My Mum and Dad brought me up to know the difference between a want and a need. I would say it’s probably basic parenting and even as an adult, this concept still nags away in my mind. Many small purchases I can justify as, let’s face it, we all need a little treat from time to time but what about the bigger stuff? How do we get around that?
Take my kitchen for example, there’s nothing actually *wrong* with it which, to be honest is (was) totally infuriating because after 17 years I am totally sick of the sight of it! It was here when I purchased this house and I’ve never been able to justify replacing it. I had new worktops and appliances and tiles but that was it.
Last year I went to Ikea and I made the mistake of falling for the Kungsbacka kitchen display. If you’ve not seen it, trust me, it’s a thing of beauty. It has semi sheen black flat doors, black handles and pale wood inserts randomly placed here and there. I’ll be honest, I fell for it but I didn’t *need* it. Damn my parents and their excellent parenting skills!
For months, I tried to get that kitchen out of my mind but every time I went to my local Ikea (regular readers will know that’s quite often) there it was and it was more beautiful than the last time. I had it bad…
What should I do? I know, I’ll order black handles. That might satisfy my craving?! Maybe? I wasn’t going to spend much so I found some on eBay. They eventually arrived from China. I’ll confess, given the price I didn’t have high hopes but they were ok. Actually , they were better than ok! We fitted them to the kitchen and they definitely gave it a bit of a lift.
But then I went back to Ikea and again and again… my lust for that mid sheen black kitchen simply wasn’t satisfied so I set about making a plan…
I’m sure you’ve all seen the kitchen renovations on Instagram? How hard can it be, I thought…. after several months of researching paint, operation black commenced a few days ago. Right now the kitchen (and the rest of the house) is a tip but I don’t care!
I’ll give you more details next week but I will say this right now – Frenchic Al Fresco paint is amazing stuff and it looks like I’ll do the whole job within the very small budget I set myself.
Here are two photos to wet your appetite – the first is a picture of the Kungsbacka display at my local Ikea…
The second is one of my newly painted drawer fronts complete with the cheap handle from China
Please tune in again next week for (fingers crossed) my big reveal. Must dash, more painting before bedtime…!
Ceinioghome 