my finished kitchen !!!

At last it's done. Can you believe we actually started it in June, but then life got in the way ie. working for a living, and choices to be made, with finances taken into account.

Just a couple of notes first -

1)   We DON'T really like the unit doors, BUT financially we couldn't do everything.
Our biggest expense was having a new boiler and having it moved, including all the pipework.
It cost loads and added to the other necessary items, the doors will have to stay for now.
I know I can paint them, but these doors are a horrible kind of plastic shrink wrap and I don't think the paint would survive - not in our household anyway !!!

What we did change -
the oven and hob,
the sink and taps,
the work surfaces,
the back door,
the flooring,
and the fridge freezer.

Then we added a couple of new units, shelving, the cupboard door, and the wall covering.

My old geezer in a BEFORE pic. Luckily his 12 year old daughter took these photos of her Dad at work as I took none - I didn't blog then !!!

You can just see the fridge freezer that used to be in the space on the left at the back, and the boiler.

The ceiling had been re-plastered ages ago and we hoped to have at least one wall of exposed bricks, but they weren't any good.

THE AFTER - a shot taken at virtually the same angle.

Another BEFORE shot.

There's the ghastly old boiler, the dropped ceiling, that accommodates a section of the stairs, and three layers of tiles, that the old geezer is trying to prise off.

And AFTER.

The wall units came from the other side (they seriously blocked out the light).

One new double unit at the end. A new fridge and freezer (well actually second hand off ebay, but in very good condition). Re-purposed wood into new shelves (no cost). And of course a new work top.

Before this, there were two butchers blocks and a little drinks fridge here - so hardly any work top at all. And also there was yet another inbuilt cupboard at the end, but we blocked this off because it can be reached via the hall.

And the last BEFORE shot I have.

Old oven and extractor fan, beech effect doors AND work top AND floor actually !

And NOW.

My nice new induction hob and oven. Less cupboards getting in my way. New 'cashmere white' worktop - it's the best we could find for our budget.

Another view. The wall units used to be here blocking out the light !

My new ceramic sink (ebay), and taps (local diy store) and OOPS I've forgotten to silicone round the sink (truthfully I've been putting it off because it's not easy stuff to use).

Also apologies - please don't look out the window. The 'lean to' (not posh enough to be called a conservatory) needs some serious work.

I love my little fan, but even more I love the little pully system that opens the top window.

This house was built in 1935 and this is original, so I can't bring myself to re-string it or change the 'ends', but perhaps I should ?

Other favourite things - my little hooks,

Painted white of course.

My duallit toaster - a gift ! Everyone should have a best friend like Pandy.

My £3.00 shelf, which I wrote about here

And the doors I wrote about here

and here

And I'm loving the new darker laminate - you can see the old one in the hall in this picture.

We have enough of this to do the whole ground floor, and it was on sale. What would have cost us about £500, cost us £250 - for the whole lot.

So, it's done YIPEE. I love my new kitchen and so it's onto the hall - I may just be injecting a little bit of colour, and thanks if you stayed for the whole post. You know what it's like though - keeping a diary like this is quite a cathartic process.

Thanks to everyone who visits x

comments xx

follows xxx

All the best to all of you for 2012

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more kitchen doors

Yet another day trying to finish the kitchen.

Trouble was - my old geezer was working in the kitchen too, trying to fit the kick boards, and managing to get paint on his clothes

FROM MY FRESHLY PAINTED BACK DOOR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANYWAY.........

These little doors, are the hatch into our living room. You can just see the christmas mantle.

We did think of filling this space in, but if I go into the kitchen I can still see the tv,

and pass through a cup of tea. I'd miss it if it were gone.

Sorry, they look so tatty, and one of the hinges is broken.

They were really roughly made with hardboard attached on both sides, and one of these fell off some time ago.

If you have read my profile, you may now believe me when I say that we seriously neglected our home for four years !!!

I measured them up for mdf and then my old geezer said 'can't we use these doors and just fix them'.

A eureka moment - why didn't I think of that. So I took the other piece of hardboard off.

Found some wood in the shed - broken up ready to use in our log burner.

Got the old geezer to cut them up. Slight mis-calculation, so he had to cut up two extra pieces - but hey, I like the patchwork look !

Some white paint (I know more WHITE), a bit of distressing, a fixed hinge and all cleaned up,

and two little ceramic knobs (in my box of tricks) and

HEY PRESTO.........

My little rustic doors. And yes, the centre panel does stand proud, but I'm still happy.

I actually have a little extra idea for them, but that involves probably having to order something on the net, so that little project is for another day.

And the cost - a big fat ZERO.

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A FOOTNOTE : my old geezer knows I call him this, he doesn't mind !

He just happens to be thirteen years older than me, but he's a great fixer (though not a great finisher - that's where I come in), and is always, always busy. Mostly he plays his guitar,

and if you want to see him, check out BUCKLERS REEL on YouTube.

He's the one doing most of the singing and strumming his guitar (not the one on the bongo drum, if you happen to click on that clip !)

So while he's strumming, I'm blogging - it's a happy household !!!!!

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panelled door

We didn't quite manage to finish the kitchen before Christmas, so I'm trying to finish all the little bits off now. Our boiler is now in a cupboard that originally housed the fridge freezer. There was no door atall as the fridge stood in the doorway itself with alot of wasted space behind.

So we had a piece of mdf cut to size, as it is quite a small opening - and then I spent some time considering how to make it look more interesting.

Doors unpainted, no skirting and no laminate floor.

Walls finished here but doors only primed and a dust sheet on new laminate.

I wanted to panel the door and strengthen it, so that we could attach the ikea iron and board holder.

I found some very thin (6mmx92mmx2400mm) pine strips in the local diy store and decided to use the screw holes on the iron holder as a guide for the spacing. That way the screws could be a little bit deeper than the 1/2 inch mdf and use the extra strength of the pine.

I cut two long pieces to run vertically and then six pieces to run horizontally. I used gripper and then small tacks. It took a little while to get the spacing right. I think I was just trying to wing it, but decided on good old fashioned maths, in the end !

I placed the wood about 4mm from the edge all the way around, to accomodate the hinges.

It worked out pretty well and only took about an hour.

Then today I painted a few layers of white.

We also finished the skirting, and the white looks great with the darker laminate floor.

And I looked through a box of old knobs (unwanted items, that I find on decorating jobs), and found the perfect glass knob.

I even left the old paint on it, as I like the idea that someone else used it for years. And best of all, it cost me nothing.

I finished painting the 'boxing in' that covers some pipes that run to the boiler, which is now housed in the cupboard.

I now just have a couple of other small finishes. I need to paint the back door again, and add a draught excluder (and take the plastic off the window that you might have noticed) and fill and touch up the beading that I have run all around the worktop.

And .........................................................................................

tomorrow, there is always tomorrow .............

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