Creating My Dream Kitchen - Renter Friendly

With links. Of course. :)

If there is anything I learned living in an old townhouse converted into apartments in a big city, it is that the finishes used during renovations were cheap and kind of mismatched with the old charm of the original building. In my case, it looked like I hit the jackpot; my landlord kept all the crown moldings and the original flooring (partly, but that’s something, I guess). However, when it comes to the newly converted rooms, such as the kitchen or a bathroom, that wasn’t the case.

Picture from the listing, B.K. (before me).

And if there is anything you need to know about the Dutch rental situation, is that you don’t get to be very picky. If you have 5 requirements before you actively start apartment hunting, having 2 out of these 5 boxes checked is enough, if not lucky.

In my case, we had the location (it doesn’t get any more central than that), the personality in the majority of the spaces, very reasonable rent, and that’s that on that. Regardless, I was over the moon! Still am!

It didn’t even bother me the first year having a cheap, water-damaged but functional kitchen. I was able to cook, make coffee, and still decorate. My priorities were the rooms I was spending the majority of my time in. I DIYed the island (just a second hand vanity and an IKEA desktop, of course all covered with adhesive!) for extra surface/storage, and that was enough for me at that point.

And a close-up of some water damage and those LOVELY door handles! I had so many questions!

But once those spaces, living room and bedroom, came together and made them my own, damn, that kitchen was bothering me a lot! Filming my home didn’t help much in that matter; I had to always strategically hide the kitchen in any frame because it just didn’t even fit the rest of the mood I created.

I started slow, thinking that some pretty door handles (linked here) and covering that black, water-damaged counter top and broken backsplash would be enough. And it was for a while. But when I saw how such small effort affected how I felt being in this room, I just couldn’t stop there and started gathering inspiration.

Good riddance broken tiles, damaged counter top, and weird door handles! You weren't missed.

Which was so fun but not the easiest part of this project. You see, when you are not actually renovating and nothing is expensive or permanent, we are talking about stickers here, YOU WANT EVERYTHING! Any kitchen design you saved in that stupid Pinterest board (here is mine) is possible! You just cannot decide. Well, at least I couldn’t; it took me 10 months.

To the surprise of absolutely anyone, burgundy with dark wood finishes was the winning palette.

Finding the right materials was another story, which I won’t say much about. I will just save you the trouble and link what I bought or something similar.

The first order of business was "installing" the tile stickers (linked here) and then checking out how the wood adhesive (linked a very similar but much better quality here) is looking. Obviously approved!

A few tips in case you haven't done this before, like me: give all surfaces a good clean and let them dry well. When dry, start with the less visible areas because, spoiler alert, you will mess up a lot in the beginning. For that reason, order a bit extra. But it does get easy pretty fast, I promise you that.

...and the kitchen now!

I will be very honest with you, I love it, but I wish I had gone with the matte finish tiles. It doesn't look that glossy in person or at night, but it still bothers me when filming.

You can find a very similar counter-top stone adhesive here.

I will deal with the damaged vinyl floor in another episode, I promise!

Linked other things I had in my basket for this project

All from Etsy

Cabinet Handles

Tiles & Backslash

Adhesives

That can probably explain how confused I was with what I wanted. I wanted them ALL!

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There are "interior gurus" out there saying that fake materials look cheap and you should just keep things as they are. And obviously, this stone adhesive will never look as luxurious as a real one. I am very much aware of that. But nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, will ever look cheaper than the materials landlords are choosing for a rental renovation, the majority of the time. Do not listen to these gurus. Do whatever you want to make a rental your own, with rental-friendly solutions. Because you are paying for it and it is basically yours for as long as you do. You deserve to feel at home, and it's a great practice for when you eventually build or renovate your own home with original finishes. Go wild, life is short, it's just stickers, if you hate them just remove them. Fake it until you make it!

If you have any questions, you know where to find me! :)

Thanks for reading.

Until next time,

xx Kelly.