I'm just not going down the road of explaining the hassle and heartache I've had trying to source my kitchen components from this side of the Cambrians. Let's just say that Wickes in Bristol would have supplied my materials weeks ago had the price and timing been right!
Kitchen units have duly arrived from an Ebay seller (they are stacked in my hallway for the moment) and I managed to procure a 2m length of 'Mouse Dust' (the colour scheme, hopefully not the quality!) 28mm worktop from Homebase in Brecon. This was £35...£5 more expensive than the 'Dapple Slate Grey' offering from Wickes. A huge saving though, as Brecon is a 70 mile round trip from here, and Bristol is almost a 300 mile round trip. Wickes could deliver....but wanted £80!
So, I now have my four carcasses and my worktop.
As the kitchenette is butting up against the toilet, with the outer skin of the toilet wall being the left-hand kitchen wall, I needed to do something to the OSB board to render it a little less, er, rough. In fact, agricultural would have been a better description for the finish. Much research seemed to indicate that the optimum (and possibly cheapest) solution was a decent wood primer, followed by a couple of coats of finely textured masonry paint.
I slapped on some primer with a brush and allowed it to dry thoroughly for 48 hours. At the same time, I also applied primer to the bare woodwork of the door lining.
In the workshop at home I'd already test-painted a sample of rough OSB with primer, and could test my chosen surface finish on that before committing to the final application.
At the same time as my worktop purchase in Homebase, I'd perused the Santex masonry paints. Most 2.5 litre pots seemed to be around the £18 mark, and a 5 litre pot was £27-£29 or so. There were two tins on the shelf that grabbed my attention. Amongst all the other paints, these were marked on the shelf at £7.53. An odd price, and surely not right? I checked at Customer services, and was told that the price marked was indeed correct, but the two pots in question were 'discontinued' colours and had been marked down accordingly. Yes, I could have them at this special price, but if I wanted more of the same down the line, then no can do.
Fair enough. Colour was not an issue (particularly) and neither was needing more in a year's time. 5 litres at £7.53 was not to be sniffed at.
An initial cutting in with a 2" brush around the edges and the corners, then a couple of roller coats had the desired affect. The colour, Ivory Cream, wasn't at all bad either!
As always, with a Nokia phone camera in certain lighting conditions, difficult to tell the colour. It looks white, but I can assure you it is a yellowy-cream!
This angle of shot shows the colour a little better. A few spots and roller spatters on the floor, but this will not matter once the floor is attended to. The jury is still out on non-slip floor paint or vinyl tiles.
Even the not quite butt edges on the OSB at the corner don't look too bad at all. This edge will be trimmed with a corner moulding for the final finish but for now I'm happy enough with the general effect. Skirting and ceiling trim finish will conceal any nasty edges once the kitchen has been installed.
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