hand is slowly freezing into the shape of a brush holding hand.

The ceilings were primed and then painted.

The ceilings aren’t perfect, but it’s an almost 40 year old house – and it’s a bit wonky here and there, so the ceilings match. At least that’s what I’m telling myself!

I’m hoping to add some DIY Wooden Beams like we did in our master bedroom, but that’s a project for another time.

Next the walls were repaired, primed, painted with two coats of my Noting Grace Color Collection with Romabio Paints.

This color is called Grace Note.

It’s a beautiful white paint that works perfectly with any modern farmhouse design.

After the walls were done, it was time for the cabinets.

While white cabinetry is a staple in most farmhouse kitchen ideas, I went a bit outside the box and chose a beautiful greige.

I cleaned the cabinets with TSP, then primed and painted them twice – and I’m still not finished.

The cabinet color is a custom tint, but the closest matches I’ve found are Sherwin Williams City Loft or Benjamin Moore Wind’s Breath.

I didn’t want white cabinets with the while walls, so this soft, muted Greige works great with the kitchen counters.

And as I’ve said many times, I’m not a fan of my counters, but I can now live with them now that the avocado green is gone.

The lighter flecks of cream now jump out from the granite with the warm greige color.

We also installed a sheet of luan to get ready to install our shiplap backsplash.

One day, we intend to replace the countertops.

So I didn’t want to install clean white tile over this granite only to risk it being damaged.

The shiplap backsplash is a perfect temporary fix until we can afford the new counters and tile.

We also installed our range hood this week!

This was a deal from Amazon Warehouse. It was half off the list price!

Notice the dents?

Well, once we cover this to create a built in hood – you won’t even see them!

Backsplash, Trim and Vent Hood Week

We tackled all the small details this week.

Like painting the cabinet doors.

When you have 23 doors – it’s never as quick as you think it will be.

Plus – our house was a rental home before we purchased it, so the cabinet doors needed an extra bit of scrubbing.

But we completed a few projects between coats of paint on those doors.

Like the vent hood!

We built a cover to hide our scratch and dent vent hood.

Adding the trim around the cover give it a bit of a country kitchen feel, but the overall design is still a simple look.

This week, we also installed the shiplap backsplash.

We had lots of wood strips leftover from our DIY Shiplap we installed in our master bathroom.

I simply cut them so they fit flush against the upper cabinets and the countertop.

We still have to trim out around it and give it one last coat of paint before we finish, but I am loving all the clean lines!

The previous owners left an entire gallon of trim paint in Simply White by Sherwin Williams – so we didn’t need to purchase the paint for the trim or backsplash.

And speaking of trim – we finally updated the trim around the doors and windows with farmhouse trim.

You can read the full tutorial on how we replaced our trim to create Farmhouse style windows in this post.

I love this updated look!

I opted to keep the lower trim under the sill and I love the angled look against the square edges.

I’ve also installed trim above the baseboards to create the appearance that they are larger.

Our hardwoods must have been a later install, because they didn’t remove any baseboards. So all across our home, my baseboards look so small.

I plan to paint it all white and hopefully it will look intentional.

This is my first time trying this trick, but I’ve seen lots of tutorials on the web.

One other fun addition is this pull out trash drawer.

Once our doors are back on, our garbage can will be out of sight!

We did complete lots of necessary things – like caulking the trim and filling nail holes.

I did get a chance to start lining my lower cabinets with foam cabinet liner and was able to start putting a few things back in place.

That made me VERY happy – indeed!

Updating the Appliances

This week, everything started to feel like it was coming together.

Our eat-in kitchen nook looks lovely with this $50 Facebook Marketplace find.

It is an antique round table that was used as a cutting table for a seamstress.

I love all those marks and weathering!

It needed a bit of an update, but it works perfectly in this space

We will still use our dining room for family gatherings, but it’s nice to have this space for quick meals.

Plus it’s a perfect match to our wooden floors and creates a nice focal point for the room.

We hung these gorgeous woven blinds in the windows and it completely warmed up the room!

We also replaced the pendant light with this fixture from Hobby Lobby.

But surprise – it’s actually a plug in light that we converted to hard wired.

I love how the natural light from the window is still able to shine through without obstructing the view!

We took a break from our work this week and took a joy ride about an hour south to get the wood for our support beam.

It’s rough cut pine – complete with touches of weathering here and there. I knew the look of natural wood would add some rustic elements to this modern farmhouse look.

I was able to find all four pieces of lumber for less than $25 – which is way cheaper than the big box lumber stores!

We also took a day to complete covering our appliances with stainless steel wrap to match our refrigerator.

The full tutorial on how to use EZ Faux Decor panels to transform your appliances is over in this post if you want to check that out.

Now it appears that we have matching stainless steel appliances!

Another element we added was this small piece of luan to the side of our refrigerator to hide the gray, exposed factory side.

There is still so much painting to do. I have finished all the cabinet bases, but the doors need another coat. And, obviously, there’s a few touch ups here and there on the walls, ceilings and baseboards.

But it didn’t stop me from putting a few pieces of hardware on!

I found these pewter cup pulls from D. Lawless Hardware and LOVE how they look!

Deciding between this pewter hardware and brass hardware proved to be difficult, but I felt this choice fit this timeless farmhouse kitchen renovation nicely.

The Reveal – Well, Almost…

I’m sharing everything but the kitchen sink.

My new, beautiful apron front sink is in my city. In fact, it may be on a delivery truck ready to come my way.

They only deliver to my area on certain days and my day is Thursday – the big reveal day!

