DIY savvy mother transforms her dull and dated Eighties kitchen into a chic modern living space for just £100 by using nothing but PAINT on the tiles and wooden units
- Becky Lane, 34, an events planner from Surrey, painted tiles and wooden units
- Also used paint to transform sink and added finishing touches like door handles
- Revealed transformation only took a weekend and a few evenings to complete
A mother-of-two has transformed her dull Eighties kitchen for just £100 – using nothing but paint.
Becky Lane, 34, an events planner who has recently moved from south east London to a £610,000 bungalow in Surrey, took just one weekend and a few evenings to complete the impressive makeover, helped by husband Adam.
She showed off her new chic, modern living space on her DIY Instagram page @21oakham, with many of her 18,400 followers rushing to praise their handiwork.
One wrote: ‘Oh wow, a fabulous transformation too! The power of paint! Love it!’ while another commented: ‘Amazing job! Wow! What a transformation.’
Becky took just one weekend and a few evenings to complete the impressive makeover, helped by husband Adam. Pictured left before and right after
Becky Lane, 34, an events planner, has transformed her dull Eighties kitchen for just £100 – using nothing but paint
Speaking to Tap Warehouse (www.tapwarehouse.com), Becky explained the majority of her modest budget went on paint.
‘I bought four pots of Wilkinson chalk furniture paint (£10 each) as I wanted a matt finish instead of satin or gloss,’ she said.
‘I painted the tiles in Ronseal, using their £10 tile paint, and then used a varnish over the top which cost £9.’
For the floor, Becky opted to keep the original tiles but gave them an industrial-style clean to freshen them up, which made a huge difference.
‘I used an extreme power cleaner with a drill brush scrubbing set which I already own from another project,’ she said.
Making the most of their weekend off from their day jobs and their evenings once their daughter Amelia, four, and son Freddie, nine months, were asleep, Becky and Adam set to work on their dated kitchen (pictured)
‘Then for finishing touches I bought door handles, which are £14 from eBay, and spray paint costing £15.’
Making the most of their weekend off from their day jobs and their evenings once their daughter Amelia, four, and son Freddie, nine months, were asleep, Becky and Adam set to work.
‘The kitchen was dark pine and not to our taste,’ the mum explained. ‘It also made the space feel very dark and depressing; we wanted a lighter airy, modern feel.
‘I began by sanding and cleaning all the units, panelling and tiles. Then I painted the tiles first after preparing the area and masking up the switches and sockets.
A post shared by Becky @21 Oakham (@21oakham)
Becky showed off her new chic, modern living space on her DIY Instagram page @21oakham , with many of her 18,400 followers rushing to praise their handiwork
Mother-of-two Becky and husband Adam recently moved from south east London to a £610,000 bungalow in Surrey
‘I did three coats on the tiles. Next, I did all the wall panelling and units – the first coat taking the longest as my unit doors had grooves. I found this was the longest part of the job, the wall panelling soaked up the paint quicker than I expected.
‘If we were doing this project without panelling, we would have only needed two paint pots which would have saved us even more money.
‘After this we did a two-coat all over and added a varnish to the tiles to harden the finish.’
While everything was drying, Becky began the daunting task of cleaning up the floor tiles.
‘I spent about four hours straight on them and could have easily spent days on them, but I got them to a clean level,’ she said.
Becky and Adam made the brave choice to paint their silver steel sink which didn’t match their gold accents (pictured left before and right now)
‘Once all the paint was set, we were left with a silver steel sink which didn’t go at all with the gold fixtures. However, as I’ve never seen a sink spray painted before, I was worried the paint may chip away due to use.
‘We decided to leave the basin as it gets the most amount of wear, but spray the sideboard and the surround.
‘We feel it’s really set off the kitchen and we love it. Then the final job was adding the new gold handles which also help with finishing the full look.’
Becky and Adam are no strangers to a DIY makeover; the couple sold their previous four-bedroom detached house in Bromley, south east London, for £680,000 after doing it up, making a handsome £160,000 profit on what they paid in May 2015.
Becky and Adam are no strangers to a DIY makeover; the couple sold their previous four-bedroom detached house in Bromley, south east London, for £680,000 after doing it up, making a handsome £160,000 profit on what they paid in May 2015
In 2014, they bought a two-bedroom flat in south east London for £175,000 and sold it a year later for £285,000.
Becky previously told The Sun: ‘We always look for the worst house on the best street — somewhere with the potential to earn us money. Somewhere with really good schools and transport links is really important.
‘We both moved back to our family homes and saved up £10,000 each to get the deposit for our first flat. We’re definitely not rich kids. I was saving every penny I earned.
‘When we did up the place, we didn’t have kids but we missed out on so much of our social life, like holidays with friends. When we made that money, it gave us the push to say, “This is what we’ll do moving forward”.’
Add a touch of luxury with plants and look to Pinterest for inspiration
Here Becky and Tap Warehouse share top tips for transforming your kitchen on a budget…
1. Transform kitchen cupboards with paint and new door handles
One of the main things that holds people back from transforming their kitchen is the cost of new cupboards. However, this obstacle can be overcome with a lick of paint which can leave your once unfavourable kitchen cupboards looking completely brand new. You can also replace the old door handles with new ones; gold and brass handles are very on trend at the minute and really helped set off the full look in Becky’s kitchen.
2. Use plants and accessories to add a luxury feel
Accessorising your kitchen costs very little and can make a huge difference in its appearance. Adding houseplants is an easy way to brighten up the space. You can also accessorise with kitchen appliances that match your kitchen aesthetic such as a brass kettle and matching tea and coffee pots.
3. Stylish storage baskets for on-display shelves
Most of us have those kitchen shelves that are filled with boxes, leaflets, and general bits and bobs that have accumulated over time which we’d rather were not on display. Adding a stylish storage basket to sit on the shelves is a great way to hide them away and make your kitchen look super stylish and on-trend.
4. Use Pinterest for inspiration
Pinterest is a great starting point for any DIY room transformation. If there’s something in your kitchen which you know you can’t afford to change (in Becky’s case this was the flooring) try to look for themes that match with the element you can’t change and use that as your starting point. Becky found the best theme to match her kitchen floor tiles was a white Mediterranean look with gold accessories.
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