DIY Kitchen Makeover

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments on my kitchen makeover, I'm so thrilled you like the results of all my blood, sweat and numerous tears! Today as promised I'll go through all the details of what I did, how I did it and what I products I used.

So, the first step was to remove all the cabinet doors ready for painting. As I mentioned here, I bought myself an airless spray gun, and I tell you, that baby is worth its weight in gold! The most important advice I can give is to set up a mini spray booth - you do get a bit of overspray and for some reason I don't think I'd have been too popular if I'd painted everything else along with the doors!

Once you're all set up, give the doors a light sand before applying a coat of sealer/primer/undercoat. The best, in my opinion, is Zinsser's BIN 123. It's spirit based, dries quickly and can be used with any top coat. This was followed by two coats of Dulux Wash and Wear 101 acrylic gloss, in Vivid White.

after undercoating

While the doors were an easy fix, I still had the problem of a particularly ugly brick island - remember this?

I love the look of beadboard, which proved to be the perfect solution. I bought three panels of Easycraft Easy Regency from Bunnings, and as they come pre-undercoated, all they needed was two coats of topcoat. Then, I glued them straight onto the bricks using Liquid Nails.

To finish off, I trimmed the corners with timber beading, and added skirting along the bottom edge, and also under the benchtop.

Besides the painting, I think replacing the knobs made a huge difference to the look of the room. I went for black cast iron, and although my original choice was this one, available online from here, in the interests of time I went with an almost exact version I found at Bunnings.

That's about it. After wrestling with the door hinges, all the doors went back on, I replaced the knobs, and voila - a whole new room. I do plan to replace the benchtop, splashback and possibly change the wall cutout down the track, and I'm on the lookout for some lovely pendant lights for above the island, but for now I'm loving the new look and I'm in no hurry to change a thing. But you know how, once you revamp one area, the others look shabby in comparison? My to-do list is growing by the second - I think that little spray gun of mine can expect a serious workout! Ok, just a few more before and afters to refresh your memory: