My kitchen is a very tiny space that was in serious need of some love and attention. I wanted to create more impact with a fresh colour scheme and had to do it on a very tight budget.
I had a look at what I could find around the house and grabbed a few paint tins to get the party started. It took me two full Saturdays to complete these 5 quick kitchen fixes and it makes a world of difference.
You can easily incorporate these ideas into your kitchen no matter the style or colour scheme.
#1 Choosing a colour palette
Like most people, I also have collected kitchen paraphernalia over the years in all sorts of colours. For this project, I decided to unpack everything I had and choose a colour palette. I seemed to have a lot of sage, red and turquoise and decided that I loved the fresh and vibrant colours together. Colour palette done!
I started off by painting the walls in my own shade of sage. I used Chalk Paint™ decorative paint by Annie Sloan in Duck Egg Blue which I mixed into a lighter sagey colour by adding some Original from the same range.
Shop your chalk paint online here!
The final colour is subtle and creates a muted backdrop for my red and turquoise accent colours and allows them to really pop.
I packed away all the kitchen accessories that didn’t go with my new colour scheme and only put the ones I love on display. This made a big difference.
#2 Painted doors and updated handles
I use this locker for food storage due to the lack of space in my tiny kitchen. By painting the front of the doors in Provence and English Yellow Chalk Paint™ I added a bit more fun to them. I replaced the handles with these lovely decorative ones from Fired Earth – available at Builders Warehouse.
One of the quickest ways to update your look is to change door handles. It’s super easy and inexpensive – I dare you!
#3 Second time around
I showed you this lovely shutter upcycling project last month but decided that it now will work much better in my kitchen as a place to peg recipes and hang tea towels. It also covers the side of a cupboard as you enter the kitchen which was a complete waste of space. See how I did it here.
#4 Spice rack DIY
My husband built this spice rack and it was one of those things that just stood out and looked unfinished. I did not want to break his DIY spirit so decided to turn it into something we both loved with a lick of paint and a little blue bird that was used at our wedding as a decorative bottle top.
I cut off the rubbers on the edge of the birds that fitted into the glass jars and drilled a hole for the end to fit snugly into the face of the spice rack.
The spice rack was painted with the same Emperor’s Silk Chalk Paint™ that I used on the upcycled shutter.
The bird is now the keeper of our oven glove and the spice rack ties in nicely with the overall colour scheme of the kitchen.
#5 Go green
I recently got this Feverfew plant from a dear friend and wanted to save it from the geese so decided it needed a place in my new kitchen. I simply took a terracotta pot that I had lying around the garden and painted it with a few dry brush strokes in Provence Chalk Paint TM.
It’s now a pretty pop of green in the corner of my kitchen window sill.
After adding the Feverfew plant I got the bright spark to make more plants from the garden by using the large amount of Peck’s Anchovette glass jars I had been saving but didn’t really know why.
When the labels are washed off they really are very elegant so I now have a row of these cuttings in the window sill and it looks very fresh.
I think I got this from my mother that keeps on collecting cuttings from friends’ and neighbours’ gardens.
I love the impact my quick fixes had on the kitchen and hope you have found some inspiration to try them in your own home.
Happy styling,
