A woman has shared the incredible DIY transformation she performed on the kitchen in her rental home.
And the best part? It cost her just £300.
During lockdown, Kelsey Heinrichs, from London, and partner Justin chose to give their kitchen a modern update.
Kelsy had been living in the apartment for two years and felt it was time to improve the space. Over a period of two weekends, savvy Kelsey made some impressive moves.
To begin the project, she made an Excel spreadsheet to work out how much money she would need to give the room an overhaul. From her maths, she deduced that all she needed was £300.
Obviously, because Kelsey did not own the apartment, she had to pitch the idea to her landlords. She describes them as ‘pretty chill’ and they agreed to her proposal.
First, she painted the kitchen tiles a neutral white colour before tackling the kitchen cabinets using a DIY tutorial on YouTube. This clip walked her through giving the cabinets a ‘Cotswolds cottage aesthetic.’
To do this, she removed the cabinet doors, drawer fronts and handles, and cleaned the doors with sugar soap from Wilko to remove dirt and grease. Next she cut MDF strip wood to size and stuck it to the cabinet doors using Wickes Instant Grab Adhesive Glue.
Once the adhesive dried, she lightly sanded down the edges with 240 grit sandpaper, before applying primer. She then sanded it for a second time before applying paint with a paint roller.
Finally, she drilled holes and attached new cabinet handles and hid the boiler by creating two panels of MDF to cover it and create something that matched the cupboards.
Kelsey then began to create a custom pantry door that she designed herself on Adobe Illustrator. Justin used a Bosch Plunge Router to cut out the arched windows using a circle cutting guide.
Once the door frame was cut, primed and painted, they attached cane webbing that Kelsey purchased to create a stylish rattan effect. They stuck the homemade rattan to the back of the door frame using a staple gun, cut off the excess and left it to dry overnight. Meanwhile, a gold handle was added to match the cabinets and drawers.
Although it sounds like a substantial amount of work, Kelsey and Justin spent just £300 on the transformation.
The MDF and pine wood came to £81.99, the two tins of tile paint totalled £30, the tin of 2.5 litre primer cost £25 and the three tines of cupboard paint set them back £45.
The rattan amounted to £52.25, while the gold handles cost £35.04. The door hinges were £20, and the nails and other miscellaneous items cost a further £10.
Kelsey and Justin paid to update the kitchen but their landlords agreed to cover the costs of replacing the extractor fan, washing machine and installing a new kitchen light. Kelsey shared the results on her Instagram page @homewithkelsey, which has over 184,000 followers.
‘Ever since moving into our London rental, I’ve had to make peace with the things I can’t change or fix either due to lack of budget or lack of knowledge,’ sayid Kelsey, who is an interiors blogger.
‘Saving for our first house has made it challenging to decide how much money we want to invest in our current rental to enjoy in the short term and what money we should put aside in our savings that will benefit us in the long term.
‘People often say that it’s a waste of money to do any renovations to a rental, and to those people, I say, bore off! It’s a worthwhile investment to enjoy the home you’re currently living in.’
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