COMPLETELY CHANGE A KITCHEN FOR $60
By lilybeeSo, not exactly a major re-model, but this is how I made the windowless kitchen in our flat a bit brighter, using a can of paint, and stuff from the local Dollar Store.
BEFORE
AFTER
Firstly I should say that I get that the baby-poop yellow cabinets have integrity and are totally in keeping with the age of the flat. But I also have to say that they were slowly sapping my will to live.
I Painted the walls with the brightest white that I could find, it's special kitchen and bathroom paint, which was about $35. (Obviously I sugar soaped the walls first, my least favorite task ever). Just painting the walls made a HUGE difference, but I still couldn't take the yellowness of the cabinets so I had a big think and after a couple of screw-ups I figured out that I could cover the cabinets with self adhesive vinyl film. That's the stuff that the geeky kids in school (like me) used to cover their exercises books with. It goes on like this:
The film is water-proof and also steam-proof, but I taped the inside down with white duct tape anyway, just to be sure.
It was loads brighter but a bit uninspiring, so I added the little colored stickers. I used superglue so they would withstand cleaning products and steam.
And..... TA - DA..... The Dollar Store Kitchen Make-Over
What I used:
10 rolls of GRIP-TAC Adhesive Film
3 packs stickers (the kind that live with the scrap-booking materials)
3 plastic plates (that just happened to work with the colour scheme)
The cool part is that it's not permanent, so, should a 70's design purist with a penchant for gross yellow cabinets be the next tenant they will be overjoyed to discover that the vinyl isn't permanent or damaging.
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Decorating on a teeny budget is my thing. Recycling and Reusing and Repurposing are my...
etodem
I am inspired by this idea of yours Mizz Lilybee. I just bought this vinyl adhesive coating and am going to redo my own kitchen cabinets as well. I too am a big fan of design on the dime... and so far have been content to watch great feats of design on the dime being carried out on TV. Now I think I'm ready to do some trickery of my own.
I am nervous of it turning into a giant disaster though. For example, I imagine that folding over the self adhesive coating will be a nightmare at the corners of the cabinet doors... what if it gets crinkly? Did you have to do some cutting to get the coating to cover your cabinet door corners so well?
dorkusmilorkus
Nice job! Your cabinets look great!
Just an FYI to those interested: Target carries stainless steel self adhesive vinyl, which would also look fantastic on cabinet doors.
tschoerda
Brendamo
Loved reading about your clever idea. I have dingy dark brown wood cabinets that are almost 30 yrs old. This would definitely perk them up. Thanks for sharing.
jasimar
AinshaNit
lilybee
Thanks Keter! Those laminates have caused me to drool a bit. SOOOO pretty!
I have to say that I'm not sure the 'before' picture I used does justice to quite how horrible the kitchen was. It was BAT CAVE dark... there are other pictures on my profile but I can't figure out how to put them in here.
Keter
I remember living for six years in a rental with cabinets that had dark walnut cabinets that were actually plastic laminate that was starting to have the color layer turn GREEN. I got the management to agree to let me paint the cabinets with an inoffensive beige lacquer. It took actual lacquer to stick to the plastic, and the place was almost uninhabitable because of the smell for three days, but WOW did it look better!
If I had it to do again, I would use one of these lexan coated laminates.
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