kitchen - the makeover

Hello there ! I know my posting has been a bit non existent lately. We've had more than a few computer issues, but I think we're getting there now. I thought it was about time I shared another makeover with you. 

This was the messy kitchen not long after we had moved into our house a few years ago. Please note the large blue bathroom style tiles on the wall, the brown tile effect wallpaper and the brown woodwork. It wasn't really my dream kitchen !

The floor is tiled and I strongly dislike it, but I am afraid I don't have the money or the energy to do anything about that, so that is staying!

But, it's amazing what you can do with a bit of paint. 

This is the same kitchen. It took a LOT of work. The large rayburn cooker was replaced and due to that we had to redo the tiles on the top of the counters. ( I know you probably think I'm mad to have ripped out a rayburn, but it ran on oil and we couldn't even afford to turn it up hot enough to cook anything as it seemed like it just ate fuel. So in the interests of being able to afford to eat, it went.)  We couldn't find the right tiles to replace the missing ones, so I ripped off all the tile on top of the units and scrubbed and scraped all the adhesive off, then bought a similar one and laid them in a chequer board pattern with the original ones. It's subtle, but it works. The cooker hood was originally a beaten copper effect thing which we ripped out and I recovered it  with beadboard.

The units and all the ugly brown woodwork were painted in Farrow and Ball paint - (House White was the shade). The shelves behind the glass doors which were damaged and ugly were edged with a decorative strip from Jali. New handles for the units made a huge difference. I love cup handles!  The nasty big blue tiles were ripped off and replaced with beadboard which I painted in an off white. I tiled behind the hob with white tiles. I redid the ceiling which was artex swirls and had a large rectangle cut-out where a striplight was housed behind some ugly plastic. The kitchen taps were replaced with a much more stylish and user friendly mixer. The walls were painted in a soft green- I forget what the shade was though.

...and the floor...well, I still hate it, but we are going to sell the house soon - hopefully - so I shall be laying down a large rug to minimise the effect of the tiled area.

Would I paint kitchen units again? - Absolutely! It can turn drab into fab!

(Now if I can just keep the counter-tops that tidy, I'll be winning!)

Linking to Met Monday at www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

The Long Haul/hall - the reveal

The hall is finally finished! Yippee! 

I've been taking a trip down memory lane. When we started renovating this house, I did not think to take before photos of everywhere, so all I have managed to find are a couple of photos of my kids. I don't think they'll thank me for posting these. Here is my son quite a few years ago standing in the hall. (He's 19 now, 20 this year). We started ripping things out of the hall a long time ago, then I had a baby who will be 5 this May, and things never got done until very recently. 

By this time we had ripped off a fancy border, taken down a picture rail and party removed some damaged crown moulding. It was looking really pretty!

We've been living with it looking like this for so long, that we got kind of used to it. People would visit and ask if we were in the middle of decorating and I would answer, "Well, sort of "... this went on for several years!

Here's Naomi who is now 17. Awww wasn't she sweet. Looking a bit bedraggled here after a day at primary school.

So now, very thankfully the hall looks like this.....

Phew! 

That's better, I've been waiting a long time for this. Oh, and a big thank you to Leslie who showed me the wonderful beadboard wallpaper which covered up my terrible walls very well! 

Bathroom - the makeover

I thought it was about time I showed you some of the changes we have made in this house before we finish it and hopefully sell up and move to another. 

I'm starting off with our bathroom. Now when we started work on the bathroom I didn't keep a blog, and it never occured to me to take good BEFORE shots, so I apologise for the few pictures that I have, but I think you'll get the general idea. It was horrible!

The ceiling was swirly artex, and because we ripped out some units and a big block wall that contained the shower unit, it was patchy and nasty.

Also there was a long striplight inset into the ceiling and it had been framed with dark stained pine and fitted with a patterned plastic. This photo was after we'd ripped off the dark frame and plastic.

The shower was disgusting and dark and dingy and seemed to overpower the room. This was after we'd taken away a panel that went from the top of the door to the ceiling. Yeugh!

We'd just ripped out the large corner avocado coloured bath in this picture. It was on a raised area of flooring all covered with cork tiles and I was forever stubbing my toe on it when I went past to the toilet.  The walls had been stripped of the charming brown and beige tile effect vinyl wallpaper. Are you getting the idea? Not really what one would call an attractive bathroom.

Sorry I don't have more before photos to show you just how yucky it was.

OK...so this is what we've done....

Important change no. 1. Put in a white suite. We also put in a new window. There is nothing but forest behind us so no need for typical bathroom window glass. It gives a much more open feel. 

I used MDF beadboard and painted it in a lovely blue shade. In retrospect, I might have painted it in pale gray or white had I known we'd be moving so soon, but the paint was in the reduced section for £1 a tin, and I bought about 8 tins, so blue it shall stay!

 Now that the block wall is down, the room feels twice as big. There is space for this lovely old chest of drawers which I got from my friends garage. We keep all our toiletries and towels in there. The mirror on the top came from the auction for £15. 

The lovely balloon back chair was another auction bargain for only £5. One day I'll recover the seat, but I don't really mind the shabby old velvet. I've grown kind of fond of it.

The table was £1 at auction and the corner cupboard £3. The shabby painted shelf was made by my dad for a previous kitchen but I don't have anywhere to put it in my present kitchen, so it ended up in here. As you can see we had the ceiling plastered and installed downlighters. 

If I had a wide angle lens perhaps you'd get a better idea. Hope you can spot the improvement! 

I might show you the kitchen next.