Kirsi renovated her kitchen for under a thousand euros: “I did the renovation myself, on a single parent’s budget”

My partner and I separated four years ago, and I bought out our shared detached house for myself. We had built the house in 2002, and it hadn’t been renovated much since then. Some people change their hairstyle after a breakup; I transformed the entire house.

I started the renovation with the kitchen, which was original. We had ordered it from Puustelli, and the cabinets had aged well. My idea was to bring a bit of Swedish country style to the kitchen. I had a small sign that said skafferi (“pantry”) that I had bought from a flea market, and I began to wonder if I could build an actual pantry, which I’d been dreaming of.

We had previously installed two refrigerators in the kitchen. I realized I didn’t need both, as I was living with just my daughter. I moved one refrigerator to the garage, which left a perfect space for a pantry. Not long after, I found an old pantry door on secondhand online store Tori. So I had the sign and the door ready before we even started building the pantry itself.

Kitchen before renovation:

I had previously built a closet under the stairs of the house with my brother, and that had left us with some extra lumber. We used that for the pantry, for which I made detailed plans for my brother. The walls were made with beadboard over particleboard, and the shelves from battens and glued laminated timber.

I had always dreamed of William Morris’s Pimpernel wallpaper. I realized it would work nicely in the kitchen, and I wouldn’t need much of the expensive wallpaper since it wouldn’t go all the way to the floor. Because I had my boyfriend to help me, I dared to take on the wallpapering project. I painted the walls with Frenchic chalk paint in Green with Envy, which matched the wallpaper perfectly. Both the wallpaper and paint have held up well, even though they occasionally get water splashes.

The William Morris wallpaper is Kirsi’s favorite feature in the kitchen. “Green is the common thread here,” Kirsi says. The sink installed in front of the window often delights guests. The window stays clean as long as water splashes are wiped off after doing the dishes.

I also wanted to get rid of the tall cabinet with doors that I always needed a stool to reach. I work at a furniture store, and one day I spotted a solid oak dining table in our dumpster with just one broken leg. My ex-partner cut it into open shelves for the wall, and I treated them with wood oil to match in color. I got the brackets from Clas Ohlson. There was even table material left over, which I’m currently utilizing for my bathroom renovation.

My ex-partner and I had already painted the cabinets before our separation, so I only replaced the handles with leather ones from IKEA. That was the biggest investment in the kitchen.

The large bar table used to be my workspace, but I realized I couldn’t work standing all day. I found the bentwood bar stools on Tori and painted them black myself. There were originally four chairs, and the two extra ones now serve as plant stands.

I did the entire renovation myself, on a single parent’s budget. I always try to buy everything secondhand and recycled. I’m also known for rescuing my friends’ discarded items. In my garage, I have things like dresser tops, solid wood, and items that were returned with a complaint.

The pantry was Kirsi’s long-time dream, with its size dictated by the refrigerator space. “I would love a larger pantry, so it could fit serving dishes as well.”

I’ve replaced appliances as they’ve broken down. The door of the 20-year-old refrigerator started looking worn, even though the fridge still worked. I glued decoupage sheets with sunflowers onto the doors. They matched the wallpaper and refreshed the refrigerator’s appearance.

I’ve realized that you learn by doing and gain more courage along the way. Looking back, I’ve noticed that some of the early wallpapering could have been done differently. On the other hand, small mistakes can always be fixed with paint, and if the result looks really bad, you can cover it with a painting and a hook rack.

Read more about Kirsi’s home and its renovation in our article here [in Finnish]. You can also admire the interior on Instagram at @pieni_paivansade.