How to breathe new life into your kitchen
Tuesday, 23 October 2012
With house prices falling this autumn, it is understandable that you may be thinking about improving your home rather than selling it, or perhaps enhancing it for when the market picks up.
As the heart of any home, it makes sense to begin renovating your kitchen. And this can be more affordable than you realised. But it can seem a daunting task initially, so here are a few ideas to get you started:
· The floor: Over the years, the flooring in your kitchen can take quite a pounding, and quickly look rather the worse for wear. Changing its colour can alter the whole look and feel of a room.
Vinyl floors can be replaced pretty easily, affordably and quickly. If your floor is tiled, as long as the tiles haven’t been cracked or chipped, you could get it re-grouted if you don’t want to replace it completely. One tip is to go for a darker colour of grouting to alter the appearance of your floor. Equally, stains won’t show up in a hurry.
If you have tiles which are starting to look rather grubby, a tile cleaning product can give them a lift and a new shine.
For scratched or dented wooden floors, try sanding and re-sealing it so it looks as good as new. (You may want to consult a professional before doing this.)
· Accessorise, accessorise, accessorise:Just as jewellery or a scarf can brighten up an old dress, fresh-looking accessories, from colourful mugs and tea-towels to other products, can update the look of the most important room in your house for very little outlay. Go for bright, bold patterns and shades to show off in your kitchen to its best advantage. You could consider growing flowers on the window sill too.
· Wall tiles: Highly visible, and taking up a lot of space, wall tiles can lose their visual impact over the years. Changing the pattern, colour or design of your kitchen tiles will give the room an instantly fresh new look.
· Splashbacks: Give the heart of your home a new lease of life by replacing your splashbacks. There are some dazzling ones around in today’s marketplace, in acrylic and glass, which are easy to install on top of the tiles or splashback you have already.
· Lighting: Many kitchens depend on just a single lighting source. Look for the darker areas and think about installing new lighting with dimmer switches. Just being able to alter the illumination in your kitchen can make a massive difference.
You could also look at freshening up cupboards and cabinets with new handles and doors, and consider replacing worktops that have seen better days.
But, in truth, the best way of breathing new life into your kitchen is with a complete replacement, and even a project of this scale could be more cost-effective than you thought.
Kutchenhaus has a superb range of bespoke kitchens, built to high German design standards and supplied directly to you. There is no middleman, so you get a high quality product at a price that’s realistic.
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