A homeowner who was fed up with her “dated” kitchen has explained how she turned it into a rustic space for £1,200.
Cecilia Effa, 28, an editor from Liverpool, bought her new home and the period property was 140 years old.
Even though her kitchen had character, Cecilia wanted to revamp it while maintaining its original features.
She paid a decorator to paint the cupboards an on-trend sage green and used budget finds from Facebook Marketplace, Tesco and The Range to accessorise it.
She even brought back flowers from her local park to give it the personalised touch, and made shelves from old pieces of wood.
Cecilia told money-saving Facebook group DIY On A Budget UK : “My boyfriend and I bought the house in October. It has six bedrooms which seems crazy but was a steal of a price.
"We wanted to keep the old cottage style feel to the kitchen, but thought it could do with a more refreshing colour - so we came up with the style of rustic meets modern.”
The first job for Cecilia and her partner was painting the cupboards a fresh sage green colour, which cost them £1,000 to have done professionally.
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Next, they had to repaint and sand all the walls, which had a lot of cracks and were peeling, before moving on to the tiles.
"We thought it would be too much work to remove all the tiles, so we focused on the decorative tiles that were dotted around the kitchen, primed and painted them the same green,” said Cecilia.
"The edging of the tiles were faded, so we bought copper spray paint and had a tough job spray painting clean lines - but the copper made such a huge difference.
“The worktops are real granite so we kept them, and then neatened everything up with lots of sealant.”
Next, the pair added some shelves which they made out of an old bed headboard. This had been sanded, prepped and stained ready to be used for shelving.
Cecilia also made a huge chopping board from the leftover wood and engraved their initials on them.
After completing the big DIY jobs, Cecilia set about decorating her new kitchen with cheap Facebook Marketplace finds.
“I found copper pans from a lovely lady in Leeds for a rustic statement piece - only £30 for 4 and she gave me a gorgeous big old jam pot for £10 also.
"We found the Persian carpet for £15 on Facebook Marketplace also.
"I got a couple of decor bits from Amazon such as the garlands, and caddies for spaghetti, rice and chilli from The Range.
“The hexagon shelves were £60 from Etsy, the vase was from Tesco for £8 and that’s about it - I had lots of other little bits lying around.
“I feel like I can breathe again because it's a big project and none of the other rooms are finished yet.
“It will most likely take years. I love the style of the kitchen, and it makes me want to cook in it each night.”
The total cost was just over £1,200, but £1,000 of that was the repainting of the cupboards.
“We have saved a huge amount, not just with the kitchen but by having the tools and doing the rest of the house ourselves,” said Cecilia.
“It's my favourite room in the house.”
