More almost-kitchen…

When I ordered my kitchen from IKEA I watched their calm videos about how easy it is to install and proudly told everyone about how I was going to do it myself. Me, who owns about three DIY tools and, whilst being averagely good at assembling flat-pack furniture, had never done anything more than that.

To their credit, everyone I casually mentioned this plan to smiled very sweetly and nodded at me without laughing in my face. Bless them and their inner giggles at my ridiculous plan.

IN MY DEFENCE if my walls and floor had been level I still maintain that I could have done it myself a la the oddly soothing IKEA videos.

Starting on the kitchen

Just to warn you, this is basically a whole post about painting a wall white. I promise more exciting things are coming to the blog soon… I was desperate to do something that made things look better rather than worse after ripping out so many bits. I decided to make a start on the two walls that wouldn’t have units on them.

Dismantling the kitchen

Apologies for the mini blogging break. I’ve either been asleep (too much) or DIY-ing (not enough) sorry. This weekend most of the new kitchen units were installed which is mega exciting. For now though, I’m still bringing you up to where we are now so here is the tale of tearing apart the kitchen…

The kitchen: before

The kitchen is currently the room that looks most like a building site (everywhere else looks like cardboard boxes have been breeding). With the new units due to be installed in a couple of weeks and my long bank holiday weekend spent tearing it apart I thought I’d show you what it looked like before I started smashing things!

The kitchen to do list versions 1-5

So now I’m definitely moving and definitely almost a home-owner I need to start making actual decisions, not just dreamily putting stuff on Pinterest. Turns out the real stuff is a lot more complicated than doing things hypothetically, who knew?!

For instance, I know the sort of thing I’m after for the kitchen and have put together a first draft but actually planning how to do it in the time available without spending a fortune is quite complex.

My love affair with the IKEA kitchen planner

I bloody love the internet and spend a lot of my time on it for work and cat video pleasure but one of my absolute favourite games on the internet is the IKEA 3D kitchen planner. Admittedly we have a love-hate relationship (but why can’t I just drag this unit where I want it?!) but I could happily spend hours playing with it.

I’ve been planning the new kitchen for the flat complete with awkward pipes to work round…

Kitchen ideas

I’ve always assumed that the kitchen will be the first big project I tackle in the new flat but haven’t been sure whether I’d upgrade it straight away or live with it for a while before doing it up. It’s looking increasingly like it will make more sense to take it on before I move though.

As with all things, I’m drawn to grey kitchens. I like moody dark ones and fresh bright ones so the tuxedo kitchen (who knew that was a thing?!) seems to fit the bill, combining dark base cabinets with lighter wall cabinets/shelves.