Home | Fifty Shades of Grey {And a Strong White}

Nope, this is not the next instalment of THAT series - can you even imagine?! Actually, wait, don't.

Have you ever tried to pick Grey paint? Sounds easy? Just pick a colour you like right....?

Oh no, no, no people. Grey is the hardest paint to pick.  It has all these different undertones..... And it looks different depending on your lighting situation.

You all know that I painted our base cabinets Lamp Room Gray by Farrow and Ball, which in itself I love. But then I had to figure out what to paint the walls in the kitchen.

I didn't want plain white but something with a "hint of grey". And that's when I went crazy with testers and swatch cards.

I thought I had found "the one" in Harp Strings by Valspar. It's the middle one above. I could not have been more wrong. The minute I put it on one of the walls I hated it.

It was just way too dark and seemed to clash with the base cabinets.

So it was back to the drawing board. I decided to go to Farrow & Ball and mull over my dilemma with them. There's a reason you have to part with a small fortune when you buy their paint - you also get their expertise.

The consultant was so helpful! She told me that Lamp Room Gray has greeny undertones (who knew?), and the Harp Strings had bluey-purply undertones, which was why it felt all wrong. Then she helped me pick out "Strong White".

I couldn't wait to get it up on the walls. And guess what? I freaking love it!

I know, total weirdo. Everything house (and food, and fashion, and beauty, and travel) related is totally my jam. I literally did a happy dance.

And now I'm one of "those people". I'm totally in love with F&B.....good job most of the house is already painted. We'd have to re-mortgage.

So now what's left to do? Oh loads. I'll keep you posted!

Happy Weekend everyone! x

Home | For the love of Lamp Room Gray

So after sharing my Kitchen Candy with you last week I set about making that transformation happen this weekend.

I'm not going to lie, it did take me all weekend, but the end result is so worth it. It feels like a new kitchen!

Before we get to the after photo's I thought I'd run through how I got there.

1. Take all the cupboards and drawers off.
2. Remove existing handles.
3. Fill the holes left by handles with wood filler.
4. Sand back said holes, and repeat.
5. Time to prime! I used Zinsser 1-2-3 Primer and Sealer after reading lots of good things about it's staying power online. Give everything a good even coat of primer, let dry.
6. I used Farrow and Ball Estate Eggshell Paint in Lamp Room Gray. Now you might be thinking that doesn't sound very budget but I felt like splashing the extra cash on good quality paint was worth it, I only want to paint the kitchen once, and it's going to get a lot of use.
7. Apply two even coats of the F&B, leaving 2-4 hours drying time between each coat.
8. When you're sure your paint is absolutely cured you can start drilling the holes for your new hardware. I bought mine from Ikea as I liked the contrasting white handles with the grey paint.
9. Re-attach the cupboards and drawers to the units.
10. Do your happy dance!

Here's a Budget Breakdown for this part of the kitchen update:

£15.94 Primer
£20.99 F&B Paint
£25 New Handles and Knobs from Ikea

£61.93 Total

So here's what we started with....

And here's where we are now. With grey base cabinets, oak work tops and a new white ceramic sink (I put those up on Facebook last weekend so most of you will already have seen them). Oh and the flooring is new too.

There's still a crazy amount to do on this Kitchen Update on a Budget. It's very much a work-in-progress but I can't wait to share more photo's with you next week!

Life | House Talk

Who wants a first little peek at the house?! 

The photo's are pretty terrible but they give you a rough idea of what we're working with, it's already changed so much since these were taken.....and actually looks far worse right now. Eeeeek!! I'll keep you updated with more detailed projects as we get to them, but for now....here she is, in all her glory!

I'll try and explain the main changes as we go. 

The front reception room is going to be our dining room.  It's got a big, marble fireplace (hidden by my piles of crap that we moved from storage that morning), and a massive cupboard/closet that we're going to turn into a wine cellar. It's big enough to get a 8-seater table in, and I've already bought the chairs on ebay (I get massively over-excited)!.

There's not too much going on in the hallway. The whole house is being re-skimmed as the plaster and paintwork is really bad. We're keeping the original feature archway and will be changing the flooring.

Through to the kitchen, which is actually pretty big. We're going to change the worktops, tiles and flooring, and add an island to eat at when it's smaller groups.

The back wall of the kitchen leads out to the garden (I have no photo's yet, doh) and the internal door through to the utility/laundry room.

This space has probably changed the most! All the units have been ripped out and that boiler will soon be gone too.

It's a little room that has to work really hard for us. We're going to run units under the window to house the washer and dryer with a sink on top, and directly as you walk into the room, there will be a toilet. This house is crying out for a loo downstairs and without extending this is the only place one can go. We also want it to be a place for muddy boots, coats and pet paraphenalia.....phew!

Head upstairs and you come to what is going to be our living room.

We're sacrificing a bedroom because we don't need 4-beds at this point in our lives and love the idea of extra living space.

The front of the house is naturally very light and airy, and each room has high ceilings, sash windows and gorgeous fireplaces.

Across the hall is our current bathroom. Which is so weird. It's this massive room you could literally cart-wheel across. This partition wall is coming down (actually is already down!) and will become one big room to create our master suite.

Bed 4, will then become our en-suite. It's going to be ah-mazing!!!

 Up the stairs to the top of the house...

I'm in love with the rooms up here. They feel so bright, calm and peaceful. Ultimately, they will be our spare rooms though...lucky guests!

Bed 3 (at the back of the house) is getting the biggest makeover. We're creating a family bathroom up here. The bathroom will only be 150 cm by 215 cm, but will mean that we still have two good size doubles and a bathroom for these two bedrooms.

Oh, and if you come over for a cuppa I will force you to climb out onto the roof. The view is just beautiful.

 So that's it. I'll be back soon with a progress report!