Kitchen Makeover

Hey m'dears! 

As promised on Sunday, today I'm sharing the before/after shots from my kitchen makeover. Kitchen makeovers are one of my favourite things in the whole wide world, so I'm particularly excited about finally having one of my own to share :) 

I never actually intended to paint our kitchen, because we're planning to build a country style kitchen-diner extension at some point in the distant future when we can afford it. Then we decided to get floorboards laid on our ground floor, which meant I either had to paint the hideous pine cupboards or be OK with the kitchen looking like a sauna. 

I can hear you thinking "Enough already with setting the context- show me some photographs!", so let's get this party started with some photos of the "before":

Delightful, wasn't it? I don't know which bit I loved most - the peaches-and-mustard wallpaper, dated floral motifs, or fake-tan-orange and brown colour scheme. I started off by painting the walls white, then did the same with the tiles. I also changed the ugly blind for something a little less traditional, and gave our whiteboard a mini-makeover. That just left the cupboards, carcasses, skirting boards, door frames, trim and handles... Simple, eh? 

So that's what I did last week:

The new handles were a mini DIY project on their own, after I realised the handles I wanted would cost £250(!) due to having 22 doors/ drawers in our kitchen. I bought some plain wooden discs and a piece of dowel from ebay, Tom cut and screwed them together to make the handles, and I painted them all in different colours. 

I love that the handles have become the main feature of the kitchen due to everything else being white like a regular, grown-up kitchen. Well, almost everything... Remember this wallpaper?

I've lined the backs of all the top cupboards with it, and the inside panels of every door. Teehee. 

I also decided to treat us to a new kitchen bin, replacing the rather revolting swing-top office bin we've been using since moving in four years ago. I found this beauty at Dunelm Mill:

I reckon one final reminder of the before/after comparison is in order to finish this off:

What do you think?

Katie xxx

P.S. If you want a peep at some other rooms in our house you can find them in my House Tour posts.