This past week, I undertook our first major remodel on the house. After almost five years with the kitchen as is, we repainted the cabinets and installed new hardware for the cabinets and drawers. Here’s the kicker, it only cost $150! Of course, the labor was free since I did it myself. (Scott did happen to do some of the trim painting.) So my thoughts on a project like this if you’re thinking about doing it yourself:

1. It took a lot more time than I expected. Well worth it, don’t get me wrong, I just didn’t realize how many actual labor time it would take. I’m still tired to tell you the truth.

2. Make sure the kids are away. I was lucky enough to have the boys with their Grammy during the project. I could work basically all day and all night without interruptions. Not to mention we used an oil based paint that absolutely stunk up the place. Masks were definitely a necessity. Fans too.

3. Although it smelled HORRIBLE, use oil based paint. I’ve already had to wipe the cabinets down and it was amazing how easy the cleanup was. It seemed like it took a lot more time to dry.

4. Prime first. There was so much gunk and stuff, that the primer helped cover the many imperfections of the existing cabinets.

5. If you want to save time, use the existing holes for the new hardware. They look a little funky, but I can live with it. Not to mention I didn’t really want to drill new holes and wasn’t looking forward to asking Scott for help, since I got myself into this project.

6. Wait a couple of days before you fix holidays and such. They really stand out after your had some time to inspect them. It’s really hard to find a lot of that when it’s still fresh.

I won’t kid you, this was a very big project for me. But I am so thrilled with the results! It’s clearly not a professional job, but for the money I saved, it was so worth it. The kitchen was already 31 years old, so anything is going to look better.

Make sure to check out my other kitchen makeover entry about countertops.