Couple transform their drab kitchen themselves for £500 in just a WEEK using paint and wood panels – after being quoted £3,000 by a professional
- Emma Hartshorne redecorated her kitchen with her boyfriend Jordan Carter
- The student, 22, moved in with her engineer boyfriend, 23, in April last year
- They spent just £500 to transform their kitchen despite being quoted £3000
A couple spent just £500 on their once drab kitchen after shunning the £3,000 quoted by a professional to revamp the space. You could transform your kitchen as well by using coloured acrylic splashbacks which can add a new look for a great price. This couple however opted for a tiled design.
Student Emma Hartshorne, 22, moved into her new home in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, with her engineer boyfriend Jordan Carter, 23, in April last year – but they didn’t like the style of the decor.
It took them less than a week to completely transform the room by stripping the wallpaper and repainting the cabinets darker and more fashionable colour.
Emma said: ‘I was sitting in my kitchen one day and was thinking to myself how much I loved it, so I decided to share it on social media.
Student Emma Hartshorne, 22, and her boyfriend Jordan Carter, 23, from Yorkshire wanted to transform the outdated kitchen (pictured left) in their new home. The couple repainted the cabinets in a fashionable dark colour and added rose gold handles to the units (right)
Student Emma Hartshorne (left), 22, moved into her new home in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, with her engineer boyfriend Jordan Carter (right), 23, in April last year
‘The response has been amazing – everyone loves it and my family couldn’t believe that we had managed to do it by ourselves.
‘We had someone come round to quote us for it to be done professionally and it would have cost over £3,000.’
The couple had just paid thousands of pounds for a deposit to buy their first house and couldn’t face spending too much more on redecorating their new space.
‘Having just bought our first house, there was no way that we could shell out that amount of money and so we decided to do it ourselves,’ Emma added.
The pale cabinets and green wallpaper were not to the couple’s taste and they set about finding someone to redecorate for them – but were quoted £3,000 (pictured before, left). The wallpaper was replaced with black panelling and the table was upgraded to a more fashionable bench-style seating area. Trinkets were placed on the shelving (right)
In the kitchen Emma worked mainly on the painting while Jordan focused on inserting new panelling (pictured during the assembly process)
Fashion-forward rose-gold handles replaced the older silver versions and the cabinets were given a couple of coats of black paint
‘Neither of us have ever really done DIY before but it was actually really fun and we want to transform the whole house.’
The pair have already gone on to redecorate their fireplace and bedroom since finishing their first project together.
In the kitchen Emma worked mainly on the painting while Jordan focused on inserting new panelling.
The pair saved money by keeping the cooker, side boards and their sink the same, while updating the cabinets and tiling
‘We started by ripping out all of the cupboards and removing the wallpaper. Then, we set about painting the entire kitchen and panelling the wall that we stripped the wallpaper from,’ she said.
The only part of the kitchen the couple needed a bit of help with was the tiling, which they paid a workman to complete.
‘Then, we painted all of the cupboards and added new rose-gold handles to match the black paint.
We finished it off by getting some professional tiling done and that’s how we transformed it,’ she added.