Some homes aren’t just structures to live in but are actually steeped in family history. Take hairstylist and DIY content creator Alisa Chavez’s home in Tempe, Arizona, for instance — it was built in 1958 and belonged to her grandmother.
“[My grandmother] was from the Depression era, so she was a saver and worked really hard to get this little house,” Chavez, who creates TikTok content, explains. “So I love this house. It’s more than a house for me. It’s a part of her. It’s small, but it still has so much life left.”
Even though Chavez’s home holds a lot of sentimental value, some areas needed a bit of love and a modern touch. For example, the kitchen lacked storage and a pantry, which made it less functional than she wanted. She also felt it needed some aesthetic upgrades. “The kitchen was very bland and neglected,” Chavez shares. “It was neutral and needed a good cleaning. It’s a very small and narrow kitchen.”
One of the biggest challenges in Chavez’s kitchen was the lack of storage. To combat this, she added a base cabinet and two top cabinets from The Home Depot (and painted them pink, too!). One of her favorite parts of the process was organizing her fruit-themed, colorful, mismatched dishes in her new cabinets.
“I feel like I’m in a completely different space. Cooking no longer gives me anxiety now that I have extra storage,” Chavez says. “It’s pretty but also functional. Mixing old with new.” Overall, she spent around $1,200 on the kitchen refresh, which only took two weeks to complete. The upgrade helps Chavez honor her grandmother, while making the home a space she can continue living in comfortably and stylishly.
