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Re-create the heart of your home in just a couple of days
Kitchens can be tricky to renovate; if you’re living in the house you want to fix up you can’t have a kitchen out of action for long. So pack the kids off to the grandparents, get your neighbors to look after the pets, and roll up your sleeves to revamp your kitchen in one weekend.
Before the Weekend:
Choose Your Color
This is something that is best done before you start your weekend, make sure you spend a good amount of time deciding to make sure you won’t regret your decision and have all the paint bought and ready to go.
When choosing a kitchen color scheme, keep in mind that the surface will get dirty, choose something that will be easy to clean, it doesn’t necessarily have to hide dirt but it should be easily wiped down. Be careful of bold colors like bright red or orange as they may seem like a good idea at the time, but date quickly, and can overwhelm a smaller space, making it seem darker and more cramped. Pay close attention to how different colors can affect your moods. In a kitchen you want something that is restful but energizing, a color scheme that inspires creativity is particularly useful for budding chefs.
In smaller kitchens (or in my opinion all kitchens) it’s best to go for neutral colors like soft grays, which are very popular this year, and add splashes of color with art or features.
Decide on your features
You could buy some funky second hand door handles for the cupboards, or choose a cool stencil to put on certain cupboard doors as a feature. If you have room, such as a high shelf, some funky vases in bright colors can really liven up a kitchen, deep greens in particular always look amazing against whites and grays. Do you want to go for a modern look? A retro mid-century modern look? Contemporary? These are some of the questions you’ll have to answer before you begin your redesign of your kitchen. Retro dining chairs are all the rage and companies like Emfurn specialize in both mid-century and modern, so they’re worth checking out. If you’re on a budget, Ikea is always a great option.
If you’ve got the handyman know-how (and a bit of extra cash) you could try a DIY installation of some new appliances, just make sure you know what you’re doing and have the appropriate licenses for whatever you’re doing.
– Make sure you have everything you need well before you start your weekend so you’re not wasting valuable time running back and forth to the hardware store.
Friday Evening:
Clean out your cupboards
Remove all extraneous garbage from around the kitchen area. Are there things there that don’t need to be? Can they be relocated to a more appropriate location in the house?
Sort out the kitchen cabinets and do a clean out, are there any doubles of things you don’t use often, how many pots do you really need? Are you realistically ever likely to use the big pot that makes pasta sauce for 50 people in your flat that can only ever hold 5 guests?
Be brutal, you can always put things you’re unsure of aside in a box and if you find you need them later return them to their spot.
Saturday Morning
Scrub
Now that you’ve cleaned out all the rubbish that doesn’t need to be there you need to create your blank slate. Give cupboards a good wash, depending on the type of surface, scrub everything down with sugar soap, this is particularly helpful if you’re planning on painting later.
Saturday afternoon
Paint
Make sure you have the right brushes or a roller for the effect you want and don’t skimp on the base coat, as this will ensure your new color is even and looks professional. Do at least 2 coats of color but make sure you have enough paint for three just in case. You could also consider using a topcoat to give your new paint job a particular effect such as a matte or shine.
When painting, cover everything you don’t want splattered with paint with drop sheets and tape them down, also tape your skirting boards and power sockets to keep them paint free.
Sunday
It’s more than likely you will still be painting at this stage especially if you have a large kitchen and will be doing several coats. It’s worth taking the time to do things properly. Once the paint is dry (and not before) you can start decorating with your features whatever you’ve decided on. If you can, make sure the paint is dry before you bring children and or pets back into the home, as the last thing you want is little fingerprints or pet hairs on your freshly painted kitchen cabinets.