The kitchen is, the beating heart of the home, where everyone comes together. It could be siblings baking together or a place where housemates chat, a family of six plus pets having dinner together! It is a homely place where you can be inspired to cook or bake yummy meals for your loved ones. This recent lockdown had me cooking for almost seven days a week! It is definitely a place where we spent the most time together.
So, if you are looking to refresh or style your kitchen with a small budget, and want to make sustainable choices, what would it be? Whether you are just looking for a temporary cheap update before saving enough money for the big renovation, or a short-term renter looking for ways to transform the existing environment, I have got you covered with these tips and tricks that I searched on good home improvement websites and Pinterest. I hope you will find these practical tips useful for your research!
1. Style it with coloured Kitchen Appliances/Accessories for a Fresh Feel
A quick, inexpensive way of updating your kitchen is with appliances/accessories. These days you are spoilt with tons of coloured of kitchen appliances! It is no longer just plain chrome or black colour schemes! Now you can get a fancy yellow coffee machine to a stylish red kitchen mixer, or from kitchen towel to storage jars! There are endless colour choices and patterns to choose from. I still remember those days where my kitchen appliances are either black or chrome. There is totally no colour or life in that kitchen, except my colourful hand towel! Now you can add so much energy and fun to your kitchen by adding lots of coloured kitchen appliances!
But don’t forget to regularly maintain the look of your kitchen appliances and remove limescale from the kettle. Most of us are living in hard water areas and I always find it so gross to see the amount of limescale build-up inside the kettle! Even though I have used a water filter jug to filter the water for the kettle, I still have to clean the kettle regularly.
This also goes with the tap and sink areas where the limescale is likely to build up. I clean the area with limescale remover once a week to remove the limescale and maintain the fresh look of my kitchen.
2. Paint the Ceiling
Yes, ceiling! Get rid of the old boring white ceiling. Add fun to your kitchen ceiling with a lick of paint. It can almost instantly change the look of the room! Kitchen paint normally costs around £15-£40 depend on the size and brand. Not forgetting, you will need a sturdy step-ladder and sheets to protect all the surfaces! Use a brush to paint the corner and a roller to coat the ceiling.
3. Decorate with Tile Stickers
Tile stickers have been around for a while and I have only recently discovered the life-changing properties of tile stickers seeing my friend’s kitchen update photo! They are cheap to buy and come in a lot of different stylish designs. Do look out for ones that are water-resistant and you can stick them over the existing tiles to recreate the look. This is useful if you are renting as you can simply peel it off when you about to move.
4. Add a Backsplash
If you have money to spare, then go for patterned ceramic tiles, especially if you have only a small space or one wall that could make a big impact. Or you might consider using a coloured acrylic sheet instead of glass as glass is more expensive.
5. Paint your Kitchen Doors
Colour will make all the difference in the world when painting your kitchen doors. If you are unsure what colour to choose, you can always download free apps like RoomSketcher App to design your kitchen. Simply take a photo of your kitchen and upload it. Then choose the colour that you want and let the app help you to see.
Once you pick the colour, make sure you check that your paints are suitable for your door by patch testing them. Last year, I decided to paint my dated brown bathroom doors to Royal Blue. The colour instantly changed the whole look of my bathroom! My friend who recently had her kitchen doors done by a professional and it looks great. They supplied her with a small tin of paint to touch up whenever the surface was scratched. So it is always worth to buying more paints than struggle afterwards to find the exact paint after.
6. Replace your kitchen fitting
If your kitchen fittings, like taps and lighting, are looking a bit worse for wear, maybe it is time to get them replaced. Black taps are bang on trend at the moment. If black is not for you, maybe you could try bronze or copper taps instead!
As for lighting, if your ceiling is low, you might want to change them to LED spotlight instead of hanging lighting. Always remember to ask a qualified electrician to fix the lighting for you!
All of the tips mentioned above are great for those who are working within a small budget. Let me know your thoughts.
Disclosure: This is a featured post.