Beech Kitchen in Halifax
This beech kitchen in Halifax was hand painted by specialist kitchen painter Lee Simone, Traditional Painter for Yorkshire. As a group we paint all manner of kitchens old and new around the UK, but our speciality is helping clients with a well made, older kitchen that still works perfectly, is too good to throw out, but needs a lift. This is one such example, a beech kitchen that would be prohibitively (and unnecessarily) expensive to replace.
The completed hand painted kitchen
The original kitchen
This particular kitchen project was all about creating a new, more modern look by hand painting the client’s existing beech kitchen units. Although they were still in great condition 7 years after being installed, and the layout worked perfectly, and the room was well lit, the beech units dominated the space and made the room feel quite dark. Time for a change to a more contemporary kitchen and kitchen space.
Rather than going down the much more costly route of replacing the whole kitchen (with the knock-on effect of needing a new floor, tiles etc) they decided they wanted to spruce it up with a quality hand painted finish and were dead set on having it hand painted by a ‘Traditional Painter’, in this case me 🙂
A much more contemporary look
The original kitchen – making the room feel dark and less spacious
The clients contacted me by phone and after an initial chat about logistics, durability, finish etc they sent me some photos so that I could send them an estimate. After receiving the estimate they were keen to book me in and paid a 20% deposit to ensure their slot – all this before we had even met or had the consultation. This is actually becoming more and more frequent, such is the reputation of ‘Traditional Painter‘ and my reputation as a top quality kitchen painter. It really is very rewarding that people trust you and your work in this way.
Consultation and colour
During the consultation I explained the tried and tested processes I employ and the level of finish I can achieve.
With the technical side covered, it was time to address the colour schemes. I took a good look at the kitchen in situ and put forward the idea of adding a second colour to some areas to create a truly bespoke look. In many cases ‘islands’ are the natural choice for a second colour, but as this kitchen didn’t have one I suggested painting the central wine racks and the area above the sink. The contrasting colour used was a mid charcoal colour (see images below) and complemented the silver edges of the worktops beautifully. As the project developed I also suggested adding some line detailing on the drawers to further add to the overall balance of the scheme.
All masked, cleaned and sanded, now it’s priming time!
Time Scales –
In order to minimise any disruption for the clients I only spent 5 days on site and then continued to prepare and paint the drawer fronts and units in my workshop. I then returned a week and a half later to re-hang them and leave everything tickety boo.
The Finish –
As with all the kitchens I paint, preparation and attention to detail are the key. There’s a lot that goes into a top quality hand painted kitchen that has a beautifully smooth and durable finish. To many, hand painting seems to be synonymous with brush marks and this really doesn’t need to be the case. With the right products, the right skills and a lot of patience, a hand painted finish can be silky smooth without a brush mark or bobble in sight.
In my opinion a hand painted finish also has the aesthetic advantage over a sprayed finish as it has an almost ‘chalky’ quality rather than a more synthetic one and it also hugs the contours of the doors and retains them rather than ‘smoothing’ them out.
If you would like to see more extensive info on the processes and products I use there are many more of my Blogs to explore 🙂
Close up of the silky smooth, brush mark free finish, all hand painted
Highly durable brush mark free finish
The Second Colour –
The pictures below show the sections that were painted in a different colour; a charcoal that complemented the main colour of the units and the edge of the worktops, adding that truly bespoke look and a certain je ne sais quoi 🙂
Wine racks highlighted in grey
Shelf area around the sink highlighted in grey
It’s all in the detail – grey stripes added to drawers for balance
Testimony to all the hard work –
All in all the painted transformation was fantastic and made the room feel instantly lighter, more modern and more stylish – the same units but such a completely different look! Such is the power of paint 🙂
In this day and age where so many businesses feel they can overblow their services and write almost anything they like online to get a foot in the door or make a sale, readers of case studies like this are right to harbour a little doubt about what they read – is this all it is cracked up to be?!
Therefore it is very gratifying when clients who employed Lee on the strength of what they themselves read a few months ago, were sufficiently impressed with the results on their own precious kitchen to go out their way to give him this testimonial –
Thanks for our Kitchen transformation – it is superb! Your meticulous attention to detail is great. Our end-to-end experience was ‘mess-free’ and this really helped us to continue with our busy family lifestyle whilst you were rejuvenating our Kitchen. Thanks again – We love it!’ Mrs F, Halifax
Light, bright and transformed
Dark wood and a bit gloomy
The finished kitchen
If you would like to see more of my hand painted kitchen projects in Yorkshire or other specialist painting works, please visit my website at Imaginative Interiors
There are more reviews of Lee’s work here, among over 150 reviews throughout the Traditional Painter website.
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