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You often see home makeovers going from retro to more traditional upgrades. Which often makes me sad, because I’m BIG into retro kitchens and dining rooms. But Jenn Fletcher from BlondeShot Creative took her dining room and kitchen from “perfectly fine” to “perfectly AWESOME” with retro makeovers.
I’ve watched enough House Hunters to know that the original kitchen was perfectly upgraded, but lacked personality. Jenn KILLED IT with white cabinets and chalk board paint on the cabinets. And OMG would you look at those green cabinet pulls? The blue vintage bread box is just icing on this retro kitchen cake.
But the updates don’t stop with the kitchen. Jenn’s living room got a makeover as well.
But let’s zoom in on that after photo shall we? So much awesome hidden away:
I love the retro light fixture, window coverings, and the ’50s diner-style table and chairs!? Oh man. LOVE. THIS. MAKEOVER.
Amazing job, Jenn! I’m so very jealous.
Wow, what a makeover! Love the chalkboard paint especially 🙂
The before picture is exactly what my kitchen looks like and I hate it! I cant wait to remodel it make it look like the after photo!!
That is the MOST awesome kitchen I have ever seen. It reaffirms that I just don’t like traditional kitchens very much.
(I can already hear everyone crying out, “But it’s wood, it’s WOOD. Precious, sacred WOOD!” I have a lot of people in my life that would strongly protest the covering of wood. Sigh)
I’m with you. PAINT ALL THE WOOD!
I was totally one of those “but the WOOD” people, but now everything that surrounds me – furniture, floors, moulding – EVERYTHING – is brown and I hate it. I’m currently trying to convince my husband that our house will still be worth something if he lets me paint the wood trim in our house a color, and paint our ugly wooden cabinets black to match the counter-tops & appliances. (And hey, thanks for the inspiration! I’m doing a black & white kitchen and was mulling over an accent color; aqua it is!)
I agree that sometimes it’s good to paint over wood, BUT…
I just moved into a century-old house in which ALL the wood was painted white when they put the house on the market. The window molding, the baseboard trim, the banisters, everything. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if it were all common present-day builder stuff, but it’s nice, historic craftsmanship. Sometimes I look at it and want to cry.
For you guys interested in retro stuff may I suggest http://www.retrorenovation.com, Jenn’s kitchen would fit right in!!!! Good job and I love your dinette set!!!!
My boyfriend would be the one crying “but it’s wood!” Love this wish I could do it to my cabinets.
Usually I’m one of those “but it’s wood!” (giggity, lol) people, but this is beyond awesome!
I would definitely paint the cabinets like that. Also, loving the little bread box as well. <3
Here’s a thought for anyone thinking about using chalkboard paint. You can get a primer for under the chalkboard paint (or any paint really) that will allow magnets to stick to any surface painted with it.
So you could also have magnetic chalkboard cupboards!
For the crowd worries about resale, you can also get “chalkboard” vinyl decals. That way you could pull them off when you were ready to move out and just have normal painted cabinets.
How awesome is this?! Whenever I’m looking at houses, they all seem so boring to me, except the ones that were built at least 50-60 years ago where I know I’d need the same budget to renovate as I would to buy it. Maybe (okay probably, definitely!) I’m a little slow here, but I never thought to retro-renovate! 🙂 My housing budget has hope after all! Thanks!
Huh. My crappy college apartment has the exact same chairs and table – although I imagine hers aren’t falling apart! But I really like how the cabinets look – it’s a different idea I haven’t seen before.
fwaaahhh! i flippin LOVE seeing something interesting come of those suburban kitchens, this looks amazing!
My husband and I have been looking to buy a house for about two years (since we started dated, basically) and are now at the point where me may have to just build something….an idea I loathe. If you build, everything is NEW and there’s no need for awesome makeovers. I WANT a kitchen that’s old and tacky so that I can run with the tackiness and make it awesome! I love this kitchen makeover. I’ve got all kindsa vintage kitchen things, especially in blue/green colors….but I don’t have a bread box yet. *jealous*
Love the chalkboard paint! We’re planning on doing something similar except with vinyl that you can glue on to the cabinet doors to give them a bit of retro flair (without spending ridiculous amounts of money on custom 40s style cabinets….)
Sandoff finishes are a nice compromise between the “Agh too much brown!” and the “but it’s WOOD!” people. Paint with matte or satin finish, have at it with a bit of sandpaper to bring out the texture and the edges, and viola… custon-finished furniture.
I LOVE those handles. Can anyone tell me where to get them?? I am in love with that blue green retro color!! My kitchen has needed a major make-over and I haven’t been able to figure out what I wanted to do until I saw this. My cupboards are nice but old cheap laminates so I have been planning to paint them but I didn’t want an all white kitchen either… Thank you for this great idea.
It looks like they’re jadite/milk glass drawer pulls, like these.