Let’s talk about the kitchen

Considering it’s the room we spend the most time in it’s a bit of a travesty that our kitchen is the last one we’ve touched since moving into our home over two a half years ago. At the time I don’t think we realised quite how bad it was. It’s the smallest room in the house, and the darkest, despite an interior window looking through into the light-filled open plan dining room.

I don’t want to sully this post with photos of my kitchen as it currently is. Obviously there’ll be before and after photos once the makeover is complete, but for now you’ll have to imagine a really dark and dated kitchen straight from 1993, complete with peeling plastic laminated cupboards, grubby glass-fronted doors and light-sucking ugly blue, red and yellow tiles.

We looked into the cost of ripping out our current kitchen and getting a brand new one put in, but we simply couldn’t afford the one we wanted. A new kitchen would mean a compromise and it seemed silly spending thousands of pounds on something we weren’t 100% in love with.

However, that doesn’t mean we’re happy to stick with what we’ve got. So instead, we’ve decided to do a DIY makeover job and get creative, transforming our dark, dated and dysfunctional space into something light and airy with pops of colour, plenty of greenery and – finally – some proper storage!

We’re going to be working with a leading paint company to show what you can do with a bit of creative thinking, some decent paint and a bit of hard work to transform a kitchen. So many people live with kitchens they hate, simply because they think they can’t afford the alternative. But our makeover will cost under £500 and be just as effective (OK, so we won’t have fancy new taps or carrera marble worktops, but it’ll be a whole lot better than the current kitchen situation).

Despite many long hours trawling the internet I’ve not quite been able to find the exact shade of turquoise I was hoping to paint the tiles, so we’re going for an all-white, bright and fresh base palette across the walls, cupboards and tiles. We’re going to get clever with some DIY tricks to cover the glass fronts on the cupboards, and invest in some new handles.

The fun will really begin when we turn our attention to the window (looking straight onto the wall of our neighbour’s house and letting in zero light) and an upcycled piece of driftwood I have big plans for. I want to accessorise the space with plenty of pops of colour to let it flow with the rest of the house, and we’re going to remove the glass in the interior window and create a breakfast bar area on the other side.

As with everything DIY, home renovation and family it won’t be done in a weekend. Anyone with young children will tell you these things take twice as long when kids are around. But I’m determined to finish by the end of November at the very latest. I want the busiest month of cooking – December – to be spent in a kitchen far removed from the one we currently have to live with!

Take a look at my moodboard of products below for an idea of the colours we’re going with in the new space…

Bebe blue patterned vase, £15, Habitat | Hanging planter, Etsy | Carrera tea for one teapot, £30, Oliver Bonas | Retro kitchen wall clock, Yellow Octopus | | Tapio ombre wine glasses, £30, Oliver Bonas | Legata pasta bowl, £8, Habitat | Gold kitchen hook rack, £39, Marquis & Dawe