After several years of not really doing anything to our house, basically since we had the basement refurbished back in 2012, we are finally getting around to doing some work this year. The planned kitchen extension, was put on hold after quotes of £80,000 plus were received to build out into a side return and this made us rethink our plans. Did we really want to extend our mortgage to pay for this when we are almost at the point of seeing ourselves being able to pay it off in the next few years? Instead, we have decided to renovate the interior of our existing kitchen, which is looking a bit shabby and in need of some TLC.
When we last renovated the kitchen, probably 7 or 8 years ago, we didn't spend a huge amount of money, and to be honest we're going to be spending even less this time around, but hopefully a bit of updating will make the space feel much fresher and be much more practical for everyday use.
We're essentially replacing all of the cupboard and drawer fronts, kick boards, etc., re-painting the window/door frames/sills, re-painting the walls, painting the wooden floor and tiling splash backs where necessary. A few other small changes will also be made to the internal fittings in the cupboards and drawers to make the space much more usable and easier to access. It's often small changes like these that can make the most difference to how you use a space on a daily basis. All things considered, I'm quite excited about this.
I spent a good part of yesterday clearing the window sills and packing away all of the pictures and knick knacks that usually adorn the space, so that OH can get to work this week on prepping for re-painting the room.
Later in the day, we organised a reconnaissance mission to IKEA, to check out cupboard fronts and other necessities for the refit. It was hellishly busy as you might imagine in the school holidays, but amazingly, we managed to agree on colours and styles and OH will be ordering these online for delivery when the painting has been done.
The kitchen is currently looking unusually bare, which I am actually quite enjoying. I may decide to put back fewer items once the renovation has been completed, as it will mean a lot less to dust and clean. I didn't manage to take a photo of how things looked before the work began as I was rushing out to the gym this morning, but I'll keep you posted with our progress.
Looking forward to seeing the revamp.
ReplyDeletexx
Having just had some work done by the professionals, I have to say if you can do some small but significant changes yourself then that is brilliant. Having major work done is vastly overrated in my view!
ReplyDeleteI agree, I hate having people in the house to do work. It's so disruptive and in our experience also, they don't always do a good job.
DeleteIs your kitchen an IKEA one already? We had hope to change some of our doors to add a bit of colour but the new doors don’t fit our 10 year old units! The other “advice” I would give you is to aboid tiles if you can. A friend put up some inexpensive glass splashbacks instead and they are so easy to clean compared to the tiles. Good luck with whatever you decide- DH is still faffing with the radiator covers for the kitchen, and our new heating has been in since last September. I’m sewing and ignoring a house that needs a huge amount of home blessing-lol.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up with regard to the units. We'll need to maybe buy one or two and see if they fit first.
DeleteOhhhh, fun!!!!
ReplyDeleteI hope you share pictures with us if possible.
God bless.