If you’ve been following me on Twitter you’ll know I’ve had the builders here for the past 4 weeks working on my kitchen (I needed a lot more done than just a few units and new tiles).
After the builders had been here just a few hours…
…they had decimated my kitchen
Background on my Home
I bought my 1903 terrace house (built just as Britain was moving into the Edwardian era) over 6 years ago in a terrible state. It had 4 walls and a decent roof but not much else.
I couldn’t even live in it immediately as it needed spraying for woodworm, rewiring and the central heating put in. After about a year of paying out for all sorts of jobs (and doing quite a few myself) I ran out of money and decided not to do anything else until I had the money to get the kitchen completed.
My Kitchen Then
When I bought the house, the kitchen was literally a low Belfast sink with old taps that sprayed anywhere but the sink, a small piece of worktop, an old washing machine, one cupboard, one drawer that kept falling apart, a gas cooker that was so old when we disconnected it we flooded the kitchen with gas because there was no cut-off at the connection, ugly brown ripped lino, ugly bright yellow walls and even uglier brown flowery tiles. Oh, and extremely dangerous polystyrene ceiling tiles.
I pulled up the lino, put down cheap flooring, painted everything white and put in my fridge/freezer, washing machine and a microwave (it took me a year to buy a cooker – but only because I worked evenings and didn’t really need one).
I lived with it like that for 6 years.
- 6 years of trying to wash up in a miniscule low sink.
- 6 years of getting soaked unless I turned the taps on just right.
- 6 years of slugs and woodlice crawling in through the various small holes in the walls.
- 6 years of only having 50cm of worktop (the other 50cm was taken up by a drip tray drainer).
- 6 years of not being able to buy much food because I had nowhere to store it.
- 6 years of having all my utensils and cooking equipment stored in the dining room or boxes.
- 6 years of crumbling walls and peeling paint
It’s amazing what you’ll live with once you get used to something!
My Kitchen Now
To some of you, this kitchen will seem tiny and you’ll wonder what the fuss is about – one thing these old terrace houses don’t have is a lot of space (but they do have lovely high ceilings and wonderful original features – but more on that another time). To me this kitchen is like a Martha Stewart paradise!
I have worktops, running water that hits the sink instead of me, cupboards for food, crockery, and utensils, a draining board, Laura Ashley wall tiles, sandstone floor tiles, smooth walls, a proper loft hatch, insulation…
I even have my tumble drier IN the kitchen (did I mention it has been living in my spare bedroom for the past 6 years?)
As you can imagine I’m reveling in my new space – watch out for some photos of my cooking creations in the future (I did miss making bread and other baking that requires a little space).
And maybe I’ll take you on a tour of the rest of my house and show you some more before and after shots.
P.S. I am aware that none of the links on my site are working at the moment. I’m having theme issues (none of my changes seem to be making the blindest bit of difference) but never fear I have employed the services of a WordPress expert so they should be clickable soon.