The day this kitchen remodel should have been completed. So some of these photos will show the apron sink and some will not.

If you are wanting to learn how we cut our existing granite counters and installed a gorgeous farmhouse sink, then head over to this post.

Here’s a quick recap with a look at the before and then the after!

Removing our microwave from above the stove and building this DIY vent hood cover gave a much more open feel.

The main issue for me was my countertops.

They are granite and are in excellent shape, but the darker color isn’t my thing, and I didn’t have a budget to replace them.

To save on costs, we kept the same door knobs and hardware, but I wanted to update the look with gorgeous drawer pulls.

And I love how they pop against that greige cabinet color.

So for just $25 – it’s a super simple, yet stunning way to update your cabinets on a budget.

Our plan is to eventually replace the counters one day.

Since I know that’s coming, I opted to install a temporary backsplash.

We had lots of scraps from our shiplap install we did in our Master Bathroom renovation.

Trent cut them down to 3 1/4 inches and we hung them on the vertical.

So when it’s time to install the new counters – it won’t be crushing to replace this backsplash with tile.

Since it’s behind the sink and the stove, I wanted there to be a quick and easy way to clean, so I painted it with satin trim paint leftover from the previous owner!

Free shiplap and paint!! Who could ask for me! And FREE always makes me happy!

We removed the white support post and covered it with rough cut lumber.

I found a local small business on Facebook Marketplace and was able to get all four pieces for just $25!

So we sanded them down and installed them with some gorgeous fat head screws.

She even gave me this small piece of cedar and look what I made!

This small shelf is perfect for my eat in kitchen – and I’ll here’s a tutorial on how to age these corbels!

And speaking of eat-in kitchen, I LOVE mine now!

No more uncomfortable stools! These parsons chairs from Home Pop are the perfect match to my table.

The nailhead trim is a wonderful compliment to the rough cut support post.

This vintage table was a steal from the Marketplace as well.

A true vintage table that I restored the top and added some casters to.

It was calling for a timeless touch, so I created a casual place setting with tarnished silver, jadeite plates and burlap chargers.

I hung these galvanized Olive bucket planters I had next to the window.

I added some vintage rolling pins I had as well as these primitive rolling pins I found at Antique Farmhouse.

Casual, welcoming, and most importantly cozy – those were the words I wanted to illicit with this timeless farmhouse kitchen renovation.

Where friends and family could gather and share a cup, a meal and laughter.

Now for my favorite part!

Let’s break down the numbers, friends!

Timeless Farmhouse Kitchen
Renovation on a Budget Cost Breakdown

• Remove Kitchen Island (Sold for $75 – so instant gain!)
• Remove Dated Trim (FREE)
• Demo Travertine Tile Backsplash (FREE)
• Scrape Popcorn Ceilings (FREE)
• Replace Microwave with Vent Hood ($80 from Amazon Warehouse)
• Frame Around Vent Hood (FREE using left over luan)
• Frame in Refrigerator (FREE using left over luan)
• Updated Farmhouse Trim and Support Beam ($25 for rough cut lumber and $235 in trim)
• Add EZ Faux Decor Stainless Steel to Stove and Dishwasher fronts (Sponsored, but retails for $65 for a 36″ x 72″ sheet)
• Remove Dated Sink and Replace with Apronfront Sink (Sponsored through Sinkology – All-in-One Kit Retails for approx $500-$600)
• Paint Kitchen Cabinets (Sponsored by Romabio)
• Paint Walls – Grace Note from Romabio Paints
• Install Shiplap Backsplash (FREE using leftover shiplap from Master Bath Remodel)
• Add Woven Blinds (Sponsored by Affordable Blinds, retails for $152)
• Replace Light Fixture (Hobby Lobby 50% off – $35)
• Replace Drawer Hardware (Sponsored by D. Lawless Hardware, retails for $4.15 each pull – $25 total)
• Create an eat-in nook with table and chairs (Chairs Sponsored by Home Pop, retails for $290. Found the table on Facebook Marketplace for $50 and added casters, $15)
• Decor (Jadeite plates – $20, White Elle Decor Amelie Plates $20 – the rest I used from home decor I had) Rug from WellWoven $35

Total Cost for this Renovation: $1472

I can’t even believe it!

This dated kitchen went from meh to amazing in six short weeks.

So by reusing and repurposing items, we were able to create a Timeless Farmhouse Kitchen renovation for under $1500!

And now that this kitchen is almost finished – we can’t wait to move down the hallway to our butler’s pantry and to create a custom built food pantry.

UPDATE! Click Here to See Our Pantry Hallway Reveal!

Thank you for cheering me on these past 6 weeks! Your support makes this such an enjoyable process! Come back for more renovations in the next few days.

And of course – head over to the One Room Challenge to see all the other participants. There are some stunning reveals that you don’t want to miss!

Thank you to all my sponsors (linked below) for helping me create a kitchen that I love!

Thank you to our Hosts!

Of course a huge thank you again to Linda from Calling it Home and Better Homes and Gardens for hosting another fabulous One Room Challenge! It is always a joy to participate each season, find tons of inspiration, and most importantly – find new friends!

Check out Previous Rooms we’ve completed through this
One Room Challenge

Master Bathroom Makeover for less than $4500
Industrial Teenage Bedroom Makeover on a Budget
Vintage Farmhouse Powder Room – for less than $500!
Making over our Master Bedroom Final Reveal!
Vintage Inspired Laundry Room – Final Reveal!
$1000 DIY Bathroom Makeover That Doesn’t Look Cheap