TL;DR
Get furniture and decor delivered free with Prime
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
- Member-only deals all year
A Colorado couple updated a dated 1990s kitchen — oak cabinets, ivy wallpaper, old fixtures — largely with paint, brass hardware and slatted wood details for about $500, plus a $1,600 fridge. Because the new white-and-gray palette made the existing countertops look less busy, they kept them, avoiding a major expense.
A Colorado couple transformed a dated 1990s kitchen — oak cabinets, vintage ivy wallpaper and old light fixtures — into a brighter, modern space for roughly $500 in paint, supplies, hardware and lighting, according to a before-and-after feature published by Apartment Therapy. The homeowner, Courtney Barch of the blog The Homebody Life, painted the cabinets herself in a white-and-gray palette that made the existing countertops read as far less busy, allowing the couple to keep them rather than replace them.
Courtney and her husband had recently bought a home in Colorado that, as she told Apartment Therapy, they loved — with a kitchen they did not. The space was dated, with oak cabinets, vintage-looking ivy wallpaper and ’90s light fixtures. “We wanted an updated look to tone down all of the orange and brown,” Courtney said.
Shortly after moving in, the couple installed new flooring across the entire main floor to create a more cohesive feel, which meant that expense was already handled before the kitchen update began. Because the kitchen’s cabinets and island were in good structural condition, painting them was, according to the report, the simplest and most cost-effective route. Courtney chose Valspar’s “Ultra White” for the upper cabinets and a soft gray for the lowers. “I love the interest this brought to the space, and it made it less stark than painting everything white,” she said.
The only structural change to the built-ins was removing the curvy corbels from the back of the island, which Apartment Therapy noted instantly pulled the cabinetry out of the ’90s. Her husband swapped the black builder-grade fixtures for brass globe pendants matching new brass cabinet pulls, and Courtney added a slatted wood detail around the island and on the ends of the lower cabinets. The total for paint, supplies, pulls and lights came to about $500; a later counter-depth fridge purchase of $1,600 brought the total kitchen spend to $2,100.
Why a $500 Paint-First Approach Resonates
The project illustrates a budget path for homeowners stuck with sound-but-dated kitchens: rather than a full renovation, paint, hardware and lighting changes altered the room’s overall impression enough that the existing countertops — often one of the costliest items to replace — could stay. The white-and-gray cabinet combination, in Courtney’s telling, made the busy counters look calmer simply by changing what surrounded them.
The reported numbers are small relative to typical kitchen remodels: $2,100 total, including the appliance, versus the tens of thousands a cabinet or countertop replacement can run. For readers in similar homes — especially those with solid oak cabinetry common in 1990s builds — the example shows which changes (corbel removal, fixture swaps, wood detailing) carried the visual update. It is also relevant that the couple had prior experience: they have bought, renovated and sold three homes before this one, which shaped their confidence in doing the work themselves.
The Couple’s Renovation History and Plan
Courtney and her husband are experienced DIY renovators, having completed three buy-renovate-sell projects before settling in Colorado. Unlike those flips, they describe this house as intended to be their forever home, and they say they are making updates with that long-term perspective in mind.
The kitchen work followed a specific sequence: new main-floor flooring first, then the cosmetic kitchen update once that larger expense was done. The article was published in Apartment Therapy’s Before & Afters section under Kitchens, written by Assistant Editor Savannah West, and notes the project is rental-friendly in skill level — meaning it did not require advanced construction skills, only painting and hardware installation. Of the original kitchen’s dated elements, the wallpaper was cited as a motivation for change alongside the orange-and-brown tones of the oak cabinetry.
“We wanted an updated look to tone down all of the orange and brown.”
— Courtney Barch, homeowner (The Homebody Life), to Apartment Therapy
Details the Feature Doesn’t Cover
Several practical details are not addressed in the source article. It does not specify the brand or cost of the gray lower-cabinet paint, the countertop material, the timeline of the project, or how the ivy wallpaper and ’90s light fixtures beyond the pendants were handled. The article also does not describe surface-preparation steps — sanding, priming or degreasing — which typically determine how painted cabinets hold up over time, so the long-term durability of the painted finish is not yet documented. The $500 and $2,100 figures are the homeowners’ own reported totals and have not been independently itemized.
Making the House a Forever Home
Courtney and her husband say they will continue updating the Colorado house with their forever-home plan in mind, though Apartment Therapy does not specify which rooms or projects come next. The published feature includes a “Shop This Before & After” section linking related products, suggesting readers can replicate the paint colors, brass hardware and pendant style. For homeowners attempting a similar painted-cabinet update, durable results generally require proper cleaning, sanding and priming before painting, adequate ventilation and protective equipment during the work, and patience for full curing before heavy use.
Key Questions
How much did the kitchen makeover cost?
The homeowners reported spending about $500 on paint, supplies, cabinet pulls and light fixtures, plus $1,600 for a counter-depth fridge, for a total of roughly $2,100. Flooring had been replaced separately earlier.
Did they replace the 90s countertops?
No. According to Apartment Therapy, the new white-and-gray cabinet palette made the existing counters look less busy, so the couple kept them, avoiding a major replacement expense.
What paint colors were used on the cabinets?
The upper cabinets were painted in Valspar’s “Ultra White” and the lower cabinets and island in a soft gray. The specific gray brand was not named in the article.
What changes besides paint updated the kitchen?
The couple removed the curvy corbels from the island, installed brass globe pendants in place of black builder-grade fixtures, added matching brass cabinet pulls, and applied a slatted wood detail around the island and lower cabinet ends.
Is a painted-cabinet update durable enough for a long-term home?
The article doesn’t cover the preparation or curing process, so long-term wear isn’t documented. Painted cabinets generally hold up best with thorough cleaning, sanding, priming and full cure time before heavy use.
Source: rss
Fall Picks
fall essentials
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
