5 minute read
‘WE RELOCATED OUR KITCHEN’
from Ssddwasddxsas
by feliz16
WOODEN WONDER
‘Old potter’s boards for the worktops and shelving give the kitchen an aged feel’
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‘We relocated
IDEA TO STEAL
COME ON IN!
ABOUT ME I’m Sabrina Hannan, 38, a medical rep, and I live with my husband, David Giles, 56, who is a photographer, in a three-bedroom 400-year-oldcottage in Hertfordshire, which we moved into in July 2019. THE CHALLENGE To create a rustic kitchen with a vintage vibe in a large blank space. MY WISHLIST A gas range cooker, somewhere to sit for casual dining, an injection of dramatic colour, some attractive wallpaper and a few French touches.
Buy it
Shop Sabrina’s style PAGE 91
OUR KITCHEN’
VINTAGE VIBE
‘By moving the kitchen to this larger room, we created our own more sociable space with a scheme that fitted in with the age of the house. Now it’s the heart of the home’
Convincedthatthe existingkitchenwas inthewrongplace entirely,Sabrina createanewone fromscratch
TOTAL £10,037
TURN OVER FOR MY SHOPPING LIST
In our view, the existing kitchen that we inherited with the cottage was in the wrong place. A cooker was jammed in one corner, and the units were spread out along the back wall, which made it feel like a long thin corridor.
It wasn’t a relaxing space to be in, and there was nowhere to sit and chat. At the other end of the house was a doublewidth room with two windows and doors out onto the garden. And it made much more sense to have the kitchen in there.
First moves
We sold the existing, modern-look units on eBay and then Amberth made and fitted our new kitchen. The company is a husband and wife team that we had used before. We had to be pretty sure of what we wanted early on, so they could make sure all the electrics and plumbing were in the right place. We wanted the sink to be under the window, and we definitely wanted a breakfast bar, so we drew everything out to our design.
Colour choices
The units are a classic design, in keeping with the age of the house, but we wanted to paint them a vibrant colour. We chose the blue from an RAL paint chart; our local pub has smart blue and white toile crockery, so that inspired us too. Reuse and recycle
We knew the kitchen would take us close to the budget we’d set, so we thought hard about what we could save. We already had a large white fridge freezer, a dishwasher and some white high stools we’d brought from our old house, so it made sense to stick with the blue and white theme. We wanted a dual fuel retro range cooker with a wok burner, as we cook a lot. And we were thrilled to find exactly what we’d been looking
for at DeLonghi at a good price. We also found a white chimney fan on eBay, so that was the appliances sorted.
French chic
I was determined we were going to use the chandelier we’d brought with us for a touch of French style, and it works perfectly with the high beamed ceiling. We did a lot of the painting ourselves to save money, and David tiled the splashback with white brick tiles left over from the bathroom. Having been obsessed with the toile crockery at the pub, I searched on the internet for blue toile wallpaper, and covered two walls with it to provide contrast with the white.
Lockdown woes
We had some hairy moments with delays to supplies, and then the kitchen fitters got Covid and we had to isolate, but it gave us time to do all the little bits we needed to do. Under the direction of Amberth, David made the worktops out of old boards, which make the kitchen look as though it’s been there for ages. I made the half curtains at the windows, with fabric from eBay. Lockdown did add some time to the project; it took 12 weeks in the end, but it was worth it.
LIGHTEN UP
‘The beams were in a dark stain, so I painted them white in one section and a blue in the other’
Final touches
A wooden floor wasn’t possible, because of existing underfloor heating, so we went for white tiles which look like floorboards, cosied up with a rug. We also displayed our old Cornishware and other blue and white crockery we’d picked up over time. We’re thrilled with the overall result; it looks like it’s always been there.‘
You can discover more handy tips on creating a smart kitchen-diner at
idealhome.co.uk
Make it!
VINTAGE WOODEN WORKTOPS
Measure the space carefully and draw a detailed diagram before starting to work out how many boards you might need.
Find the sort of boards you want, such as potter’s boards or scaffolding, and consider the width and depth if you don’t want the worksurface to be too deep. Collectors’ fairs, car-boot sales, builders’ merchants and eBay are all good places to start.
Create a plywood base to stick the boards onto and then attach the whole thing, rather than sticking the boards on one by one. If the boards aren’t an exact fit, make sure the one at the front is the full width, and cut the one at the back where it won’t show.
Apply a stain over the boards once they’re in position. Sabrina used a hard wax oil in Walnut, which also protects the wood.
LARDER LOVE
‘Our antique cupboard was factored into the new kitchen plan and, painted blue, it fits right in’
COOKER CHOICE
‘We looked for a long time to find the right vintage-style range in white, which ran on calor gas as we’re out in the countryside. We got there in the end’
PROTECT WALLS
‘The original brick walls have been covered with a wipe-clean, hard- wearing white paint’
LACE LAYERS
‘I made the lace half-curtains which add to the French style and give us privacy’
Whereto buySabrina’s style
Bespoke units, £7,000; worktops and shelf boards, £500, all Amberth. Vintage Style range cooker, £1,299, DeLonghi. Smeg Victoria cooker hood, £200; fabric, £40, both eBay. Ralph Lauren Fern Toile wallpaper, £62.40 a roll, Wallpaperdirect. Dartrey floor tiles, £60sq m, Topps Tiles. Beams painted in James intelligent eggshell, £68 for 2.5ltr, Little Greene. Walls painted in Strong White modern eggshell, £73 for 2.5ltr, Farrow & Ball. Brackets, £13 each, Yesterhome. Rangemaster sink, £274, Plumbworld. Belmore tap, £68, B&Q. Eliot rug, £88.95, Benuta. Tea towels, £2.99 each, Nisbets
