A Magical Kitchen Makeover

Quick note: We support trans rights here, and I completely understand if you've chosen to remove yourself from the Harry Potter fandom as a result of its author's beliefs. I also understand those like me who've chosen to celebrate the work apart from its creator. Wherever you stand, please remember to love each other, and be kind.

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Our friend Dana is a HUGE Harry Potter fan, so much that his entire house is Potter'd out year-round. His foyer is a mini portrait gallery:

...there are floating candles in his living room (which turn on automatically at night):

...and his bedroom is the Gryffindor Common Room, complete with a giant wooden 4-poster bed and wall tapestries: 

And it is all absolutely magical.

Dana is also a wand maker, and handcrafts beautiful styles with gemstones and jewelry findings. (Remember when John and I built a framed wall display for him?) So really, this style reflects a lot of who Dana is.

That's a long lead-in to say the one room in Dana's house that stood out like a sore (but brightly-lit) thumb was his kitchen. Let's get right to the "before" shots and our list of design challenges for the space:

Challenge #1: Lighting

The vaulted ceiling has a blinding fluorescent light on it, which gives a slight blue/green tinge to everything, yech. Even with only 2 of the 4 bulbs installed, this light makes it operating-room bright in here, while the rest of the house has soft warm accent lighting. (The living room through the pass-through looks pitch dark by contrast.) There's also an extra light fixture hanging on the left, which is badly spaced and hasn't worked for years.

Challenge #2: The Cabinets

The cabinets have been painted at least 4 times, so there's a lot of brush stroke texture that makes them look handpainted, which is never good. The bases and doors are different colors, which adds to the dated look, and the white doors look stark and plain against the white walls. The hardware is old and the hinges are failing; 2 of the doors don't even close properly.

You can also just see the extra space above the fridge here: an odd gap that looks unfinished.

Challenge #3: The Water Cooler

Dana uses this every day, so it has to stay here. ACK.

Problem #4: Decor

There are only a few decorative touches, and a lot of what is here doesn't really fit Dana's style. Dana loves to decorate and has amazing taste, but this space is so unpleasant to be in that he hasn't been very motivated to add to it.

The dining room table and chairs are lovely, but a little big for the room, and have turned into a work space/daily catch-all. The clock - which Dana loves - is hung where you can only see it from the fridge. And finally the contrast of the white wall with the tan wall is a little too severe, and abruptly chops the space in half.

Our goal is to address all 4 issues and give the space a dose of "witchy cottage kitchen" charm. Think  Molly Weasley's kitchen, The Leaky Cauldron, and Dumbledore's study all mashed together. So unlike most makeovers, we actually want to darken the room and add warmth, texture, and age.

We also want to do it for as little money as possible. In fact, we're aiming to spend less than $100. Because John and I are both determined and wildly optimistic. 

Think we can do it?

LET'S FIND OUT.

First John and I tackled something we could do from home: the solution for the water cooler. I'm pretty excited about this because it was my idea, and it turned out almost as well as I hoped:

Several people thought we were making a giant baby Groot when I posted this picture - and I see it now. :D

See where we're going with this?

Note to Future Jen: If you ever made a foam barrel again, leave the bands for last. They made painting the wood grain much harder, and I ended up re-doing the whole thing.

I used cheap craft paint, which you can see looks faded and almost chalky here. That's because my craft paint is all flat. Once I added a coat of satin Mod Podge, all the colors darkened and looked much better:

John cut a stencil on our Cricut so I could add the "Butterbeer" label. I went too bright with the yellow, but later I used a sanding sponge to take it down and give it some age, which I think helped.

My last step was to paint the bands silver and add some "rust" spots with watered down paint.

The original wooden stand for the water cooler was too clean and modern, so John spray-primed it black and sanded through the edges to give it a more rustic look.

And here it is all together!

Our foam barrel slips right over the water jug. We're still debating what - if anything - we should add to the white ceramic base. Any suggestions?

That's also a sneak peek at the new walls. Just, uh, pretend you didn't see that yet. 

Next up, lighting.

We decided a chandelier with fake candles would be ideal, so the three of us started watching FB Marketplace and Craig's List for cheap options. John was the winner with this one:

FIVE DOLLARS. 

The shades alone are worth twice that - and since we're not using them, those will keep for a future job.

I'm actually amazed how well this turned out. Originally I thought I'd need to faux it to look like aged wrought iron, but the black looks so pretty we left it like this.

A slightly better pic:

We didn't tell Dana we'd found the light; we decided to surprise him by installing it while he was at work. Normally I'd never do this, but Dana has been *incredibly* trusting of our design decisions - and hey, the light cost $5. If he didn't like it, we weren't out much, ha.

Buh-bye, fluorescent lighting!

We didn't know what to expect under the light, but happily there were only 2 large bolt holes for us to patch. Thanks to the popcorn texture, you can't see them at all.

(John brought the old fluorescent light home to install in our garage workspace, too, so nothing's gone to waste.)

We may try to save that chandelier for a future job. ::skeptical look:: Maybe.

Just this made a night-and-day different in the space, y'all. SO MUCH BETTER.

We're still adding some finishing design touches, so stay tuned for part 2, when I'll show you what we did to the cabinets and the walls! Here's a sneak peek to tide you over, though:

And here's a peek at another fun Potter-y touch we're adding:

Last thing: just for fun, tell me what your dream Harry Potter kitchen would have in it. I'm still looking for things we can add, especially on the countertops. (Right now I'm thinking a giant Trevor-the-toad in a birdcage, although I don't know if Dana will go for that, ha.)

*****

If you're looking for more fun before-and-after shots, check out our whole house renovation from 2018, or you can always browse my HomeRenovation tag here on the blog. (I scrolled waaay back and found our bedroom makeover post, back when I changed out the tented ceiling and bright orange walls! Ahh, memories. :D)