What fresh paint & minor upgrades can do for a condo

Happy Thursday all!  I hope everyone has been enjoying this “on and off” sunny weather we’ve been having. Unfortunately, I’ve been cooped up indoors for the past week with a nasty flu, hence, why I was unable to post last week (sorry!).  Good news, I am finally feeling better. Bad news, I’m totally behind in my projects… so today’s post will be an oldie.

These pictures you are about to see come from our first home,  the condo.  (I definitely apologize in advance for the horrible picture angles and bad quality. I tried my best to gather photos from three years ago that show the before and after effects.)

So the big question, what can some fresh paint and minor upgrades do for a condo?  Wonders my friends!  It is the best way to enhance your space quickly and up your market value.  Here are some of the updates we did.

The Kitchen:

Our kitchen was dated, dark and drabby.

The Fix:
– repainted all the cabinets white
– changed the cabinet hardware
– added a backsplash using white subway tile
– replaced dated floor tile with engineered hardwood

The flooring (tile and carpet) were replaced in our whole unit. The dark engineered hardwood was brought right into the kitchen to create one large unified space with our family room.  It looked fantastic (yes…hardwood in the kitchen, totally recommend it!) Since we had no natural light in the kitchen , we painted the cabinets white to instantly get that fresh and bright look.  Our counter tops were dark so it was a nice contrast with the white.

We used white subway tile for the blacksplash and brought it right up to the ceiling on the one wall dividing the space from our family room and stair case. This made the most impact in our kitchen!  We had plans to change out all our appliances to stainless steel but just never got around to it.  The white kitchen seem to camouflage our dated looking appliances and as it turned out it wasn’t a downfall when we sold (bonus!)

The Family Room:

Blue carpet and yellowish walls…yikes!

The Fix:
– Replace carpet with dark engineered hardwood
– Fresh paint
– Accent wall with wallpaper

Textured/embossed wallpaper was used to create an accent wall.  I love the use of white on white.  I wanted the view to be the main focal piece of the room.  The palette for the accessories was inspired from the trees and beautiful sunsets we saw everyday.

The Master bedroom:

The Fix:
– Replace carpet with dark engineered hardwood
– Fresh paint

We actually flipped this room completely and place the bed on the opposite side.  It created more space and just looked better. We kept the colour choices for the bedding very neutral to flow with the rest of the unit.

Overall we achieved the open and airy feel that we wanted.  It was just a matter of keeping things simple.  Less is more.

Oh how I miss the condo lifestyle.