We like renovating....mostly. Well, we do out of necessity. We own a small country general store and post office which my husband manages with the help of our couple of staff. It can be long hours and the past few years we have put in some long hard yards to get to where we are now. I am at home with the little ones managing things here. In a past life, I was a Registered Nurse.....That seems like a world ago! Most day I don't miss it one little bit. Anyway, it means we are restricted to a small budget which forces us to get creative. Which, as it turns out, is incredibly rewarding and satisfying. More so than we ever found buying things from the store. To be able to say "I made this" is simply awesome.
When we first bought this little place there was a terrible falling apart, mismatched, broken chipboard kitchen which was well beyond repair. It was water damaged, doors were falling off, draws were swollen shut and it was crumbly. It was part of the reason we got this house so cheap. here it is here...
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We couldn't afford to go out and buy a new kitchen. But the kitchen was only partly usable in the condition it was so I started looking on gumtree for kitchens. Only halfheartedly at the time. Then I realized how much fantastic quality stuff people upgrade because they don't like the color, or style or something else aesthetically minor. I found a beautifully made, solid, well-built timber kitchen, with a stainless smeg 5 burner gas cooker, electric oven, and dishwasher on ebay and we scored the lot for $1500. Grant drove to the house, picked it up and brought it home and ripped out our old one.
He then re-configured it so it fitted our kitchen. He stripped back the counters which we oiled and we painted the once dark timber kitchen a lovely duck-egg blue.
It even came with a good pantry which fitted perfectly against this wall. It still needs its top decorative edging replaced. It also came with a big solid kitchen breakfast bar which went well in our old shop as part of the old countertop. By doing up a more Traditional style kitchen we managed to not have to replace the floor tiles as they don't look out of place. We simply got in a professional cleaner with her industrial floor scrubber and this brought the grout back to its original color. This small job made a big difference and suddenly brought out the creamier tones in the tiles. Also by painting the kitchen a pretty pale blue it helped the floor seem more neutral as well rather than the grey/orange it originally looked. Everyone asked if we had changed the flooring just by a bit of careful consideration in our work, we altered the color palate and which colors were highlighted. We picked a simple white tile for the splashback which was the end of a lot and on clearance so saved money there again. We have got to paint the walls still and the timber work which will lighten it all again. All in all the entire kitchen reno, including labor for the gas/electrical, cost us about $2500.
It is a lovely kitchen to work in and has such a welcoming friendly feel. It is heavy and well built throughout and the Smeg appliances are by far the best I have ever used. The dishwasher we gave to my brother as we already had one. Renovating doesn't have to cost a fortune. It's AMAZING what you can find out there if your willing to think outside the square and do a bit of hard work! This is now how we buy most things if possible and we are saving HUGE money. I love the quirkiness up-cycling. There is a uniqueness about it which appeals to me!
Much love,
Emma
xx
