When we were looking for our new place we never thought we’d end with a project as big as we have. I was up for a bit of painting and though Mark is a little handier with a toolbox than I am, we decided that somewhere that needed a few licks of paint here and there was as far as we would stretch. Then we saw this place, fell in love and before you know it we had a home on our hands that had red walls, purple wallpaper, crappy electrics and a kitchen and bathroom that needed ripping out and starting from scratch. With the kitchen now being the most complete room in the flat, eating a bowl of muesli and sitting up to the table in the morning has never felt so good after all the sweaty afternoons scrapping those bloomin’ walls. It’s taken a fair few months but it’s now in a liveable and functional condition and after posting a picture on Instagram there were calls for a kitchen tour (and heart eye emojis galore – thank you!) – so here it is…
We’ve gone for straight-up white matte walls throughout the flat, so the paint picking part was easy. The tiling choosing was a quick one too because we’d fallen in love with our neighbour’s white hexagonal tiles with grey grout floor that we can see through their window (stalker alert!), so once we found a place that stocked them we were well away. A couple of packs of white subway tiles for the walls? Sorted. Picking a kitchen was the difficult bit and we went everywhere. In the end we went with a local place and chose glossy grey handle-less cabinets with a bamboo worktop (side note: I’m not sure I would ever go for a wood work surface again, being a clumsy wotsit I scratch it about 10 times a day so Mark is constantly sanding and re-oiling it – ain’t nobody got time for that – though I do love how it looks and how it adds a bit of warmth to things).
In terms of what’s out on the sides, there’s a mixture of Dualit and Magimix electrical goods because I think they rock, though my favourite purchase was our Dualit Kettle which seems to be a real people pleaser when others visit the flat, perhaps because it’s all shiny and buffs up well? Mark’s obsessed with buffing it which always makes me giggle. In our old place I got this Wine Cooler from John Lewis that I thought was a utensil holder so we’ve reused that and keeping up with the ‘looks like marble, but isn’t marble’ theme, I picked up this Chopping Board from Burt’s that stops me putting hot pans on the new surfaces and is very handy for making cups of tea on.
We knew we were never going to get all matchy matchy with the wood in any of the rooms, so went for an oak table and bench with two Eames Style Chairs in Marine Blue because things were getting a little too monochrome in there. We both agree that the chairs are one of our favourite purchases for the flat so far. Super cheap, super comfortable and in a fun colour that isn’t too whacky. Continuing on with the turquoise theme we went for a John Lewis Patterned Runner, John Lewis Grey Placemats that we already had at the last place and some marble-style Marks & Spencer’s Coasters to add some texture. As the plates we had were from Mark’s Uni house and were all chipped we updated our ceramics stash and went for the Marks & Spencer’s Tribeca Range for our plates, bowls etc etc. I’m kind of obsessed with H&M’s vases too and I’m loving this Copper & Black Vase at the moment stuffed with sunflowers, and I think that rounds off all table goods.
Kitchen tour – DONE. Now it’s time to crack on with that bathroom…
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