Australian House & Garden

The kitchen, part one

I have painted my kitchen! Finally, I have something that is really starting to look good. I’m not going to include photos yet because there are still a few things that I’m going to do to it this weekend before I’m happy for photos to be put up here.

I’d agonised over the colour. I’d wanted to do something way-out, that I didn’t think I’d ever consider before: I was going to go for a darker instead of lighter colour. The kitchen cupboards are light pink in colour and I was debating over whether to go for a deep pink colour. I have to add here that the kitchen being light pink wasn’t my doing. My mother had carefully chosen the kitchen years ago and asked that I didn’t change it. I decided that I’d respect her wishes as to the kitchen itself, but I wanted to put a bit of me, my personality, in it.

So off to the hardware store to get the paint. I’d decided on the colour, then almost chose a colour that I hadn’t tested with a sample pot. I knew that I had to get the paint then and there otherwise I’d have dragged it out for a few more months of indecision. The patient Bunnings paint expert spent a good hour with me as I decided, then changed my mind, and changed my mind again. In the end, I got the colour I’d originally decided on.

And so I got to painting. I have sore muscles I never knew I had. Forget gym membership, I’m getting my workout at home. But seeing the results so far has made it all worth it. This is the first thing I’ve done myself that has resulted in something that looks better than what it was before.

The lessons learned so far are:
• The breakfast of champions on painting day is Milo eaten straight out of the tin. It keeps you going long after you think you should’ve stopped (provided you top-up every few hours).
• Prepare food for the next few days BEFORE beginning to paint the kitchen. I wish someone had told me that before I started. For starters, you’ll be too sore and tired to cook, and secondly, you can’t use the kitchen much until the paint dries.
• Everything takes longer than you expect it will. I never imagined that I’d be spending more than one weekend painting the kitchen. There wasn’t that much to paint. But it’s fiddly work and by the time each coat dries, you’re looking at a few days of work.
• Be careful with the paint roller handle. I nearly took out the light, the microwave, the window, and almost put a hole in the ceiling.
• Also carrying on from the point above, be careful with the paint on the roller too. I ended up with pink paint on the ceiling because I wasn’t careful enough.
• Which brings me to the next point. Carry around lots of cloths and wipes on you to wipe off any paint that ended up where it shouldn’t.

And after all that, I’ve decided to keep going and paint the rest of the house. I think the dining room will be next. I calculated that if I did a room every two weekends, I’d need 22 weeks. That would take me to the beginning of November: still within the springtime deadline I’d set for myself. But being an accountant, there will be a few weeks in July when I’ll have time for nothing but work, so I’m going to have to either paint faster than what I have been, or take a few days off work after the financial year-end work has been done.

• Posted By: The Renovator at 10.38AM

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