After being stood down from her job because of the Coronavirus, Nichole found that she had a bit more time on her hands and wanted to tackle the job herself and "create a beautiful, fresher space in our house."
Here, we caught up with Nichole about the details of her kitchen makeover.
What kind of look were you after?
I was after more of a Hamptons look with the white timber cupboards and a simple black knob.
What was the biggest challenge?
Getting the doors dried enough so they didn’t get smudge marks when I flipped them, as well as the 3.5 day time frame I gave myself.
The renovation process
- Removed all the doors using my AEG cordless drill from the door hinge as well as the old knobs.
- Removed all the items from the drawers and placed into washing baskets so we could have easy access while the refurb was happening.
- I did a light sand on all the surfaces with my Ozito orbital sander with a 120 grit, then used sugar soap to clean it down. There was built-up scum so I had to scrape that off with a paint scrapper.
- I did all the drawers fronts first using 2 coats for 123Bin Zinsser as I found that one coat wasn't enough for a super smooth finish.Then I applied 3 coats of H2O enamel using a Small Uniden foam roller and a fine angle paint brush for the fiddly bits.
- While this was drying between coats, I tackled the shell, sides and kick boards in the kitchen. Every surface got a wipe down, light sand, 2 zinsser and 3 enamel coats.
- Next was the undercoat primer for the splash back tiles using a microfibre roller. This needed to dry for 8 hours before the top coat could be applied. I then did 3 top coats with the tile paint over the next two days so it had enough time to dry between coats. I used Black Knight products for this.
- The drawers were put back in place with new knobs attached.
- Next were the doors, which took the longest as both sides needed to be painted. I set up a painting and drying flipping station. I repeated the sanding, scraping and cleaning process along with 2 Zinsser coats and three top coats on one side. The small brush was my lifesaver when doing the edges!
- With everything dry I screwed the doors back on again with my cordless drill and attached the new black knobs.
- With the kitchen looking all fresh and white, my not-so-white window sills were next!
How much did you spend?
This was a face lift on a very tight budget being (1.) my husband didn’t know I was doing it; (2.) I’d been stood down from my job reducing our household income; and (3.) there wasn’t really anything wrong with our kitchen in the first place. But I can proudly say that it cost me $110 in paint (as we already had some half tins in our garage, as well as rollers, roller trays, paint brushes, new knobs and screws!
Budget breakdown
Zinsser Bin123 - $29
British paints H2O enamel - $30 (it’s water base so it washes up easily and has very low odour)
Screws - $2.50
Uniden foam roller 2pack - $5
4 packs of 6 black knobs - $42
All items were from Bunnings except for the screws which I got from the Nut and Bolt Factory.
Favourite part?
I had total satisfaction that I did the entire thing myself, without any help or guidance – and my favourite part was getting a beautifully finished white modern kitchen!
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