Grand Designs And Diddy Budget Dream Kitchens

Up early and off to Grand Designs Live tomorrow, not only for a good old nosey round but also, very exciting, to share some self build secrets! Mr M and I have been regular visitors in the past (in that long lost life we once had pre-rent) and always enjoyed the show immensely. It was interesting to look back to 2011 and 2013 and see that my tastes haven’t changed so much (greenery and timber), plus recall the stand which sparked my desire for a giant log store and the installation which fuelled my obsession for shingles. Our talk is designed to give hints and tips based on our own self build & renovation experience, and then a brief overview of the most recent Moregeous project, Ladybarn’s Community Kitchen.

Why focus on the kitchen? Well, as many of you know, Mr M and I have worked long and hard on our home. We’re pretty much ignored all the rules – don’t add too much detail, leave decor til last, stick to straightforward design, keep things simple, nail the inside before the garden, etc etc – so not only are we now a few years in, but we’ve lived without a finished kitchen for over three years. Nice driveway but plywood work surface. Hmmmm.
Months of one pot, slow cooked warmers when the oven was the only bit of heating in the house, hanging food out of the window in a plastic bags in winter and re-educating myself to cook without a hob are burned onto me like self build scars. I know many of you have been through the same but here’s the thing. Lots of us also spend ALL the budget on the build and then remember we also need a kitchen and furniture. How we envy the chasm deep pockets of rich renovators, those £40k showstoppers which magically appear even though it’s claimed the budget is blown…

So, as well as chatting about self builds in general, I’ll be running through some of my ideas for getting a dream kitchen without a daydreamer’s budget, getting canny with fabulous products or super skills, and making those renovation pennies stretch as far as possible to achieve a super cool, well designed hub of the home. We’ll be doing just that here, so I will in all honesty be walking the talk.

And talking of kitchens…..

…it comes to something when even a play-kitchen trumps yours, it really does. How’s this for a fabulous Ikea hack by the lovely Sarah-Jane at justalittlebuild? Dark blue with the marble, as opposed to our Ladybarn dark green, and looking just as gorgeous.