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!