Phew, this has been a marathon of a DIY project! It started all the way back in January and after a few stop-start attempts, its finally complete. Let me just say that there is not much love lost between me and my new nemesis, enamel paint. Grrrrr. Bad feelings aside, I am super chuffed that its all behind me now and equally happy with the result thus far. This area remains a bit of a work-in-progress.

I was a little perplexed by this odd end of the kitchen when we first moved in to this house. The kitchen itself is quite spacious but the layout is highly impractical and the wall with the window was completely bare. I installed a tall Ikea cupboard to the right of the window for much needed pantry space, and I initially had a small kiddies table and chair set under the window. However, as my kids were starting to outgrow that set, I figured we needed something bigger that the whole family could make use of.

Around the same time, I was in the process of changing the worktop at my office desk for something a little bigger, and it dawned on me that the old beech HAMMARP worktop (previously know as LAGAN) would make a great breakfast bar counter top in the kitchen, and would also be a perfect match to the BOSSE barstools which I already had. All I needed to purchase was one adjustable table leg and a bracket to attach the worktop to the wall.

I took the worktop to a local carpenter to have it finished off with a rounded edge on one side. The installation was easy and the new counter has worked out to be a great solution. This area is probably one of the busiest in our home – we all tend to eat at this table, and the kids do homework and other activities there too. Whilst very practical, it wasn’t particularly pretty and was in need a little change – something to lighten and brighten things up a bit. It was time to try out the paint-dipped effect I have had my eye on for a while now.

Armed with all the necessary tools, I was good to go!

Both the worktop and stools needed to be sanded down – a fairly simple job since both were in a close to natural state. The stools required partial dismantling and some taping around the steel strips on the footrest areas. So far, so good.

After sanding, everything got a base coat of multi-purpose latex primer, followed by 2 coats of Ace multi-purpose oil gloss enamel. The enamel paint was a long and drawn out process because it needed a minimum of twenty-four hours drying time between coats – sometimes even more – and it ended up needing three layers. And then there was the little incident of a sudden sandstorm that came out of nowhere one afternoon while the furniture was drying outside and I was out and about. Suffice to say I had a gritty sandblasted effect on everything and needed to re-sand and repaint… joy of joys! I was not a happy camper, but thankfully, my hubby was on hand to help with most of it.

After what seemed like forever, we finally got to the fun part: paint dipping the legs. Despite what the name suggests, we steered clear of any actual ‘dipping’ opting for the safe route instead by taping up the area to be painted. I used a Jotun paint (color code S 3010-B70G) for this.

In order to achieve a nice level line, I found a book that suited the height I had in mind and simply held it up against each leg to make light pencil marks that helped to guide the placement of tape.

Peeling away the tape and seeing the finished result was by far the best part!

I designed the two inspirational posters especially for this area and I think they make a great addition to the space. You can grab a copy of them here.

So, despite this project being very drawn out, it has been worth it in the end. The smalls seem to love the brighter ‘new’ space and my son told me this morning that he thinks it ‘looks beautiful’. Frankly, that’s as good as it gets for me.

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