Monday 30 December 2013

Renovation: my 'new' vintage kitchen OR what has kept me busy for the last 5 months...

I have been wishing for a new kitchen for a while, I inherited a '70's' one (partly updated in the '90's'), which featured an orange patterned ceramic tiled floor as well as what can only be described as a wooden 'stage' in the corner that I wasn't very fond of... anyway, I came to realise that the kitchen fairies were not going to visit and that I was never going to be able to save any money to do it up, so I took the plunge in August of this year and decided to just rip it all out (it would have to get done then surely!) I gave myself a deadline of Christmas which seemed reasonable and a budget of a maximum of £1000 spread over 5 months (overly optimistic but necessary).

ready to rip (out):

ripped out & plastering started:
note:- no sink for 3 months...


and (almost) finished:









What's left? Just the small matter of one door on my belfast sink unit, wavy glass needs replacing with clear & frosted vinyl, 2 pieces of skirting board... oh and a ceiling rose that I possibly may be laser cutting... THEN a rest for me and my helpers!

About the budget...I went over; by 100%! Total kitchen cost approximately £2000 (including nearly all thats in it); not bad really when a lot of people pay £15,000+ for a new swish fitted kitchen... I wonder how the hell I actually HAD £2000; I do think it's almost a miracle... the biggest chunks of money had to pay for a) some muscle to pull out the old carcasses, b) the plastering (biggest cost) c) about £150 on PAINT - how expensive is paint??!!! d) I got my Smeg from eBay for £300  e) my other furniture totalled £380 (from eBay over some time)and was cleaned and repainted. 

I was really lucky in that my family & friends include a plumber, an electrician, and an all round very handy man who laid the floor, did the extra panelling, built the sink unit, fitted the skirting boards (free from a reclamation yard) and put up the wall units etc. Incidentally the wall units came from 'Oz' - a second hand/junk place in Hartlepool; (a treasure trove of old fabulous stuff) for I think £30 each, with the (only a bit broken) original glass (but filthy); the pile of porcelain evaporating dishes (chemistry lab) were also from there, along with some vintage cutlery and numerous other non essentials!

Other notes about where I sourced items:

  • The cafe curtains are made from stitched together printed muslin seed bags from a car-boot sale (Seaham)
  • The green formica table was bought last minute on eBay £20.00 & collected from Prudhoe, Northumberland in very bad weather
  • I made stencils and spray painted the numbers & red cross on the cupboard which was an old shop counter from eBay (delivered by seller from Darlington) £60 approx.
  • The butchers block/trolley was £7 from eBay, I just had to collect from Consett, Co. Durham and paint it.
  • Most of the things in and on the cupboards are what I have accumulated and collected over the years, the most recent additions are mostly from York car-boot sale and a collector friend who was moving to New Zealand
  • Skirting boards: part of an old gymnasium floor (free because they weren't the straightest of pieces)
  • Belfast sink from an old school art college; picture will follow when door is attached!
I am very happy with my new kitchen but please don't tell me it looks like a museum set, it wasn't the intention- it just happens that I love old things...





Friday 20 December 2013

Where I left off...

and now I'm back, from outer space...
So please peruse at your leisure some images (click for full size) from our trip to Cuba in the summer... these were all taken in Old Havana except the beach which is Varadero. Needless to say it was purely AMAZING...