Kitchen decor update | Video

Shabby Chic Style Kitchen Decor Update

The kitchen really is the heart of the home for me. It is my favourite room in the house and on Sunday we gave it a freshen up and a redecoration. You might remember seeing my kitchen cabinet DIY makeover, I am pleased to say that the cabinets and the paint job are still holding up really well. I wanted to give the rest of the room a refresh and a change to better compliment the cabinets. 

When we first moved into our house over three years ago we painted the whole house in Magnolia coloured paint. We literally got giant buckets of Magnolia paint and painted the whole house. This, however, was great at the time but I have since spent the past three years eradicating all the yellow toned walls of the house. The kitchen was the last room to get attacked my the paint brush and roller and I am pleased to finally say we got rid of the Magnolia. 

Changing the wall colour 

I wanted to get rid of the yellow undertone in the kitchen. Most of the other rooms downstairs are painted in Laura Ashley Cotton but this was too harsh against my kitchen cabinets so I looked for something with a hint of colour.  I got some samples from my local woodies and came home and tested them on each wall in the kitchen. My best advice is to always buy a tester and paint a large area on each wall. Make sure to give two coats of the tester and check on it the next day and see what it looks like in different lighting. You don’t want to make an expensive painting mistake. Always take the time to test out a tester. Every room in every home is different. A colour on my walls could be a different shade when applied in yours. 

I settled on the Dulux light and space in the shade gentle blossom for my walls. This is a light white shade with a pink undertone and the light pink hue compliments my sage green cabinets perfectly. My cabinets are painted in Autentico eggshell in the shade frozen fountain. We ended up getting our paint in B&Q as it was cheaper, I also picked up some white satinwood to freshen up my skirting boards and some radiator paint in white. 

Redoing the displays

For the past while, I had loads of quotes on the wall beside the kitchen table. I literally couldn’t say no a cute sign that had a phrase on it and they all ended up on this wall. It was starting to feel cluttered and it just didn’t inspire me anymore so I decided to redo this wall. I got a new shelf from Ikea, I got the Stenstorp 120cm wall shelf in the colour white. This sits perfectly above the radiator. 

You might have seen another Stenstorp shelf in my living room that I use for teacups. I just love the cottage feel to this range of shelves. They have really nice details but my only advice is to be careful as when assembled they are heavy so make sure your wall can support the weight. 

I also added in my new mirror that you might have seen in my Homesense haul. This is a clever trick if you want to make a room feel bigger, by adding in a mirror you can create the illusion of a bigger room. Mirrors are great at reflecting light in the room making the space brighter. I popped this window style mirror facing the garden so it reflects in the room. That mirror was a steal too at only €39. 

A good scrub and declutter

The hardest room in the house to paint is the kitchen. I had to box up my cups and trinkets so they wouldn’t get damaged and I gave them a good clean. I didn’t realise how dirty and grimy the kitchen actually was until we painted the room. Although we clean it almost every day you don’t notice the buildup of grease and grime on the cabinets and walls from all of the cooking. We wiped down all of the cabinets and cleaned the tiles down to freshen it up. I decluttered the drawers and cleaned out behind the fridge and washing machine. You would be surprised what falls behind there! lol!. 

I feel like the kitchen has a more grown up feel to it now. My style of decor has evolved from when I first moved in. That is why I love being able to change up a room when it no longer inspires me. We spend so much time in our homes that we should be able to have them the way we want them and not break the bank. All of my paint including new brushes and roller cost me €74 and my shelf was €40. All of the trinkets are ones that I have collected over the past three years and I have just taken them from the other rooms in the house.
I hope you enjoyed today’s post. Do let me know if you have any DIY’S planned for your home. Tag me in your DIY pics on Instagram and Facebook. 

Chat soon,
Catherine.

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4 Comments

  1. Poppy
    July 18, 2017 / 11:38 pm

    Love your kitchen update. Wish mine was big enough for that. Can barely fit a 24" table!

  2. Catherine Carton
    July 23, 2017 / 3:01 pm

    Thanks for reading Poppy x my kitchen is quite small too. I went with a round table to try and make it feel bigger x

  3. kachmeifuucan
    August 19, 2017 / 3:43 am

    I love your kitchen sink its so cute with that faucet I wish I could have one like it. love you karyann

  4. Hellen
    September 13, 2020 / 10:21 pm

    Hi . Lovely page. What primer did you use for your fridge? Do you think it will work on a red fridge? Or would I have to paint it white first? I really dont want to ruin it . X

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