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Last week, my husband and I completed our biggest DIY project together so far.  Our 1950’s kitchen needed a serious update.  If you have an older house with older floors and whatnot, then you know how hard it is to make it look nice all the time.  That was our kitchen.  No matter how hard I mopped, scrubbed, or bleached, it still looked dirty.  Not because it was dirty, but because it was old.

The thing that bothered me most about our kitchen was the floor.  It was an old linoleum floor with dings, dents, and a yellowed area that just wouldn’t budge.  My last resort at attempting to make the floor look okay was buying a L-shaped rug to hide most of it.

We finally agreed that the time was right this summer to give our kitchen a well-deserved modern update.  Our inspiration was the ever popular farmhouse trend with a touch of modern minimalism.

So we started looking for floors and fell in love with the Pergo Outlast+ Southport Oak flooring.  It’s got a cool weathered, textured look to it that, as my husband describes it, “is bad ass.”  It’s lighter in color and worked well with our kitchen.  The best part was, we didn’t have to rip up our old floor to put it down.  We laid it down right on top of it.

Even though we were putting new flooring down, we were keeping our original cabinets.  We gave them a fresh coat of paint in BEHR Premium Plus Ultra Pure White and added new hardware.  Our old cabinet pulls were starting to rust and I wanted a simpler design. 

I picked out Liberty Newton Satin Nickel Dual Mount Cabinet Pulls.  They come in a 10 pack, making them an affordable option for kitchens with lots of cabinet doors!  Against the bright white cabinets, they look fresh, modern, and minimal.

After the cabinets were painted completely white and the floor was put down, my husband added molding to the bottom of the cabinets as well as the rest of the room. The bottom of the cabinets were formerly painted gray.  This transition gives them a cleaner look and a little extra detail.

We had a wood, swinging door in the entryway to the kitchen. That was taken down. Just simply taking that door down made our dining room and kitchen seem bigger and brighter!

Our walls were previously blueish-gray in color that we painted over with BEHR Fashion Gray.  It’s a gorgeous, classic gray color that’s a little darker than what we had, but I love it!  Since everything else was getting updated, I gave my upcycled window chalkboard a fresh coat of paint, too!

It took us five days to finish our kitchen update. And that’s without changing any of the cabinets, counter tops, or hooking up new appliances! Most of it was painting and cutting and installing the new trim.  My husband did some excellent work on our kitchen!  It makes me so happy when I walk in there now!

I posted some of the process and finished sneak peeks on my Instagram Story and got a few questions about the flooring.  It’s laminate flooring that comes in planks.  The particular style we wanted was purchased through Home Depot, but not carried in store.  The planks snap together with an installation tool and took an afternoon to put in.  My husband and father-in-law put the floor together.  They said it took a little time to figure out at first, but once they got going, it was easy! 

The pictures definitely do not do this floor, and our entire kitchen, justice!  I wasn’t fond of our blue counters before, but now I love how they bring the room together with a pretty pop of color!  They add a little charm to the simple, farmhouse style we were going for, too!  Next up, we’ll up giving our bedroom an update with a fresh coat of paint and new furniture!

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Have you done any home updates recently?