Hi there, and welcome

Following my opening post which I hope gave you an insight into all things important to me (well aside from family and friends which goes without saying of course!) , I thought I would continue with my latest project.

As mentioned in my first post, having completed the interior design institute on-line diploma towards the end of last year – mostly because I find the subject endlessly fascinating but also to prove to myself that indeed I could apply myself to distant learning and follow the course through to the end and gain the certificate!  The course became like an old friend over the couple of years it took me to complete and I learnt such a lot that once I had finished it, and after a break for Christmas, I went on to sign up for one of their advanced modules in Home Staging.  Home Staging is mostly used by stylists and interior designers when dressing a property for sale – to make the property  appeal to a wide range of purchasers who can envisage the house suiting their lifestyles.

For my assignment I have to choose a room to update and dress for sale.  I have decided for this to be our kitchen as I feel this is a weak point in our house.  I make no secret of the fact that in the future I would love to move to somewhere a little further in the country to look out on green fields – it may be pipe dreams but if we were to put our house up for sale then the kitchen would be the room to dress.  Now, before I go any further I must add that this is an interim step as again, in my dreams, what I would really like to do is to knock through into the dining room – take down an old conservatory we have at the back of the house – add a small extension in line with another we have to the side of the house – and have a large open plan kitchen/diner with bi-fold doors onto the garden.  However, as we have not won the lottery nor the premium bonds – the steps I am making are the next best thing.  Please check out my Pinterest page for my dream kitchen looks My dream kitchen board

So, here are a few pictures of my kitchen prior to my update.  Basically it is a perfectly good kitchen but unfortunately stuck in the nineties with all that varnished pine that is not so fashionable these days, and quite dark.

My initial thoughts were to buy some furniture paint which says on the tin no need for sanding down – just paint straight onto the doors.  In my naivety I hoped this were true but unfortunately this has turned into a much larger and more expensive project than I had hoped!  Hubby jumped into the rescue and basically dismantled the unit doors and trims – and hung them as an art installation in the garage!

Here they have been sanded, wiped down and painted with 3 coats of undercoat before 2 coats of the furniture paint – what a job!  I was hoping to get the work done over the Easter break as I had a few extra days off but I have now had to return to work and hubby has been a hero finishing things off for me.  He has finished the standing units in the kitchen and hopefully will be moving onto the doors next week.  We have decided to repaint all the kitchen walls as well as purchasing new door and drawer knobs as the original ones were worn out after 18 years of use!  We are also replacing the worn out kickboards with some nice new chrome legs opting for the more open look that is popular today.  Here is a photo of progress to date, I am so pleased with my lighter, brighter units

Lovely new off-white units

I have been gathering thoughts in my mind as to the finished look of the kitchen and have made a sample board through Olioboard as below:

Unfortunately I could not find the exact items I had in mind but it gives you an idea of some of the accessories I will be looking to source to give the room a more relaxed lived-in vibe to bring in the idea of living/eating in the room that appeals to people these days.  The idea of home staging is that you de-personalise your rooms, so that when prospective buyers come to view they can imagine themselves living in the space.  So to take my photographs for my assignment I will take out the few photo frames that I normally have on display but shall return them afterwards to make the space special to our family.  I wish I could replace the kitchen floor tiles as I am so over them but when I looked into painting them I decided that they could get easily chipped and likewise with placing some vinyl over the top I read that through use the lines of the tiles show through so I have decided to purchase a complimentary flat weave rug to lay down and cosy things up a bit.

Well we have a lot of work to do and I also have to wait until next pay day to purchase all the accessories!  However I am hoping that we will finish the room by the end of the month as I am hoping to start on the next room during May! Yes, I have plans for my house this year – putting all that I have learnt into action!  So I will come back to my kitchen in a few weeks to show you the finished result, just hoping that it is enough to pass my assignment!