$100 Room Challenge — Kitchen (Week 2)

Thanks to Premier Prints for providing me with the fabric that I will be using in my kitchen update. Thanks also to DecoArt for providing me with the beautiful chalky finish paints and stencil that I will be using in this project. This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Welcome to the second week of the $100 Room Challenge! The challenge, held twice a year and hosted by Erin of Lemons, Lavender and Laundry, encourages bloggers to update a room for just $100 in a month. I’ve followed the challenge for a while now. I’ve learned that it’s possible to make big changes to a room without a lot of money!

I was hoping to get more done this week. But my daughters are hosting a dinner party for their friends this coming weekend. I’ve been working hard on a fun DIY project for our backyard patio for the get-together. I’ll be sharing my project here on the blog next Tuesday! (For the Pinterest Challenge blog hop.) 

Week 2 — DIY Kitchen Update

I did get some things done for my kitchen project, however! I found some cushions at Walmart for $5 each for my kitchen chairs. The color of the cushions, green, don’t match the gray curtains in the kitchen.

I plan to make DIY covers for the cushions. I have some of the beautiful Premier Prints Feather Silhouette Twill, Storm fabric left over from the cushion with DIY piping that I recently made for my home’s bay window. I plan to use that fabric to cover the cushions. The gray in the cushions will go well with the gray and yellow curtains that I already have up in my home’s kitchen.

I also got some of the materials that I will need for my DIY wooden table runner for my kitchen table. I have a wood farmhouse-style table, and I often worry that water stains and heated plates will damage the wood. The wooden table runner will not only look nice, but will provide a place to put down serving plates, etc.

I already have the piece of wood that I will use for the runner — the wood used to be a shelf in my daughters’ bathroom. I took that shelf down last spring when I updated the bathroom for my daughters.

I plan to paint the length of wood gray with DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish Paint, Yesteryear. I’ll stencil lemons onto the wood with DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish Paint, Delicate and DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish Paint, New Life. I also got some Americana Décor Acrylic Chalky Finish Paint: Everlasting White so I have the option of lightening up any of the colors if I like. I love the really cute stencil, Decoart Stencil 10×10 Lemon, that I plan to use.

Kitchen Update Fail

For my kitchen update, I had planned to use black cabinet knobs that I had purchased before I painted my kitchen’s oak cabinets white. The photo below shows my kitchen before I painted the cabinets.

The next photo shows my kitchen’s cabinets after I painted them white. (Check out my post for more information on the process and materials I used to paint the oak kitchen cabinets white.)

This week I sanded the black cabinet knobs, primed them with spray-on primer and spray painted them a polished nickel color. But after much spray painting, I decided that I didn’t like the sprayed on finish.

The finish looked a little rough. (I was hoping for a more polished look.) I think the knobs might come in handy for a future project, though. We’ll see! I thought I would have more luck with the knobs because I had spray painted the knobs on an old jewelry chest silver with much luck. I used a different brand of spray paint for my other project, so maybe that’s the difference.

I am a little bummed that I sanded the black finish off the knobs. But there are 4 knobs left that I didn’t touch. (Hooray!) I found a 20-pack of Satin Nickel Cabinet Knobs knobs from Amazon for less than $20 that I think I will work. I ordered them yesterday, and they should arrive later this week.

I’ll have to scale back my project a little to keep under the $100 budget. I’m limiting my new items for the kitchen update to the cabinet knobs, the new kitchen chair cushions and the DIY stenciled wood table runner. I have plenty of decor I can bring in to decorate an autumn dining table, so I am sure I’l be fine.

Be sure to check back here next Wednesday to see what I accomplish in the next week! Also, take a look at my friends’ $100 Room Challenge projects below! (Click on the blue link button below to see what the other bloggers are doing with their $100!)