I thought I would take you on a tour our kitchen remodel that took place Jan. 2009. We did a lot of the work ourselves, but the major things like the cabinets and counters we hired the professionals. Here is what the kitchen looked like right before we moved in. It was builder cabinets, green counters, and purple walls. I can’t say it was horrible, but I had bigger plans for it!

I also wanted a pot filler. I went to a big home improvement store and they said it would be $500 for the filler and my plumber gave me a “discounted” quote of $250 for installation. I mentioned this to my dad in passing expressing there “was no way we will be spending that kind of $$!” and before I knew it, he was installing a pipe in the wall. I found a filler on Overstock.com for $200, after a discount! ALWAYS, ALWAYS check for online coupons before you buy! All together it cost about $210…a savings of $540!

Next the cabinet guy, yes one man, came to install my cabinets. I also used a coupon on these! I ordered them semi-custom from a home improvement store who was already having a sale. I think I saved around $1500 in the end! I had gotten a quote for granite from the same store and wasn’t sure how I was going to fit it into my budget. So I called around to local suppliers and got the counters for a little more than half of the quote from the improvement store. They had also said it would take about two weeks AFTER the cabinets were installed to get the counters…I have two kids, I NEEDed my kitchen back!! Anyway, the local supplier came to measure as soon as the base cabinets were in and installed the counters two days later, before the “cabinet guy” was even finished!! (If you live in the Indianapolis area and want granite I will give you the name of the supplier we used!)

Now that all the work we were paying for was complete, it was time for me to get to work!… I will finish the remodel tomorrow and reveal the finished product!