COOL CAFE VIBE’ WINDOW ON THE WORLD

Anneka and Stephen spent so much time in trendy cafes during their refurb, they recreated the look in their kitchen

‘A sink underneath the window means I can gaze out onto the river’ ecause of its location, which is by a lovely river, we fell in love with our house,’ says Anneka. ‘When we bought it we knew that we’d need to make big changes before the hideous kitchen would be usable.

The house had been repossessed by the bank, so no one had been living there for a while and it was completely run down. But it was such a good size and price for first time buyers, so we thought “let’s do it”.

BMoving in

We had to move in straight away because we couldn’t afford to pay a mortgage and rent while we did the work. We did the living room first, so we had a space we could stay in. The kitchen itself was so disgusting, it was beyond cleaning. We couldn’t live with it so we ripped it out ourselves as soon as possible. We were without a proper kitchen for ten months, and in the meantime we set up different tables, one for a microwave, one for a halogen oven and one for a gas hob. We had a lot of takeaways during those months! But it was preferable to living with the existing kitchen. Once we’d got the units out, we removed an entire stud wall and even chased out new electrics with the help of our electrician friend. We then tackled the plastering work with our friend who is a plasterer.

Getting inspired

Obviously during those ten months we ate out a lot, and visited some lovely trendy cafes, which is where I got my inspiration for the look of our new kitchen. I wanted it to feel like somewhere that was cool to hang out in. In particular there’s a place nearby called The Folk Cafe that’s a bit industrial and rough around the edges. It has loads of

plants everywhere and a bit of an urban jungle feel to it.

Choosing the design

I fell in love with the kitchen worktop but Stephen wasn’t so sure. It’s just a simple laminate top, but it’s luxurious and hard wearing. It looks expensive, but it actually cost us £700. The grey units go really well with it. I was trying to figure out what colour to paint the walls. Green is my favourite colour so I plumped for that and it just sets the rest off perfectly. The layout was Stephen’s idea. He had always wanted a breakfast bar and to feel like he’s having his coffee in a favourite cafe.

Making savings

I didn’t want any wall cabinets, just open shelving. We put plywood shelving up and I felt that we needed to use the same material elsewhere. We didn’t have enough room for a standard dining table, so we made a plywood dining table that was just the right size for the space. Stephen is a carpenter, so he was well up for it, and it was super cheap to do. Another saving we made was on the flooring. We have suspended floors, which move a lot, and when we moved in the tiles that were in place were all cracked. I wanted to get flooring that would withstand the movement, but it also needed to be affordable – laminate was the answer. It now looks amazing, fits beautifully and really adds to the cafe style we always wanted.’