Before & After: I Can’t Get Over the Deep Red Cabinets in This 100-Year-Old Kitchen (They’re So Bold!)
When DIY pro content creator Imani Keal moved into her Washington, D.C. apartment, she knew the original kitchen wasn’t going to work for her. Imani is known for her creative, vibrant, and functional spaces, and after moving in, she quickly got to work brightening up the space.
Imani painted the room in Valspar’s Cattle Drive 2007-5A, created a DIY kitchen pantry (in only 30 minutes) out of floating ELFA shelves, and hung wraparound, floating shelves in another part of the room, too. For a while, she felt the kitchen was complete — until Imani discovered a family of mice living in the kitchen. It wasn’t just that — there was mold, too.
While the apartment building is 100 years old, the original kitchen had been renovated since then. However, gaps were left between the appliances during that update, and the mice had found a home both in her stove and under the sink. She was on the verge of moving out of her apartment, but with it being rent-controlled, she wanted to stay.
After inspecting the kitchen, her landlord and handyman planned to patch only a few holes and replace a cabinet, which wasn’t going to fly with Imani. She negotiated with them to gut the existing kitchen and, with the help of a few home brands, fully replace it.
The original kitchen was completely removed, and a new floor was added. Imani used mouse foam to seal off any existing holes in the wall and installed peel-and-stick floor tiles from Wallpops’ CLJ collection. (All she needed were the tiles and a box cutter, and she used her body weight to secure them.) In all, she only spent $120 to create her new faux marble flooring.
Next on the list was updating the kitchen cabinets. Imani wanted to increase her storage space with larger cabinets, as well as getting a smaller oven to make room for more cabinet space. She worked with IKEA’s kitchen planner program, and they helped her design the new kitchen layout, all for $2,800.
To add some color, Imani hung Otto Studio’s India Knit wallpaper (from her very own collection!) on the inside of the cabinets to “give it some flair,” she said.
Next, Imani installed a laminate IKEA EKBACKEN countertop to make the kitchen look luxurious. She also hired a plumber to install her dishwasher, sink and (gifted) $6,000 faucet. Imani painted the walls with Valspar’s Naivete 7001-21, a stunning light pink. The wall color complemented the new cabinet color (Valspar’s Royal Garnet 1011-5), which Imani painted herself.
In the end, Imani’s landlord paid for the demolition and removal of the existing kitchen, including labor and plumber visits. They also bought her a new stove and dishwasher for the apartment and gave Imani a $2,700 rent credit to be used toward the cabinetry, microwave, and countertops. Imani paid for (and was gifted) the hardware, flooring, refrigerator, materials, faucet, and lighting. Because she knew her rights as a renter and how to negotiate them, she got an entirely new kitchen for a fraction of the cost.
After over five months (and plenty of negotiation conversations), Imani says it was all worth it. “Even as a renter, I deserve to love my home,” Imani said. To see the rest of Imani’s colorful apartment, visit the home tour on Apartment Therapy.
Further Reading
Why People Are Ditching Their Seltzer After a Disturbing Study
We Asked 3 Chefs to Name the Best Ice Cream, and They All Said the Same Thing
The One Cookware Brand That Gordon Ramsay Can’t Stop Talking About
