Wednesday 30 April 2014

The kitchen... not the best start...

You might be forgiven for thinking my kitchen is rather lovely...


It's really not. This is a pretend kitchen I made by leaning a bench against our one good wall and covering the joins with kitchenalia.

My kitchen isn't worthy of a nice splashback just yet. But for my next trick, using nothing but the power of my mind, some planks of wood and a tin of paint, I'm going to create a splendid kitchen makeover. I hope.

Here's the before...

It's never this tidy





This is an eighties extension with an eighties kitchen. There's not much about it that I like.


The cupboards are in good condition apart from the one under the sink whose bottom rotted due to a leak before we bought the house.



They're a bit dated though. As are the tiles, the floor, the ceiling and the sink.


Oh, and the worktops too.



Door to the garden.

This wall is okay because I already pulled off all the tiles and clad it in easipanel. That was back in  September 2012 and you can read about it here.

I painted the ceiling, stripped some wallpaper and coved this end of the kitchen. Then I got bored. 

Door to the office. Never even painted it.
The problem is, this is just the new extension. There's another part which was the old kitchen. 


This sits between the extension and the dining room.






Door to dining room, really ugly radiator and pantry that you must stoop to enter.


As you can see, I've stripped most of the wallpaper off. The walls beneath are dreadful. I've never really managed to get very far with the kitchen. The combination of dust and food prep is not a good one. Because it's basically two long thin rooms back to back there are lots of cupboards, bad walls and it seems a mountain of a task.

But I can't put it off any longer. I want to fit a splashback and I need a nice kitchen to do it proud.

I've made a start but it did go slightly wrong. The wall on the left of the door above was tiled. I pulled those off and started to remove the skirting. The skirting runs under the cabinets and I couldn't get it out. It moved very slowly like it might be secured to something. We wondered if it might be electric cables. We could see cables were behind the cabinets. Anyway, after much tugging, I gave up and sawed the skirting off.

The next day I could smell burning in that area. A kind of plasticcy electriccy smouldering smell.

I decided that the only way to see if I'd upset a cable was to dismantle the kitchen and look behind the cabinets. My husband was a bit cross.


I took off the worktop, wrestled with the drawers, unfastened the units from each other, unfastened the units from the wall and slid them out.

The cables were well away from the skirting and there was no sign of any damage having been done.

Pleased that the house wasn't going to burn down after all, I popped into town to run some errands. Then I had to rebuild the kitchen before the school run.

I then realised the burning smell was probably from the under cabinet lighting that was grimy and dusty and that I'd tried to fix by swapping the bulbs around. Oops.

So Day 2 saw no progress whatsoever apart from having vacuumed some cobwebs out from behind the units. But I do know how to build kitchen cabinets and deal with an electrical fire now. ( I rang my dad. Poor dad. I think he thought I was in the midst of a fire.)

Next time I'll share my plans for this space.I'm praying we don't have any more mishaps!

THANK YOU for all your kind comments, messages and encouragement on my last post! You rock.




30 comments:

  1. SNAP.....I think we have the same designer from the 80's.. SIGHHHHHHHHH...I want my last beautiful WHITE kitchen from the last house back xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What will you do Meg? I know you're doing lots of work on your house. Will you put a new one in? xx

      Delete
    2. Paint existing cupboards white, pull out one row and put in a square island with new sink but floor will then have to be redone in most of the house,new bench tops in the latest laminex in colour called carrera marble which we put in the laundry. Problem is we are now mortgage free where as in the last house we just extended the mortgage.We have already built a walk in pantry and put in a fancy french pendant and a new dishwasher.

      Delete
  2. Girl ... you rock! I am always SO impressed by how you 'give it a go'! Looking forward to seeing what you do and how ...
    M x

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm exhausted just thinking about it! But I have total faith in you, Emma Kate, I'm sure your new kitchen will look amazing - eventually! That little pantry door isn't a portal into John Malkovich's mind, is it? Or perhaps Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's... Don't go in there! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. So much scope for imagination Emma Kate but where to start!!! I agree, your fab splashback needs something totally amazing to do it justice and, because I don't think I commented on your last post, I am completely in love with it and would love one in my kitchen if I ever get as far as sorting it out.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think that lighting is very important. It can change how a room looks.



    Eglo Buitenlampen & Goedkope sierbestrating

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mark, can you possibly invent me a spotlight track that fits the exact footprint of an old strip light? It will mean I don't have to replaster my ceiling. You will make MILLIONS!!!

      Delete
    2. Stupid question, but is there such a thing as a long, oblong ceiling rose? Like a Rich Tea Finger Biscuit, but made of plaster? xxx

      Delete
  6. But - oh my - what a lovely collection of wooden chopping boards you have! Jane x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, you never know when you might need 17 chopping boards. It's good to stock up in case of a shortage I think. x

      Delete
  7. your 80's kitchen is nicer than my 80's kitchen. But that strip light is Vile. I have just one solitary bulb in the middle of the ceiling but it's better than a strip! I would have to wear a helmet made of silver foil to work in there. Looking forward to seeing what you do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's one in each half of the kitchen and I think the delightful porridge effect on the ceiling may have been applied around them. When they come off, I'll have gaps in my porridge. And that's not a good look either...X

      Delete
    2. I had a wooden pipe boxing in thing ripped out of a bathroom and that left a bald patch on the ceiling, a builder dabbled gungy plastery paint on it and it doesn't show unless I lie in the bath and stare at that corner. The sooner artex and woodchip come back in to fashion the better.

      Delete
    3. Ah, so it's not so difficult to patch? I could always flick a bit of porridge at it if it doesn't work.

      Delete
    4. I don't think it would show if you use the right size of lumpy artex, or if it did, how about making a painted wooden thin plinth for a new lights to be fixed to - like an oblong ceiling rose, maybe two bits of skirting board butted up.

      Delete
    5. I'd worry about it catching fire.
      You said you improved your cabinets by taking off all the cornices etc? Do you have before and afters of this? I'd love to see because I'm thinking of adding a new cornice... xx

      Delete
    6. http://www.pinterest.com/chalkysoil/inside-my-house-dust-n-all/. My brother in law saw the before and after and said "wow have you had The House Doctor in?!!" Part of the problem was the kitchen had been relocated from a B&Q showroom in a C shape and none of the cornice lengths were long enough for the long run, and I could see the joins.
      ps the peacock splash back was a large glass clip frame with a poster in it...

      Delete
    7. You're a star, thank you Teri. I'll check it out later. x

      Delete
  8. The first thing I'd have done would be to rip the kitchen out, I have a hatred of fitting kitchens. I bet it'll look amazing by the time you've finished with it! x

    ReplyDelete
  9. I feel your pain. I would love a new kitchen, but I'm going to have to make do with the ' revamped for £220' one for quite a while. We're saving to have ugly radiators, which are identical to yours and beginning to corrode, replaced. It feels never ending :(

    ReplyDelete
  10. I hate my fitted kitchen. Unfortunately it's in really good condition. I can't convince hubby that we need a new one. I might try dismantling it while he's at work and saying it fell apart. That'd be popular.

    I can't wait to see what you do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, I like your thinking! You could dismantle it with a sledgehammer telling him you thought perhaps there was a fire behind the cupboards. Like me!

      Delete
  11. If anyone can do it, you certainly can x

    ReplyDelete
  12. I used to have your lino! When I did up my kitchen I only replaced the cupboard doors and the lino and that cost me a fortune! Well, my kind of fortune...! You are so creative i can' wait to see what you come up with! x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The cost of 'cheap' cupboard door replacement is STAGGERING! xx

      Delete

I love to hear your comments!