Anyone that follows me on Instagram will know that I made sure my kitchen and dining room were looking ‘insta worthy’ about 48 hours after moving in. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it, it’s my favourite room in the house and the most sociable space too, so I was desperate to give it a quick and affordable update! Here are the few easy and budget friendly steps we took to give the kitchen and dining room an interior update and make it more our taste (this did take longer than 48 hours!).
Added a Feature Wall - The original kitchen diner was a little bland for my liking, there were pale cabinets, pale walls and a pale floor, and then striking black granite worktops. It needed a bit more contrast to balance out the light colours, so we decided to paint the back wall as a feature wall. I usually don’t love a feature wall but in this house I’ve really come around to them, and they work well in larger rooms to create some definition. We painted this wall in Farrow and Ball Downpipe. I also painted the rest of the kitchen an off white, which was Dulux White Cotton, as the previous colour had a lilac tinge to it.
Updated Door Handles - The original kitchen door handles were copper and stood out like a sore thumb against the rest of the metallics in the room, they simply didn’t fit in with the rest of decor. We decided to do a little DIY update on these rather than replace them, and try our hand at spray painting. I wanted to go dark, again to break up the pale, so we chose Rustoleum spray paint in Gunmetal. Technically you’re supposed to use a primer first but I didn’t bother with that (impatient and impulsive). It was so easy to do, we simply stood them up on a large sheet of cardboard in the garden (really don’t do it inside - it goes everywhere), and sprayed! We did 3 coats to ensure they were really well covered, and once they were touch dry, turned them over to do the underside. I’d recommend waiting 24 hours before reattaching the handles so that they’re really dry and you don’t scuff them. They’ve been done for at least a month now and they still look perfect with no scratches or scuffs. This was a great and cheap alternative to replacing the handles, and only cost £20 for 2 cans of spray paint (I ran out of the first can with two handles to go - grr.)
Rustoleum Gunmetal Spray Paint
Accessories - My go to accessories for a room always include candles and greenery - the green adds in a nice natural feel, and the candles add ambience and mood lighting. In the kitchen, I added some faux plants on the windowsill from The Range, and I found these amazing hurricane vases from Ikea and put pillar candles inside them. I was so pleased with these purchases as I’d seen something similar in Neptune for about 6 times the price, and these were a bargain (just £7 for the large vase and its HUGE!). My trusty faux eucalyptus leaves added some colour to the dining table, and I bought a rubber plant to go in the corner of the kitchen diner in this gorgeous basket, also from Ikea.
Lighting - We are a big lover of Philips Hue lights in my home, and lighting plays such an important role in setting an atmosphere in a room. We added Hue bulbs to the lights over the dining table so that we could dim them during dinner for a more relaxed atmosphere (we need to find the perfect pendants still), and we put the Philips Hue strip light across the back of the sideboard. These strip lights instantly add a bit of fun to a room, they look really unique but are so easy to use, and they have a huge spectrum of colours to chose from! We always use ours as a feature for our ‘bar’ area and the light bounces of glasses and bottles nicely.
Furniture - When we moved into this house, we went from having a shoe box size dining room to a huge space (huge in our eyes anyway!), which absolutely swallowed up our small round dining table, so getting something bigger was pretty high up on our list of priorities. I was approached by Barker and Stonehouse to collaborate, and loving their products I jumped at the chance to receive one of their items. We knew that we wanted something really statement for the dining table, so after browsing the website came across the absolutely huge concrete table. The colour of it works perfectly with the room and with my existing dining chairs, and its big enough to seat 6 so I can finally host dinner parties! It’s very imposing, but I love furniture that stands out and doesn’t blend in to the background. Being gifted the table of course made the upgrade more budget friendly than it otherwise would have done, but Barker and Stonehouse have a fantastic range of really reasonably priced tables, particularly given the size of some of them!
Next on the agenda is to finish off the bedroom and the living room, so watch this space for more interior updates!
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Karly x
