Home > Remodel/Renovation Ideas > Italian Kitchen Masterpiece for Under Three Hundred Dollars

Italian Kitchen Masterpiece for Under Three Hundred Dollars

October 25th, 2010 Leave a comment Go to comments

An Orlando Florida homeowner remodeled her kitchen transforming it into an Italian masterpiece. The old bland wood cabinets and Formica countertops came to life after she gracefully transformed them through using a little artisan tender loving care. All-in-all she spent less than three hundred dollars and it only took here tree days to complete the remodeling project.

In the Youtube video below, Jennifer Benjamin proudly shares with HGTV her interests with Paris and her artisan abilities through doing a complete kitchen makeover on her newly purchased home of six weeks.



Youtube Information: “This was my segment on HGTV’s “Look What I Did!” that aired on June 15th, 2007. I transformed my entire kitchen with just paint! Projects include: Formica counter tops to look like granite, ceramic tiles back-splash to look like tumbled stone and dichroic glass, faux stained glass window, murals on walls and right on cabinetry and a break away wall revealing a faux brick wall.”

She began the adventure by painting a wall mural of a Parisian waiter having a handlebar mustache, a bald head, dressed in a formal tuxedo and holding a serving tray. She decided to use chalkboard paint for the serving tray and wrote a message that said; “Bonjour” on it. He is situated on one of the entry way walls, just outside the kitchen and appears to be about six feet in overall height.

Next, she decided that painting cabinets would be a worthwhile task and the boring beige oak raised panel doors were soon covered in solid black paint. Admitting that the Parisian chef postcards inspired her to add a flare of happiness to her upper cabinet doors, she explains on the Youtube video that they remind her that; “you don’t have to take life so seriously.” By the looks of the chefs, she is no armature when it comes to painting portraits.

Once the images were finished on the wall cupboard doors, she decided to breakout the countertop paint. Her counters were originally white and seemed to be the perfect color for transforming them into what she describes as; “a gorgeous black marble”. As she experimented with various shades of black, the addition of metallic sprinkles and a little gold dust, she eventually attained a deep rich granite look. She then finalized the new appearance of the tops with several coats of polyurethane clear-coat. I am still amazed that she did all of that and then some for less than three hundred dollars.

All of the elegant changes to the cupboards and counters left the back-splash tile looking pretty sad. Her love for the look of “dichroic glass” inspired her next transformation. Now, this is what really made this Italian kitchen masterpiece really pop. Without remodeling the wall tiles this kitchen was looking a whole lot better, but now it is totally awesome. The new look of the wall-splash tiles was attained by using a sponge, differing shades of black paint, glazing liquid and metal adhesive.

This video is an amazing demonstration of what a little bit of money and a highly skilled artist can do in three days.

  1. No comments yet.
  1. No trackbacks yet.

*