DIY Diaries: Frenchicing the Downstairs Loo

I've become a little bit obsessed with Frenchic and decorating this year as you could probably tell from my post on painting my entire kitchen with Frenchic paint!

Skip to a couple months later and I was wondering what I could paint next...Queue the downstairs loo!

The downstairs loo has been a bone on contention for me for quite a while. When we moved in it was carpeted which is a whole load of gross! Teamed with a sickly green wall colour, this space really wound me up.

Radiator Cover- Argos

Candle Holder- Asda Home

Mirror- eBay

I used Frenchic Alfresco in the colour Black Jack to paint the skirting boards and door frames and the radiator too. It makes such a change to not undercoat, prime and gloss skirting boards and instead lightly sanding the skirting boards before painting straight onto it. 

With different Frenchic colours, they cover differently and in the case of Black Jack, it takes 3-4 coats. Thankfully you only need to leave it to dry for two hours and you can paint again. It also makes the radiator more of a feature in the room with I love! 

Another feature I wanted to change and make more of a statement was the tiles. Now don't get me wrong I love decorating and DIY but I do not feel confident with the idea of tiling myself! Instead I did a cheeky hack of applying stick on tiles. Admittedly I was a bit dubious of them initially but having seen lots of positive reviews I took the plunge and I'm really pleased with the result- so much so that I extended the tiles onto the side of the wall (pictured above) where they randomly stopped previously. 

Tiles- Amazon

Soap dispenser and towel rail- Amazon

Bathroom cabinet- eBay

Shelving- IKEA

I probably wouldn't use them to tile over an entire bathroom or an area that gets a lot of water traffic but for a downstairs look sink they are perfect and easier than attempting tiling for the first time!

I decided not to put the mirror above the sink and opted for shelving with a few bits of decor. I know a lot of people are of the opinion that a mirror should sit above the sink but I felt that instead hanging a mirror over the radiator and adding a radiator shelf made use of another area that would otherwise be unused space.

Chunk in a new blind and a plant for good measure and voila we have a new downstairs loo! I know it is only a loo at the end of the day but I'm honestly so much happier with it now than how it was before. 

Blind- Amazon

Have you used Frenchic in your downstairs loo?

DIY Diaries: The Kitchen Edit with Frenchic Paint

It's been a while since I did any DIY around the house- partly because at one point we were looking to move but we've since decided to stay put. With COVID happening, I thought decorating would be the perfect thing to keep me busy and then I really got the bug for it when I discovered Frenchic Paint.

Radiator Cover- Amazon

Having discovered a Facebook group where people are raving about this paint and sharing their makeovers, I quickly became engrossed. They weren't just doing your usual makeovers of wooden furniture and what not. Oh no! Front doors, kitchens, leather sofas and more were being made over in this paint and it got me thinking...Could I do our kitchen?

The paint we decided to go with is the Alfresco Range in the shade "Swanky Pants" for the top cabinets and "City Slicker" for the bottom cabinets and "Dazzle Me" for the tiles. This particular range can be used both indoors and outdoors and is self sealing, self priming and is suitable for woods, laminate, UPVC, composites and metals. With COVID going on, we were lucky to place an order online with a stockist in Peterborough called Golden Crown Furniture and collect it. We also purchased the sugar soap to clean everything with as well as the Frenchic detailer brushes and large and small oval brushes.

We got to work prepping the kitchen firstly by cleaning the kitchen cabinets and tiles with sugar soap before lightly sanding them down so that the paint had a better surface to adhere to. We then went ahead removing door handles and taping up the windowed cabinets before painting the ceiling and walls with white paint.

The next step was to start painting the cabinets! In all honesty I was a bit nervous to begin with but shortly after the first few brush strokes I changed my mind as this paint applies like a dream! It's creamy consistency doesn't run or drip and a little bit really does go a long way so I felt reassured that my 750ml tins would cover the entire kitchen. The brushes are also amazing, especially the detailer brushes to get into difficult nooks and crannies and for precision when doing edges too. After the first coat the kitchen already looked brighter and more modern and the best part was you only have to wait two hours for it to dry before applying the second coat! It took two coats to cover the bottom cabinets in City Slicker whereas the top cabinets in Swanky Pants took 3-4 coats to cover. I also found this when painting the tiles in Dazzle Me so I would say that for lighter shades, expect to do 3-4 coats on a project.

It took us a day to paint the kitchen and already we were over the moon with the result!

The day after painting! Excuse the mess lol

Along with painting the cabinets, we also wanted to re-vamp the worktops. A lot of people using Frenchic paint have used DC Fix- an adhesive vinyl material that can cover over many surfaces. I bought the Ribbeck Oak wood effect and again I was initially sceptical as it is a bit of a sod to apply. I was having flashbacks to my school days of covering my school books with sticky back plastic. It's basically doing lots of that but I am so pleased with the final result.

I will however admit a teething problem (even though this kills me, but I'd rather be honest so you don't make the same mistakes we did) I've since had with the DC Fix, but this is our own error. Where one edge finished and another began, we had lined it up beautifully. It was flush, but what we should have done is overlapped it slightly to compensate for shrinkage. We didn't realise there would be residual shrinkage after application so we have noticed some space appear between sheets. It is incredibly minute- we're talking a millimetre and is probably only something notice but it is doing my head in so I wouldn't be surprised if I re-do it at a later date!

Overall, I am over the moon with how the kitchen has turned out. I'm still waiting on a few bits to arrive to finish it off decor wise but I apart from that it's now complete!

I've also written a post on these DIY shelves which you can read here

Bar Stools- Amazon

Blind- Blinds 2go

Kettle- Dunelm

Toaster- Dunelm

Tea, Coffee Sugar Cannister set and matching bread bin- Dunelm

Henry Watson Coffee Canister- Amazon

Wooden coffee scoop- Amazon

We were so impressed with the paint that we then went on to paint the radiator in Frenchic's Blackjack and DC fix the radiator shelf which has made for the perfect little letter area!

What was a dated kitchen now feels really fresh and modern and cost under £200 to decorate as opposed to paying thousands on a new kitchen.

I'd definitely recommend giving this a go if you're looking to revamp your kitchen on a budget and would highly recommend Frenchic Paint for painting projects!