‘NEW’ KITCHEN FOR £144
Mum does makeover herself after getting £5,000 quote for a revamp
AMUM from Cardiff took matters into her own hands after being quoted £5,000 for a new kitchen and revamped her old one herself for just £144. Laura Vaatstra took one look at the eye-watering estimate – a hefty price tag which didn’t even factor in labour costs or materials – and decided she could do better.
So, as a result, the 30-year-old customer service adviser, who lives in the capital with her fiance Ben and their two sons, took matters into her own hands and transformed her dated old decor for next to nothing.
Using a self-adhesive vinyl called Fablon – the savvy DIY-er’s equivalent of sticky-backed plastic – which she bought for £48 from eBay, a £30 stencil and £36 tin of Frenchic paint, she created a makeover miracle.
“The quote we got for a new kitchen was out of our price range so after seeing so many people transform their kitchens on a budget, I thought – why not,” she told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk.
“I’ve never used Fablon, never painted cupboards and never used a stencil before, so it was all new to me.”
Nevertheless, she started removing the old handles from the doors, filling in the existing holes and sanding them, before cleaning all the cupboard doors. Once prepped, she applied coats of the grey Frenchic paint.
“Once they were on, I tackled the Fablon, cleaning the countertops thoroughly beforehand and doing one piece at a time. Considering I’d never done it before, it was a lot easier than I was expecting. And I’m very impressed with how it’s lasting so far. Unless you look very closely it’s easy to think that I replaced the worktop with wood.”
The floor came next and would have the biggest impact on the overall look.
“I won’t lie – it looked awful at first,” she added, explaining that things finally started to take shape after another few applications.
“I cleaned the floor with sugar soap and started stencilling, beginning in the middle of the kitchen floor and using masking tape to keep the stencil in place and a face painting sponge to apply light amounts of paint. That way, you avoid it bleeding everywhere.”
The clever hack saved Laura laying new tiles, which would have cost a few hundred pounds.
“In total, I spent £144 on the whole kitchen,” she said.
“I thought it would look nice when I pictured it in my head but it turned out so much better – I’m over the moon with it.”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, added: “This amazing transformation just proves that you really don’t need to spend thousands to get your house looking Instagramworthy.”