The next project we wanted to tackle was our ugly, tiny kitchen – not only were the worksurfaces wilted and disgusting but the nasty orangey-cream tiles were falling off the wall!
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| Not nice! |
There was even ant powder all over the shelves that wouldn’t budge and I refused to put anything in there!!! ewwww
So we waited for a sign which came in the form of FREECYCLE who popped up with ‘Kitchen cabinets going for free’ and before we knew it we were in a flat around the corner being shown these lovely white cabinets a they were doing a makeover.
*HALLELUJAH*
So we waited for them to start work then went to pick up our new kitchen! 🙂
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| Finally! Somewhere to store our kitchen utensils – the hallway!! |
As this was our first DIY project we pulled in the help of our then Double Bass player and friendly handyman/ carpenter etc etc JIM HURT so we had the cabinets in our hall for a while! But soon came the day when the work began!
First we ripped apart the old one- took out the cabinets, which fell out with a bit of persuasion and a hammer! Then took off all the tiles (which literally fell away) and cleaned the walls.
HOW TO PUT KITCHEN CABINETS UP:
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| “First place the cabinet where you want it and hold it up by anything possible – we used slates” |
You will need an electronic drill and screwdriver, hard wall plugs and screws.
1)Mark the holes by using a pencil through the holes in the cabinets.
2)Remove cabinet and drill the pencil marks deep enough for the wall plugs that are pretty long for a hard wall as they are holding something heavy. Then push the plugs into the holes.
3)Place cabinet back on the raised surface (ie bricks etc) and position the screws in the plugs, through the back of the cabinet (choose screws that have large heads to hold their place inside the cabinet)
4)Use the electronic screwdiver to screw into the plugs, leaving a bit loose to tighten later.
5)Stand back and check they are all straight etc.
6)Use a normal screwdriver to finish the job!
VOILA!
(By the way I am definitely not a DIY expert- just saying what we did!)
Yes I know- it would be better to have these in pictures but I obviously was either distracted or without camera for this bit as I have no record of them… dammit.
I do have an ‘after’ picture though:
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| We have since sorted out the wonky left door!! |
We stamped our mark by adding the IKEA ‘SNODD’ handles.
We decided we couldn’t handle the worksurface and next bit alone so I’ m afraid to say we got someone to do that- the surface was another IKEA product- a black wood effect one and it took AGES to arrive… so we had a half done kitchen for about a month… and seeing as one of my biggest flaws is impatience; this was not fun!
ANYWAY it arrived, was fitted by a carpenter who charged us more than he said he would (bloomin’ cowboy!) and is a lot prettier than the old one!
Jim then came back another day with his tiling expertise hat on and finished our kitchen with some white tiles that we found in our local re-use center!!
FINITO!
I loooong for a bigger kitchen, but until then at least it looks fresh and sleek!
I will leave you with my dream kitchen… *here’s hoping!*
Oh wow!
Till next time chucks!
Xox
Gabby
