DIY Pictures

Diy kitchen make over on a budget

Kitchen make overs don't always have to be super expensive. When I bought my house my kitchen was pink. What were they thinking???
Any way after a couple of years in my pink kitchen I had enough!!
I had a baby on the way, time was short. I opted for a 'make over' rather than a total rebuild.
My plan was to keep it simple.

The walls were painted wallpaper, covered in grease as there was no extractor fan. I started by removing the wall paper. In the begining this was fun, but there was another layer of wallpaper under neath, 70's vintage. I hired a steamer and it was tough going. I was ripping chunks out of the wall, not good. Then after a trip to the hardware store I discovered "DIF" wallpaper stripper. Mixed it with water, using a cloth wet the walls. Great stuff. In 15 mins that old wall paper was flying off with a scraper. I gave the walls a sanding , they were still in rough shape though.

I got my plasterer to skim coat and sand the walls, nasty job, glad to have an expert on board.
Over two to three days the job was done, not bad for $4oo (he did the dining room at the same time).
The walls were now in great shape, ready for painting.

The next job was the cupboard doors and bench tops. I measured them up , did some simple drawings with accurate dimensions. I took these drawings straight to the guys that make kitchen units etc. I faxed and emailed the drawings to three diferent companies and found the best price. You will be amazed how different the prices for the doors were...... $900 / $750 / $650. For the same thing!!!!
Pays to shop around. I visited the last guy to check him out, his quality was good. I went for Melamine doors , a type of formica. Tough and cheap.

I did thing same thing for the bench top, went straight to the manufacturer. Made sure the price included a new sink. Brand new made to my drawing with a sink was $635.
I intended to re-use the cupboards , replace the old doors and bench top with new ones.
I also reused the hinges, however it was proberly better to use new ones. Definately use new screws, do even think of using the old ones.

Next was the ceiling, the old one was wall paper with a texture finish. The rest of the house had ceiling tiles, so I went out and bought some. Take some time to plan this bit. Do a wee drawing, it can save you lot of trouble in the long run. I used glue (no more nails) and a staple gun. This was easy going , make sure you have a sharp craft knife and steel rule to cut the tiles. The tiles i bought were the michaelanglo ones, nice and easy.

The next job was the trim or skirting , measure twice cut once!!!
The stuff I bought was already painted white . I predrilled some nail holes to make it easier to attach. I used a steel pin to hit the nails , this stops nice little craters in case you miss with the hammer!!!!!!
Once I finished with the trim, I painted the ceiling white three coats , painted the trim also.

Next job was painting the walls , four coats in all. This was actually a quick job no problem

Now the tricky job , remove the bench top. First had to remove the taps , I bought new ones on sale for $90. Disconnected the drain.
You need to turn off the water or get a plumber in for this one.
The bench came out after removing about ten 2 inch screws. In comes the new bench. I had to carefully drill two holes for the taps. I used a 25mm spade drill in my battery drill.
Remember to measure things carefully. To my horror , when fitting the bench it interfered with the wall by 10mm. I had to carefully cut and file a wee gap so it would fit.
After that it was moved into place and screwed down. Fitted the taps and reconnected the drain.
The flooring was vinyl , pink tiles. I had it replaced with a wood texture lino. The floor was particle board , otherwise I would have polished and polyurethaned.
They did a nice job sanding the floor and laying the new lino. I had the bathroom , toilet and hall way done at the same time cost me $1944 all up for the floors.

Next job was to replace the old doors. I used the old ones as drilling jigs for the new ones. I bought the handles from a hardware store, there are many different styles etc.
I screwed the new doors & draws in to place.

Behind the stove was old paneling , I removed this and replaced it with Acrylic sheet. This was about $270. I fitted a new range hood that was $300. I routed the ducting through the roof space and out the side wall. After that I reconnected the oven and the refrigerator.

All up the renovation of the kitchen cost:- $4700.
If you can DIY, put in some hardwork and planning you can do anything!!