Take a look at Divamum's spectacular budget kitchen. She spent more than $150, but what an amazing result!!

There's a lot you can do with paint, flea market finds, and cleverness. One thing I love is pegboard. You know, the masonite with the holes? It's amazing how much it helps kitchen organization if you can hang up a whole bunch of stuff on pegboard. Little baskets make great holders for small things like spice bottles and container lids.

So... What do you want to do in your kitchen?

Why don't you post some pictures and let the GW crowd help you with ideas?

1 gallon of paint for the walls and new knobs on Ebay would just about break your budget. But, that could be enough for a start! You don't have to have big bucks to redo a kitchen. You just have to have a master plan and creativity. So, paint and do the knobs this month, and then save a couple of months and do new countertops, and then maybe a year and a new appliance....etc. Little bit it to death!

Momily, this was a great thread from a while ago from a GW'er that wanted to update her kitchn for resell. May give you some ideas.

Eliz

Here is a link that might be useful: $308 transformation

Some of us can make $150 go further than others. I'm one of those who believes in working with what you have. I lived in an apartment that had the ugliest kitchen. After getting permission from the manager, I did the cheapest "makeover" I could on the cabinets. When my neighbors saw the improvement, they all wanted the same thing done to their kitchens. I'm glad the Eliz posted the above link, because that $308 did give that kitchen a lot of new life for not too much money.

Thank you all! Now working on pics...

Momily said (having posting troubles): What do I want to do with my kitchen? Cook. I have a 'New York' kitchen, smaller than seems possible. I don't want to change the size, just the look. I HATE overhead cabinets, find them pointless and depressing. I want the wall space for art or antique display. I don't need more storage--I'm working on having less stuff. I have a lot of 'junktiques' from my grandmother's old house and would love to actually use them [cooking utensils], but they look ridiculous in the current kitchen [real estate decorating].

My reply: We'll look forward to seeing your pix. Can you post a floorplan as well?

If you have enough storage in your current base cabinets, it doesn't matter how big your kitchen is. It's big enough. Are you putting in any new appliances? Co you want to change around the cabinets? Change the style?

Do you really have $150, or a bit more?

Do you have upper cabinets that you're removing?

One thing you can do inexpensively, that will work for storage, use and display, is to put a powdercoated grid, or some pegboard, or some decorative hooks, on one wall and hang some of your "junktiques" there. Or you could use premade shelves from the hardware store with internal brackets. Or shelves from a fleamarket.

Contrary to ordinary considerations, tiny rooms often look bigger if they're darker, so you might consider painting your walls a deep red, or burgundy, or forest green, to set off your stuff. Add some spotlighting, if you can, for the art and junktiques.

One thing I like is the push-pull of very modern with traditional and old. I can see your grandmother's utensils with glossy gray enamel cabinets, for instance.

So can't wait to see the pictures. Give us some of "inspiration" as well. Looks you like. It doesn't have to be a similar sized kitchen. But if there's a color you like, or a detail.

Also check the Finished Kitchen Blog. While a lot fo the kitchens aren't going to be like yours, you might see something in there that has elements that you like.

Momily, I was just in Barnes & Noble yesterday & found a great kitchen idea book for $5.98 (sale area). It is called "Country Living - Easy Transformations - Kitchens". It has some great pictures of vintage/cottage kitchens with lots of interesting ideas for repurposing things & using thrift store/flea market finds. I'm pretty much finished with my design phase but I couldn't resist buying this book anyway. When you don't want to spend a lot of $$, you just need a lot of creativity & inspiration.