Decoration & Inspiration: Problem Room - Kitchen

My old-fashioned kitchen is now modern and bright

Insider info

Who lives here?
Deborah Gaines, 39, her husband, Mick, 38, have lived in this three-bedroom Victorian terraced house in Bristol for five years with their two children, Louey, eight, and Gracie, four.

What do you like most about the room?
‘It has to be the orange floor… I love it. It makes such a statement and because it’s rubber it feels warm underfoot and it’s also very easy to clean.’

What are your top tips?
‘When painting old doors, make sure you take them off and lie them flat to reduce any drip marks. We used an eggshell finish which means the paint is wipeable and hardwearing. By adding new handles it really transformed the doors too.’


Deborah Gaines and her husband Mick loved her Victorian house, but didn’t know how to revamp the dull kitchen. ‘We inherited this old wooden kitchen with the house and we wanted to brighten it up somehow,’ Deborah explains. ‘Because we had spent most of our budget decorating the rest of the house we didn’t have much left for the kitchen.’ The units were solid wood and structurally sound, so Deborah decided that instead of ripping them out and starting from scratch they would save money by painting the old unit doors a soft vanilla and replacing the handles with modern chrome ones.
 
Deborah then wanted to introduce some of her all time favourite colour – orange, and was thrilled when she found on the internet some fabulous rubber flooring in that exact colour, which is very practical and hardwearing – perfect for her kitchen. ‘They had the most amazing selection of colours, but I knew I couldn’t resist the orange,’ smiles Deborah. She also chose orange wall tiles to tie the colour scheme together and toned down the look with a black worktop, a black sink and a black blind for the window together with chrome taps and shiny chrome appliances. ‘I can’t believe this is the same kitchen… although it’s a small room it feels so much more spacious and I love the orange,’ laughs Deborah.

What was wrong with the old room?
The dark wooden floor and matching units made this room feel very small and dark. It lacked colour and any sort of character.

Your Home solutions



Make space for recycling
Don’t forget to leave room for your recycling containers. With kerbside recycling collections there’s no excuse not to separate out your rubbish, so remember to allow space in your home for stylish recycling containers. Deborah reserved an area underneath her fridge.





Be brave with colour
Once Deborah decided that orange would be the accent colour, she found a fabulous floor by searching on the internet and teamed this with funky orange wall tiles. This was toned down with cream walls and chrome appliances to keep the room fresh and modern, while ensuring the orange is not too overpowering.



Paint existing units
If your old units are structurally sound, it seems a shame to rip them out, especially if your budget is low. Spend a weekend updating them instead with a couple of coats of paint and shiny new handles. They’ll look as good as new and help to completely transform the room.






Match the worktop to the sink
The black worktop works particularly well with the black sink to create a streamlined, uncluttered feel to the kitchen.