A Family Farmhouse

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A Family Farmhouse

Teaching DIY and home décor to beginners at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/diyhomedecorclub/

19/09/2026

⭐️ The evolution of our family farmhouse kitchen ⭐️

We’ve been in the house for eight years now, so we’re getting to the point where the rooms we did early on require attention again. We tackled the kitchen very early on and did what we could with our budget; we installed a double butler sink, changed the cabinet doors (but kept the carcasses), changed the worktop, and added an extractor fan. This worked well for us for a good few years but over the last 18 months, the kitchen had become tired and was not very user friendly - our cabinets were jam packed and stuff was everywhere.

It took a while for us financially to be able to do what we want, but we’ve now had a new white worktop, changed all the doors, replaced the very old carcasses, and built a new extractor cabinet. I built an island from an antique cabinet, and installed a counter top larder and pot drawers. Honestly, the pot drawers are a game changer.

All iterations are beautiful in their own way, but I love that our kitchen has evolved with us. The newest version is definitely the best from a user point of view, but it’s taken me this long to figure out what an efficient kitchen looks like. You live and learn.

Now we just have to finish off painting in here and install a new cast iron radiator and we’re done!

How about you, is your home still evolving?

20/08/2026

⭐️ KITCHEN MAKEOVER ⭐️

It’s still a work in progress, but the kitchen is really coming along! After going to a fancy barn at Christmas with the most amazing kitchen, it gave me the kick I needed to make the changes to the kitchen I’d wanted to make for years. Many of the changes sought the make our kitchen serve us better and make our lives easier. First up are the deep drawers, where we now have a place to keep all our saucepans and baking items. This has been a game changer - why am I only now finding out how useful deep drawers are??

We changed the majority of the cabinet doors to this beautiful forest green, and I painted some of the doors and carcasses to March using Valspar colour match paint. We changed the worktop to a gorgeous white laminate with a warm vein detail. We removed all the wall tiles in favour of a matching splashback. All new brass handles and new brass taps.

Another piece of the puzzle arrived this week in the form of our new counter top larder cupboard, which will house our microwave, bread in and other larder food items. It was built to our bespoke measurements by a wooden furniture complaint I found online. I’ve been busy staining it this week, I just need to do the inside now. Plug sockets and lighting will be fitted inside once the materials arrive.

The island I made earlier this year by buying an antique cabinet off FB Marketplace and added the shelving at the back and a worktop. I love it and it now houses all our dinner plates. Oh and we also built our own extractor fan cabinet and the air is now pumped outside rather than re-circulated around the room, which was causing flaky paint.

The main work left in this room now is painting. I’ve received two astronomical quotes from painters and decorators to paint this room so, of course, I’m going to do it myself. So ignore the unsightly walls - this’ll be gone soon 😊.

I’m loving how this is looking now but, better still, I love how the new elements we’ve introduced are making our lives easier.

What do you think? Happy to answer any questions!

28/03/2026

Morning ☀️

Here are some of my recent pics. The kitchen project is on hold now until July, when we’ll tile the walls, add sone counter-top cabinets, and install a new worktop. So I’m having to be super patient until then, which I don’t find easy at all!

But the DIY island, antique Welsh dresser, and DIY extractor fan have breathed some fresh air into the room and made it feel totally different.

My morning is full of footy before we go collect our new car/van later, which is very exciting! It’s electric, and I’ve never driven an electric car before. Do you have any tips, or is there anything I should know?

12/02/2026

⭐️ EXTRACTOR HOOD ⭐️

We’re ripping out our existing extractor fan and replacing it for two reasons. One - it simply pumps the air back into the room, causing condensation and flaky walls. And two - I hate how it looks. No shade if you have something like this, but the black glass splash and has been driving me mad for a couple of years now. It never really suited the aesthetic of a country kitchen and getting rid of it has already lightened the space so much.

So I’ve bought a new extractor fan that will actually extract the air outside. But I don’t want to see it, so we’re going to build an MDF cabinet to sit it inside. And I’ll add a shelf too as I have a beautiful antique serving plate and nowhere to really store it, so it can go pride and place on the shelf.

We’ll be tackling this over the next few days as it needs to be ready for worktop templating day next week, as the fitters will be measuring the space for the splash back. I’ll show you how we do it - and on a shoe string, as usual!

10/02/2026

⭐️ KITCHEN ISLAND DEMO ⭐️

Here’s where we’re up to with operation kitchen island; transforming an antique Ecrol cabinet into a fully functional island.

After fitting the slatted shelf, adding wood panelling to the back, and adding new brass hardware, it was time to build the open shelving at the back.

I wanted sturdy, thick shelves, so I bought a long piece of window sill and cut two shelves from it. We cut notches into the front and back of the shelves so they’d sit flush into the unit and the legs. We used two pine staircase spindles as the legs, which just needed trimming slightly to be the perfect height.

Top tip: make sure you use a spirit level to make sure your legs and unit are level with each other, otherwise your worktop will be wonky!

We then added a gorgeous brass rail with hooks before staining the new wood with five coats of wood stain. And I think it’s looking pretty fabulous!

Now I’ll waterproof the cabinet (essential in a kitchen) before the white quartz worktop is fitted in a few weeks. I can’t wait to see the final result.

What do you think? Happy to answer any questions you have ⬇️

31/01/2026

Operation kitchen revamp is coming together!

I’ve now chosen as absolutely beautiful quartz worktop for the kitchen and cabinet I’m turning into an island - check out my stories for a closer look. The tone of the worktop blends perfectly with the warm paint colours I’ve chosen for the cabinets, walls and woodwork. I can’t wait for this all to come together.

This project was never about just making the room prettier, I’m making changes to make the kitchen serve us better. I was so sick of every cupboard being overflowing and not being able to find anything. Part of this revamp is about adding new storage and reviewing and reworking the storage we’ve already got. I’ve already moved our pots, pans and utensils to more accessible parts of our kitchen, which has been a game changer! Sometimes even small changes can make a huge difference.

Next job will be to finish off the island and build open shelving at the back. The materials for this are on order, so look out for that soon! Then I’ll be getting this gorgeous worktop templated, and I’ll share the process of that with you too.

What do you think to the plans? The pic 3 is a Chat Got-imagined image of how it may look.

Country kitchen, Lick paint, green kitchen, decor, DIY, interior design, kitchen inspo

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Derbyshire

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