My Vintage Style Kitchen Makeover, finished at last!

If you have been following my last few posts then you will know my finances are zeroed at the minute and that I've been re-doing my small Belfast kitchen with 15yr old paint (remarkably still useable after a good stir with a stick). Now it's finished! I'm relieved, relaxed and much more happy with my workspace. I really hadn't realised the effect the décor had on me before I got stuck in with the paintbrush. I under-estimated the 'feel-good' factor of a pleasant and fresh looking kitchen. I'm really glad I did it :)

And here is the reason why....... bless this house, or demolish it. It's pretty obvious just how long I'd been avoiding this space. Too much going on elsewhere in my life to be launching into it willy-nilly, but eventually things change and I finally had a bit of time to get motivated and start freshening things up.

Cluttered and dull. Before pics.

 

I have no idea how this happened!

 





 

Pretty dated and much abused I'm sorry to say, believe it or not it was clean, just completely knackered! And my work surfaces.....well they looked like this......

I have no idea what kind of stone effect this was supposed to be, except dirt coloured.

 

Needless to say I was pretty ashamed and fairly dubious about going into the kitchen to cook and bake (which I love to do!) let alone let my family or even a tradesperson in through the door :( lol!

So I got creative, my budget being about 50 quid ha ha ha! You might have spotted the wooden blind I had hanging at the window but pulled up from the first kitchen picture, well I got it down and started to cut it up, re-purposing the slats by sticking them on the cabinet fronts with extra strong diy adhesive! I was going to have panelled doors I decided!

 

 

So onwards I charged! Having little to no choice on my paint colour, relying on the 15yr old stash from the shed I mixed up some homemade chalk paint which meant no need for an expensive primer to undercoat and made the bold decision to go deep blue on the cabinets! My miniscule budget shrank a little when I bought some white emulsion, clear varnish and a plain white roller blind from Argos. I think I had about a tenner left at that stage. I bought some paper napkins off eBay and four roles of washi tape to co-ordinate with my new blue units.

The work tops took a bit of working out, I had a real longing to have a faux marble effect kitchen surface and after watching a You Tube tutorial I had a go, using my white paint as a base and some acrylic paint from my art supplies for the marbled veining effect.

A success but too much colour!

 

It looked pretty good! BUT...............as I proceeded around the kitchen work surfaces the further I got with the effect, the LOUDER the effect got. By the time I got to the opposite end of the kitchen my eyes felt sore! I just knew that I wouldn't be looking forward to putting the kettle on first thing in the morning if |I had to face my faux marble, so I painted over it! A small delay but necessary to avoid headaches later ;)!

The never ending supply of 15yr old paint from my shed delivered a lovely peachy/coral emulsion which I made lighter with some of my big bargain bucket of white paint and this easily covered the  dark walls. What remained of the white cleaned up the ceiling and then the last drops were mixed up as homemade chalk paint and used to base coat the grotty floor tiles! Phew.....just a bit of work involved in this room! I painted my Dualit toaster and my kettle, my wine rack, a chandelier light fitting that belonged to my Mum, some folding wooden chairs bought second hand for a tenner for both about a year ago, and I even painted the cheapo roller blind from Argos with a wild Ikat design! All the napkins were used to decoupage my plain white wall tiles and I used the washi tape as a border, then sealed with clear varnish. I did exactly the same on the kitchen floor. All the cabinets were waxed after painting and I painted my door knobs with nail varnish (there is a nice pic of those on the last post I put up). I even used an old ornate frame to make a chalkboard (I've saved the mirror for it in case I change my mind later!). I got my spice cabinet on the wall and that pretty much wrapped it all up.

Oh, the doilies I got 3 for £2.20 on eBay from a lovely seller in Alicante in Spain which I displayed in some second hand frames bought from charity shops and painted white. I think I'll add more to the collection whenever I get a bit of extra cash again!

Just take a look! Its a  very vintage feel, but its soooooo much better than it was, even if I had to work with paint that I just had stored away I still think it turned out great! I hope you do too :)



Hand-painted Ikat blind in co-ordinating colours a big £15.99 from
my tiny budget!!

Chalkboard

Panelled chalk painted doors and plain white counter tops.

Hand painted drawer knobs.

Panelled drawers.

 

I painted the plastic components on the kettle and toaster to match

I miss-matched the paper napkins and washi tape to try and create a vintage delft style on the wall tiles and floor.

This covered dish was only £2.95 from a local charity shop and its so pretty :)

Vintage doilie and china dish :)

I installed a 'new' light fitting to fit in with the vintage feel of the kitchen.

I took one of the cabinet doors away completely, to make a space
 for my biggest basket which now holds my spuds and onions,
 with room below for some of my cookbooks

I put some hooks on the wall to hang folding chairs on when they are not being used,
 and my little folding table easily fits two for breakfast!

 

My special floor :) Its a random decoupage patchwork of miss-matched napkins.
Any of the napkins that tore I just patched in so you can see some difference in tones in places,
 but to be honest it doesn't detract from the over all effect :)
 

Well that's the kitchen tidy! Its less of a chore to wash up the dirty dishes these days and a bit more of a pleasure so I think its been a successful little project....so what's next?????.......actually its my front door, hallway, stairs and landing! First impressions count, right?
:)

lots of love

Samantha x.

Ps, apologies again for light changes making pictures brighter or duller etc. Belfast weather plays havoc and changes every half hour at this time of year. Also all my pics are phone pics! Maybe one day I'll have a decent camera ;)