Help to brighten up kitchen

[Moodwill]

We're moving into our new home soon, and I'm trying to make it feel more 'us' on a limited budget.

The kitchen- which is lovely and full of potential- unfortunately has black tiles. I'm definitely not a black person, I like my home to be full of colour and neutrals generally. I can't afford to get the tiles redone I don't think (or can I? How much would this cost?) but what could I do to brighten things up in the meantime?

Think I'm going to get a pink boiling water tap for a pop of colour, we also have a pale blue Smeg toaster and pale pink Kitchen aid mixer. We are having the kitchen decorated (colour tbc!) and will have a nice blind fitted too.

The cupboards also need something to help as the two below the sink have water damage and are swollen and raised at the bottom. No idea how to fix this.

All suggestions to help would be appreciated! Thanks 😃

I think I would paint the kitchen a pale pink and then get blinds with some kind of pattern/swirl/flowers/whatever is available, that has black, white, possibly the colour of your floor but with splashes of bright pink matching your new tap, or the pale blue from the toaster in the pattern. That would tie it together and shouldn't cost too much.

I ended up finding a fab piece of material for my kitchen which I am going to make a small curtain from on eBay.

You could also experiment with coloured grout. Either something with a bit of sparkle or colour matching your colour palette. Maybe something like this could make it pop?

Or I wonder about changing the splashback behind the cooker to something with a bit of a pattern/colour, or the cupboard handles? I think you can get paints for tiles though but no idea how good they are. Am sure someone on Mumsnet will be able to advise however. Good luck!

These tiles you can use either on wall or as coasters or as pictures and are quite colourful. https://www.salcombeceramics.co.uk/wildlife-and-flowers.html

Coloured appliances would also help, Smeg do a range of cheaper imitations.

You can paint tiles - never tried it but you can.

Info here.

Your tiles, are simply a backslash, can be painted. You can also use under cabinet lighting.

You just have one bulb for the whole kitchen which is not enough. You can buy a ceiling track with 3-5 lights which will brighten the whole kitchen.
Also under unit lighting. I just fitted under my kitchen called its IRSTA from ikea, very easy to fit and it's brilliant.

Colourful blind will make a big difference. And I'd get colourful appliances (toaster kettle etc) but stick to a plain tap because they are much harder to change if your taste changes or the paint chips etc.

I’d paint the tiles mint, change the handles to these pink one to match the tap baby blue blind. I also would get this pink picture of The Scream printed and protected with non flammable poly sealant on the backsplash.

Paint the cabinets pale blue and order patterned Roman shades for the windows. McKenzie Childs huge 3 qt tea kettle. Vibrant tea towels and ceramic hardware and pulls for the cabinets in a blue or black and white toile pattern. An area rug, thin cotton one, 4x6 feet.

And yes, do the pink faucet!

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I think I'd get some tile stickers instead of painting them as a make do if you can't replace yet. I think I'd just get white metro stick on tiles.

Another type of option. I got this one for my powder room and it’s so nice.

Thanks so much for all these ideas!

Definitely going to get a rug, the pink cabinet handles, maybe paint/cover the tiles, and a lovely big blind.

What about a mirrored splash back? Really adds light to our kitchen

@MysteryBelle where are these rugs from, please?

You could vinyl the cooker hood in a lovely colour to brighten the kitchen up.

@Moodwill this is the one I have, it’s from Amazon. I try not to buy everything from there but this rug is really nice, cotton I think with polyester thread, made in Turkey. It’s very thin so probably will need a rug pad if you put one in the kitchen. I will try to find the other rug again, that was one I came across when I did a search looking for your colors you mentioned.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HGGWR86/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Here’s the other one @Moodwill
https://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Turkish-Rugs-Oriental-Inspired/dp/B0BKTBYQKG/ref=pd_ybh_a_sccl_56/131-0473206-2723941?pd_rd_w=5VbWd&content-id=amzn1.sym.67f8cf21-ade4-4299-b433-69e404eeecf1&pf_rd_p=67f8cf21-ade4-4299-b433-69e404eeecf1&pf_rd_r=W342FPYVF1FMPKHJ9R3Y&pd_rd_wg=PXs8X&pd_rd_r=a5ba6d47-12d7-41e5-a532-d45b1058f64e&pd_rd_i=B0BKTC4W6B&th=1