Money Saving DIY Home Improvement Tips: Kitchen Remodeling
When remodeling your kitchen, why not do it with an artistic flair, making your kitchen one of a kind and expressing your own creative talents, while also saving money? Even if you don’t consider yourself artistic, you can cut back on remodeling costs by using remnant or salvaged items and a little elbow grease. Here are some DIY home improvement tips for remodeling your kitchen as an "original thinker."
Storage
Make an overhead storage rack from an old wooden ladder. Refinish the ladder in a stain you like, or just clean it up and leave it as is, providing a very rustic look. At the four corners, suspend the ladder from the ceiling with hooks and chains. Suspend S hooks from the ladder rungs and hang your pots and pans and kitchen gadgets.
Using the same method, find a fairly straight tree branch and either suspend it from the ceiling, or install two hooks along the wall and prop it between the hooks. With S hooks, hang kitchen gadgets from the branch.
Wooden crates are wonderful for storage and can be used either upright, or lying horizontal. In the kitchen, stack three or more crates on top of each other and secure them in place. Attach rolling coasters on the bottom, and you have a moveable storage cabinet for cook books, dishes, or anything you’d like displayed.
You can find wooden crates at liquor stores or where wine is sold. Other areas to look are flea markets and grocery stores.
Tables
Look for thick pieces of wood that would do for a table. Old doors, wood flooring salvaged from buildings, even wooden beams can be constructed into a table top. Refinish the wood, attach legs, and you have an original, sturdy table like no other.
Countertop
Remnants of stone slabs make great cutting boards or pastry slabs. If you want a stone countertop, go to your stone supplier and purchase a full slab from him, instead of from a dealer. You’ll save up to 20 percent, and cut out the middle man. Of course, you’ll still need to hire a professional to install the stone, but the overall cost will be less.
Paint
Repaint your kitchen for a whole new look and feel. Go for colors you wouldn’t ordinarily use, or at least a color unlike what you had before. Well applied, a new coat of paint can make a kitchen feel brand new.
Want more DIY home improvement ideas? Download the guide below.
(creative commons photo credit)