Kitchen Declutter and Revamp

A good few months ago now, I posted about how my kitchen was feeling cluttered and lacklustre and how it needed a bit of a clear out and spruce up.  I started the process off more or less straight away, by clearing a few things from the top of the cupboards, sorting through them and finding a new home for them out of sight.

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After

Around the same time, I seriously thinned out the worktops, putting away anything that didn't need to be out, in an attempt to minimise visual clutter.  I think this can often make a big difference in making a room feel bigger, cleaner and fresher looking.

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After

(As you can imagine I'm now trying incredibly hard to keep it this clutter free!)

OH treated us to a new kitchen clock from John Lewis, something I've wanted to get for a while.  It wasn't a hugely expensive one, but it is nice and large with a simple, modern, clear clock face. 

As previously blogged about, I bought a new kitchen bin too, using the remains of a voucher I was sent to replace an iron.

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After

I also removed a picture from one of the walls and replaced it with a large blackboard that we could use to note down any appointments, shopping required, menu plans, etc.  I used some of the blackboard paint I'd bought a while back for another project and painted it onto a piece of MDF we already had in the basement.  OH then screwed it to the wall for me.  This didn't actually cost anything at all to do, save a bit of time and effort.  I think it adds a modern touch to the room and is very practical.

Whilst he was putting it up, I also got him to hang this handmade sign, which was given to me by a friend over the summer and which injected a bit more colour into the room.

The next thing to tackle was the patio door curtain.  I deliberated for a while about what to do with it.  The current curtain, a charity shop purchase for £5, was lined and fitted almost perfectly, but it was beginning to look a bit shabby and I really wanted a curtain that was brighter and more modern.  I managed to source a lovely roll of cotton fabric on eBay and took the plunge and bought it for approximately £30.

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I'd never actually made a proper lined curtain before, complete with curtain tape and all, but I decided to give it a go.  It took a while to get around to making the curtain, but once I did, I didn't regret it for a moment.

One last thing that I needed to do, was to resolve a couple of storage issues.  One was to find a storage solution for the dog's blankets and towels that sat on a small standing shelving unit in the kitchen.  There was a tendency for the pile to collapse everytime we took one out, so I wanted some way of storing them where they looked tidy and were contained.  Whilst out replacing my broken iron with the voucher supplied under the warranty, I got such a good deal on a new one that I had some spare money left on the voucher, so as well as the kitchen bin, I treated myself to a set of wooden storage boxes, the largest of which I used for the dog blankets and the smaller ones I used to house my seeds and some craft materials I keep on top of the fridge.  They made the kitchen look a lot tidier and a lot less cluttered, so I was pretty pleased with them.

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After

With the new curtain made and hung, the kitchen thinned out, the dog blankets neatly tidied away and the new clock, bin, sign and blackboard in place, I think I've achieved the fresher and less cluttered look I hoped for.  Needless to say, I was very happy with the results and even happier that they didn't cost too much. We still need to do some work on the floor, we're currently thinking of painting it, but I'll post about that, if and when it happens.