Give Your Kitchen a Budget Makeover

You should love your kitchen, you spend plenty of time in it. Thankfully, kitchen makeovers don’t always mean a new fit out - and a bank loan! Try our low cost DIY kitchen makeover ideas you can complete on any budget and in your own time.

First, a Colour Scheme

Choosing a colour scheme first will make all the rest of your makeover decisions easier; from choosing paint of course, to buying new accessories. Your colour scheme or 'palette' will also help you achieve a professionally decorated, unified look.

Some colour combinations will instantly lift a room and bring it bang up to date, for example a dark wooden finish such as ebony on cabinet doors looks fantastic with lime green accents and a neutral grey on the walls. Browsing home decorating magazines or websites such as www.pinterest.com will inspire you and give you lots of colour scheme ideas to think about for your kitchen.

Paint the Walls & Ceiling

With your new colour scheme chosen, you can get started with your kitchen face-lift by painting the walls. The transformative effect of colour and fresh, clean paint is often underestimated. Kitchen walls and ceilings get hit with grease and smoke on a daily basis and can dull over time without you noticing. Give them a good clean before painting them with a paint that is specifically designed for use in kitchens. This will help you keep the kitchen cleaner in future and prolong the fresh new colour.

Revamp Cabinet Doors & Drawers

One of the focal points of the kitchen, cabinet doors and drawer fronts can be easily updated with a coat of paint and some new knobs. We recommend getting some paint swatches and tester pots from your local Topline store to test out the colours in your kitchen. If the doors are old and don’t hang properly anymore, replacing the hinges will help them seem like new again. Replacing the knobs or handles will also give the cabinets and drawers a brand new look.

Accessorise

Use kitchen accessories to add pops of your accent colour. Accessories can add interest to boring kitchens, or provide a bit of distraction in kitchens which might be otherwise unwelcoming. Great kitchen accessories include lampshades, vases, baskets, candles, book stands, utensil holders, vintage-look bottles or jugs, and bowls. Just be selective with your accessories to avoid a cluttered look.

Update or Hide Appliances

The things we look at every day can become sort of invisible to us. Have a good look at your kettle, toaster, microwave, and any other appliances that are on display in your kitchen. Firstly, do they need to be on display? The more counter-top space you have free for prettier things, the better your kitchen will look. If they do need to be on display, perhaps a new model in a complementary colour is worth the small investment.

Brighten Up

Older kitchens tend to be dull and dreary, with clunky, over-sized cabinet fittings and a lack of natural light. An easy solution is to install rope lighting under or over cabinets. This is easy to do yourself and as well as increasing the light, it gives a modern and trendy look. It’s not permanent, so this is one that is suitable for rented properties too.

Update Wall Tiles & Counter-tops

Changing your wall tiles and counter-tops is verging on a full kitchen makeover. It will require the help of a skilled professional and can be costly, but the results are high impact. Before making the splurge, there are some alternatives you can consider. Tiles can be painted with some care and specialist paint, and some counter-tops can be covered with a veneer for a less expensive update.

Change Taps

Another update you can make cheaply and in your own time is to replace your kitchen taps. This is easy to do yourself and stylish new taps will make a real difference to the look of your sink area.

An Easy New Floor

An inexpensive and easy way to cover an ugly tiled or lino floor is to install click flooring over the existing floor. 

Add an Island

If floor space isn’t a problem for you, adding a kitchen island and some stools will upgrade your kitchen. It adds storage, dining and work space, as well as looking modern and luxurious. It is possible to build your own, but unless you are experienced with carpentry it is probably best left to the professionals.

For further advice and all the tools you will need, visit Willoughbys Monasterevin.