Rennee and Bryan's born-again kitchen

With a lot of elbow grease, a huge dollop of imagination and some old 1940s cabinets, Rennee and Bryan Lawrence have not only created a kitchen on a ‘zero’ budget but by changing the Resene colours, have given the kitchen two quite different looks.

Their original kitchen was a bog-standard (ie boring) flat-pack style kitchen. By removing a wall between the kitchen and the dining room, they opened up the space but with a very tight budget that needed to be spent on items like the appliances, benchtops and tiles, they looked around for alternatives to custom-built cabinets.

The solution was a large bank of kitchen cabinets for sale from a nearby homestead. Bryan removed the cabinets, then rebuilt them into their new space. He managed to not only form a wall of tall cabinets on one side of the new kitchen, but also made the cabinets for under the bench on the opposite wall.

It was a tricky job – the cabinets were old, out of line and some of the doors didn’t work. “Bryan threatened to burn them on numerous occasions,” says Rennee. Bryan also did all of the tiling, and the painting, including the floors in Resene Black White using Resene Enamacryl, a high-gloss waterborne enamel.

Originally, the couple looked for a colour that they imagined the cabinets might originally be painted, ending up with Resene Quarter Putty, a muted mustardy cream. At the other end of the new space, beyond the dining area, a retro red fridge looks stunning against a wall painted in Resene Blackjack.

But Rennee is a self-confessed change junkie, so after a while, out came the paint brushes again, and the cabinets were given a new coat of glossy Resene Blackjack. So her new but old kitchen was given a new look once more.

“Looking back at the old cream and white scheme reminds me of how nice it was,” says Rennee. So does that meant there may be another colour scheme in the pipeline? Watch this space.  

Read more: Kate and Dave take to the country

Published: 18 Mar 2015

Do you have a home full of wonderful Resene paint and colour? Send us some snaps by emailing [email protected].

kitchen, white tiled kitchen, black kitchen cupboards, recycled timber, interior design

Rennee and Bryan’s second incarnation of the kitchen uses Resene Blackjack on the cabinets, Resene Black White on the walls and floor, and recycled timber for the front of the bench.

black and white kitchen, white kitchen tiles, black kitchen cabinetry, blackboard paint

A closer look at the 1940s cabinets, upcycled with a lick of Resene Blackjack. A painted strip of Resene Blackboard Paint greets visitors with this positive message.

dining room, kitchen, upcycled cabinets, white kitchen tiles, cream paint

In the first makeover, the upcycled cabinets were painted in the mustard-cream shade of Resene Quarter Putty for an aged look. 

black dining room, open-plan dining, red fridge, black paint

The couple kept the Resene Blackjack wall at the other end of the open-plan dining space. The floor is Resene Black White.

kitchen, red fridge

The original kitchen.

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Resene Black White

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Resene Quarter Putty

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