‘our kitchen rose from the ashes’
Elina seized the chance to design her dream kitchen after a serious fire caused major damage
n October 2016, our dishwasher caught fire when I was at work. When I came back, the whole house was black. My husband Gavin and I and our children Violette and Ted moved out that night and stayed with nearby families until we sorted out rented accommodation several weeks later.
Our house had been rented out for many years, and we were saving up to renovate it when the disaster struck. It was harrowing but it allowed us to completely renovate the place and create the kitchen-diner we’d always wanted. Two months later, once we had cleared out our fire-damaged possessions, the builders were able to start work.
IExtending the kitchen
As we had lived here for 15 months, we knew how we wanted to use the space. The dining area was in a Seventies extension, with a thick original exterior wall between it and the kitchen. We talked to our friend Mark, a building surveyor, who suggested removing the wall and fitting a steel beam to create a larger space.
Creating the look
We love colour, pattern and texture so we wanted to create a stylish room that reflected our taste and was fun. We designed the space ourselves, spending many hours on Pinterest and online, researching colours, styles and materials. I ordered sample after sample and had a whole room for them in our rental place. I loved the creativity of this process and really missed that time when it was over.
The whole look of the room started with the gorgeous bottle-green enamel lampshades I found in a vintage shop in Cuckfield, West Sussex. Initially, I wanted oak units and concrete tops but the tops were too expensive, so we chose grey
doors with oak tops instead. We designed the kitchen ourselves and bought units from Howdens, then found doors at Kitchen Door Workshop online. I wanted to give the units a bespoke look, so I sourced some leather pull handles. The vinyl floor and wallpaper were also sourced online. Combining two patterns was a bit of a risk but we tried a large sample of each in the room and this gave us enough confidence to take the plunge.
The finishing touches
For the dining area, I wanted an industrialstyle, dark wood table but I couldn’t find the right size, so I was pleased to discover Design Shack Bespoke online, which offers a wide range of table legs to go with a bespoke-size tabletop. Their Gang chairs worked perfectly with the table and then the area was finished with a mirror that my mother and stepfather gave me.
Seven months after the fire, we were back in our home, enjoying this amazing new space where we now spend most of our time. We spent so long researching, designing and thinking about this room – and it paid off because it’s perfect for us.’
‘Don’t be scared to mix pattern. choose two of Different scales - one Large and one small - to avoid a busy Look’