Kitchens and Life Redone.

So we moved into quite a mess of a kitchen. When I first saw the room when we moved in I was pretty astonished that the organization that purchased and fixed up the home had left it as it was. To clue you in as to what exactly we are talking about, here's a clue: Rather than taping and puddying the dry wall when the previous owner remodeled, he cut dry wall to the standard length of wallpaper, wallpapered it and THEN put it up, mismatched and askew. The wallpaper is the standard 90's "let's pretend we're in a tuscan villa" wall paper with pears and a strange faux tile pattern. Then he highlights the craftsmanship by staining 2x4s and placing them all over the room, finishing it off by spraying popcorn paint on all the trim and the ceiling. Also there's the simple matter of peach colored tiling that goes four feet up the wall all over for some reason.
So... gorgeous.

Today a bit of the wallpaper came up. So I just tugged a bit. And the result was so satisfying that in 20 minutes more, we had peeled up a whole wall. We know to make the kitchen what we need, we will need to tear up almost everything and maybe replace some dry wall. We're also hoping to restore the original hardwood, which seems hopeful.

By the time that is all done, on our budget of... about... zero, we will have to replace what we remove with something. But what?


We're looking for clever free or cheap reuses. My favorite idea so far is using pallets to make cabinets and using reclaimed windows for the doors. I can even replace the plain glass with stained glass or something fun like that.

What are your ideas?