When your home needs a little work or you’ve just moved house, you can often find yourself wondering where on earth to start. Not only do you want to make sure that everyone has somewhere suitable and comfortable to sleep, but you also want to get the communal living space up to scratch too. It’s not always easy to figure out where you want to start, but there is one room that we all want to stand out, function well and look impressive and that's the kitchen.
When the kids rooms are sorted and you’ve got your living space done, it’s time to tackle the kitchen. If you’re thinking about sprucing yours this summer too, you’re probably on the lookout for a few ideas to get you started. Sometimes, you don’t want to rip everything out and start afresh, it's a lot of work and costly, so, instead, work on small and simple changes that can go a long way, with little effort. To give you a healthy dose of inspiration, here are a few things that you may just like to try.
Repaint
If your kitchen looks sad and tired, one of the easiest ways to transform it quickly and simply is to repaint. When you first take in a kitchen, it’s often the cabinets that you see first so as well as a quick freshen up on the walls, adding a new colour or touching up and old paint job on the cabinets makes a HUGE difference. Firstly, pick out the main color for your theme to decorate with, prepare the surfaces and get painting! Ours went from a 90's style varnished wood, to a gorgeous antique cream and it almost looked like a brand new kitchen! Here's our before and after. Not the best photo but you get the idea!
Change The Cabinet Handles
Once you’re happy with your cabinet color and look, it's time for the perfect finishing touch. Why not think about changing the handles too? Sometimes, a simple change is all it takes to give your kitchen a new lease of life. You might like to go with vintage handles to add charm or something modern to transform the look. We went from big chunky varnished pine knobs, to sleek gun metal mini ones which took it from looking old and tired to modern and fresh.
Get new cabinets or doors
If that’s not going to be enough for your tired kitchen cupboards and you want a complete change, then why not get entirely new cabinets or doors altogether? If you’ve got the budget, it’s a small price to pay for a totally new look. Just be sure to shop around and find the right style that can create the beautiful new look you want. It always surprises me how cheap replacement doors and cabinets can be but they truly transform the space.
Use Wallpaper
Another often overlooked option you have to spruce up your kitchen is to use wallpaper. Wallpaper used to be seen as old-fashioned or fussy, but it’s a great tool to use when you want a striking effect with a huge variety of patterns and textures available now. If you want to add some color or a statement wall to your kitchen space, look into different wallpaper designs that can help you achieve the look. From shabby chic wood paneling designs, bold stripes and whacky illustrations, a simple feature wall gives you the chance to add a splash of colour and personality to suit you and your family.
Reorganise the space
Another simple yet effective trick is to move things around. Sometimes, you’ll find that your kitchen just doesn’t seem to look and feel right, but, when you move around even just the smaller things on your counter, or change the layout in some way, it could make a huge difference. You may even want to change the small appliances completely while you're having a sort out to keep with the new look of the room.
Look For A New Countertop
Next, you may want to think about opting for a new kitchen counter. If you’ve managed to save the cabinets, but you still hate the counter, you may be able to justify the expense. If you think new counters are still out of your budget, then think again! You can hit the free sites for pre loved tops or head down to your local DIY store where you may just be surprised how cheap laminates can be. If you're pretty handy and can fit them yourself then that's even better! We went from a dark green marble to a light wood effect and it completely transformed the room.
Change your sink
When your kitchen is old and rundown, you may find that some of the fittings and fixtures are really bringing down the look of the room too. You may want to think about replacing certain things, like the sink which was something that stood out like a rather gross looking sore thumb in ours. Specialist retailers such as Tap Warehouse have stunning designs that can often slot easily into an existing kitchen design and they are surprisingly easy to fit.
Add new taps
If opting for a whole new sink seems like a step too far, you may want to think about just changing the taps. It may seem like a really small adjustment to make, and in a way it is, but you’d be surprised by the difference it can make to your kitchen and there's something nice about having a nice clean new one instead of the one you inherited with the house. By changing an old tap and adding in a more modern design, you can completely change the look and feel of your sink and brighten up the room even more.
Splurge on some new appliances
If you're lucky enough to be in the position to do so, it may pay off to invest in new appliances. If you’ve just moved in, this may be something you need to do anyway if you don't have them built in. There are so many ways that you can practically add in new appliances, without costing the earth or adding too much work for yourself. Whether you’re disguising them within cupboards, or keeping them on show, investing in the right domestic appliances can make or break your kitchen design. If you can't afford new, see if there are ways to clean up or improve the look of your old ones.
Add an island
If you’ve got enough space and you want to break up the room, why not think about adding in an island to the room or a central butcher's block? Sometimes, you need to close up a space in order for it to look right. More often than not, adding in a butcher's block or an island is an incredible way to modernize a kitchen and inject some style as well as giving you much needed extra surface space.
Upgrade your flooring
Finally, the last thing that you might want to look at when it comes to sprucing up your home is the flooring. The impact of having the right flooring is huge once again and can completely change the look and light of the space. When you’ve got a tatty old floor, it can bring all the other aspects of the design down too. So, take a look at flooring options that can not only work for the room itself but be suitable for your family and their needs too. With a new floor in place, your kitchen should finally feel complete and can even be done in a day!
Will you be attempting any kitchen makeovers this Summer?
*This is a collaborative post.
