A Standard-Issue White Kitchen Gets a $150 Facelift (It Looks So Vintage!)

While living in Germany a few years ago, Morgan Ford, who’s known for being “sunshine personified” among friends, experienced countless gray skies and gloomy days. So when she moved into her new Colorado rental apartment and wanted to update the kitchen, she vowed to design it to cultivate creativity and good vibes all year round.

Luckily, the space was already in decent shape. “The kitchen wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t very inspiring,” Morgan says. “I looked at it as a great base to build off of. I wanted to add warmth and personality so that it would be more inviting and [would] inspire me to cook more!”

The goal was to make the kitchen feel “warm and playful, yet moody” and to ensure that all of the changes blended well with the things Morgan couldn’t change. (It is a rental, after all.) She started with a simple trick: applying a peel-and-stick backsplash. 

Morgan felt comfortable updating the backsplash herself because she’d worked on a similar project in her last home. “I chose two types of tiles [white and orange SMART tiles] and actually cut them into fours by hand and assembled this pattern,” she explains. “That process took about an hour to an hour and a half to complete.” 

After no time at all, it looked like a hand-painted masterpiece. To add to the room’s moodiness and warmth, Morgan incorporated a magnetic knife block from Amazon, which she attached with Velcro Command strips, and it’s held up nicely so far. 

The kitchen makeover is an ongoing process (she’s started working on the cabinets, too!), but this portion of the transformation came first, and it was done on the cheap. The tiles were gifted to her (she believes they’d cost around $150 for the size of the wall she covered), and all of the decor — besides the knife block — was thrifted. 

It’s no surprise that the tiles are Morgan’s favorite part of the kitchen update. “It adds so much interest to the space, and it makes me enjoy cooking there.” If you want to see more of her happy home, visit the full house tour on Apartment Therapy. 

This post originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: Before & After: An “Uninspiring” White Kitchen Gets a Moody $150 Facelift (It Looks So Vintage!)