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COMPLETELY CHANGE A KITCHEN FOR $60

by on Feb 23, 2007

So, 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

 White cabinets are hanging bare.

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:

 Roll up shade next to line of dots.

 

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)

"White and Clean Wardrobes in a Kitchen"
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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