Pretty much every kitchen DIY that Lee undertook was new to her. She learned to build cabinets, adding four new ones above the kitchen’s existing storage. Lee customized her builds with glass doors and interior lighting. The hardest part was adding shiplap and a large beam to her 10-foot ceiling, which she initially attempted to do solo. “The nail gun I had on the ladder fell on my oven and it shattered the door completely,” she says. “We all make mistakes, but sometimes we do need help,” Lee says. Her husband helped her finish up the job, and having two people work together made it so much easier.

Lee gave her pantry a bold makeover using a mixture of black paint and plexiglass. “I cut a hole in the middle of the door with my circular saw, fitted a plexiglass, and painted everything black,” she says. “It makes such a big statement!” 

She also added pendant lights for a personalized touch and installed a surround to close the gap around the fridge opening.

For any fellow DIYers, Lee says to “work with the pain points,” calling out her kitchen countertop as an example. “I considered ways to improve it rather than immediately giving up on it,” she says. “Not only did I save a lot of money by not buying something new, but people also reach out to me now to ask what kind of countertop I have!”