As a fully versed get-ahead-of-myselfer, I decided to mock up my mood board for my Kitchen whilst mid dining room reno. I like having mood boards to refer to when purchasing other items for the room and having just a general idea of what the room will look like. Obviously I’m not made of money (husband is a teacher, I work retail… yikes) so having a back up, more budget friendly, option is great to keep in mind when planning future renovations. So lets start with that moodboard:

Its still a band aid fix sure, we will be painting the cabinets and adding an open shelf. Swapping out countertops and tile backing but no major moves like ripping out a wall. I’m gonna tell you everything about the dream that is this mock up and then give you my budget option as well. I’ll have everything linked! In light of times being weird right now, I made sure to keep things order-from-home friendly.

Color

There is nothing more budget friendly than paint! I knew that I wanted a color that would flow well into the dining room. Also, my kitchen is quite small with minimal natural light so I wanted a color that would lighten up the space. While keeping those things in mind, I searched my favorite app for finding color combos and came up with this smokey light blue. If you guys don’t know about the Home Depot Project Color app, let me be the first to tell you – it is the best tool I’ve found in my home renovation yet. You look through all this different color groups to find a general idea of a color. You can test it out in your home through the app, order samples at your local Home Depot and it even shows colors that coordinate well with your color choice. This is definitely an efficient way of searching for color during a pandemic.

Countertops

Dream Countertop – Click Countertops

Click Countertops had me sold with their “just a click away” model alone but the price and quality almost makes this countertop a no brainer. The ease of use factor is pretty solid too. They give you all the information you need in one place. You can calculate your square footage (cause who even remembers math am i right?!) and get a free quote all online! I really fell in love with the Ashton White Quartz Countertops and not just because they are named Ashton (lol). The overall bright, neutral style of them goes with exactly what I wanted for my kitchen area!

Budget – Henry Feather Finish

The click countertop dream is already super cost efficient, luckily, but as promised I have a back up, even more budget friendly option. With Henry Feather Finish, you get the look of real concrete countertops for a fraction of the price. You are basically skim coating your existing countertops with a thin layer of concrete. I originally saw this on the Southern Mesa Trading Instagram highlight but I also found a blog that highlights everything for you guys!

Tile

Dream Tile – Riad Tile

I see Riad Tile everywhere I look in the Instagram world and I believe there is a good reason why. The quality to price really is amazing! The tile I’m wanting is a part of their hand-crafted and polished artistry line, the Zellige line. These Moroccan tiles come in amazing colorways and no two tiles look exactly the same, which is EXACTLY what I’m going for. I’m wanting to go with their Natural White 2×2 Tile so that it looks more natural in my kitchen. If bright colors or even cold pressed cement tiles are your thing, I’d highly recommend checking this company out!

Budget – Porcelain Mosaic Tile

I love the Riad Tile so much that I am pretty certain that I will splurge on that before I splurge on literally any other thing BUT I feel it is always super important to have that budget option that you love just as much. That way you are just as excited about it if you have to go with that option. I’ve always really loved the style of the mosaic scale tile and this one from AllModern is half the price of my initial tile choice and just as beautiful!

Hardware

With my hardware, I’ll actually be be doing a mix of my budget and pricier options if I decide to splurge. The splurge option will be on my drawers and the budget pull will be on my cabinets. If I don’t splurge, I will only do the less expensive on all drawers and cabinets. I’m sure that Victorian-style drawer pull stood out to you because I know I fell in love with it at first sight. In fact, along with the artwork I found for the kitchen, I found that pull and based the entire kitchen remodel after it. I found it at House of Antique Hardware along with a ton of other beautiful options for possible future projects. My budget hardware comes in a pack of ten and match perfectly, you can find them here.

It’s All in the Details

Last but certainly not least, I needed something to bring the whole look together. Believe it or not the artwork AND frame in my moodboard are already budget friendly! The frame is vintage inspired for a fraction of the cost and you can buy it here. Then the artwork is actually from a print shop I found in the magical land of Instagram. If you haven’t heard of Collection prints, definitely check them out! This mountain landscape print was the exact thing I needed to pull together not only the kitchen, but also the colors of the dining room!

Anyone can completely change up their space on a limited budget! If your kitchen or bathroom or dining room just isn’t bringing you joy, slap some paint and new hardware in there and that alone will feel like a whole new room! I hope this gives you some resources you find helpful, I’m certainly thankful I found all this, even if it is due to me procrastinating.