Bring your bedroom to life, with a full range of bedroom furniture from Flat Pack Bedrooms. Long gone are the days when all you could get in the way of bedroom furniture were a couple of white bed side table, and a wardrobe that didn’t fit together properly.
Modern flat pack furniture has come on leaps and bounds in recent year, especially with the ClicBox assembly, which makes putting your units together easy to do, while not losing any of the quality.
It also means you have a huge array of bedroom styles to choose from, including modern, contemporary and traditional bedrooms.
Replacing your old kitchen doors with new doors may seem like an easy way to update your kitchen, but is it really that easy?
The Devil’s in the Detail
In truth replacing the doors on your kitchen units is a relatively straight-forward process. There are plenty of places to buy replacement kitchen doors and accessories, and masses of door styles to choose from. One of the tricks to knowing how difficult a project is going to be is around the edges of the kitchen. This is where the finish of the kitchen will show, and the quality of the workmanship can make the difference between a brand new looking kitchen, and a hatchet job.
End Panels
End panels are used to cover up any exposed kitchen cabinets (also called kitchen carcasses by some). Using an end panel mean that you can have a different kitchen cabinet from the doors, and gives you much more freedom when choosing your new kitchen door.
You need to ensure that you can accommodate this end panel in your kitchen, especially if you are not already using it. The panel is normally between 18mm and 22mm thick and is fitted to the end of the cabinet.
Plinths or Kickboards
Plinth, also known as kickboards, are the piece of material (normally wood, sometimes aluminium), that runs along the bottom of the kitchen. It is usually slightly set back, and is attached to the legs of the base units, to hold it in place. When buying the replacement kitchen doors, you should buy the plinth to match. This is usually about 3 metres long. You use one or more pieces to produce one long run, without gaps. This gives ties your kitchen together (aesthetically).
The Kitchen Doors
When replacing the doors, there is a key thing to understand. Kitchen doors are always slightly smaller than the kitchen units. This is so that they can open without catching against each other.
Each manufacturer has slightly different measurements, but the width are normally 3-4mm narrower than a units, so for a 600mm wide base unit, the door will normally be 596mm or 597mm wide. Don’t worry too much about one or two millimetres difference from your current doors to the new ones, you won’t be able to tell once they are fitted.
The doors are normally 5mm shorter than the units themselves, so for a base unit, the unit is normally 720mm high, the doors are normally 715mm high. Once again, don’t worry too much if they are slightly shorter than that.
Hinges
There are three things to consider with the hinges.
The position of the hinge
You will need to measure the position of the hinge in relation to the top and the bottom of the door. This is measured in millimetres. This is sometimes called the drill hole, when ordering the new doors.
The hinge side
The only matters if the door has a pattern on it, or if it has a handle integrated into it, or if the hinge holes are not drilled at the same position top and bottom. If this is the case you will need to decide whether you want it drilled left or right. This is as you look at the door when it is closed, fitted on to the cabinet.
Type of hinge
We would recommend only going for integrated soft close hinges. These are the hinges that make your door shut slowly. Not only do they avoid loud bangs in your kitchen, but they protect your kitchen doors and cabinets.
Most hinges are 110 degree hinges. These cater for most scenarios, but you do also have specific hinges for top boxes, integrated appliances (like integrated fridges and freezers) and bi-fold hinges, if you are joining doors together, so just take care to replace like-for-like if you are going to replace the hinges.
Conclusion
Replacing your kitchen doors to upgrade your kitchen can be a fantastic way to breathe new life into your kitchen, but make sure you take care of the finer details around the edges to make sure you give the kitchen makeover the finish it deserves.
The school holidays are underway, so what better time to get your little helpers involved in a spot of outdoor DIY? Making a raised garden bed or vegetable box is a fun summertime activity to do with your children, and here’s how!
What you need:
Four lengths of board, with each pair the same length
Four wooden posts of equal length
1″ screws or decking screws
Drill
Heavy duty staple gun or handful of nails
Soil
Weed control membrane
Seeds or plants!
The benefits of a raised garden bed:
A raised bed or veg box can enjoy greater exposure to the sun and improved drainage. You can choose the quality of the soil you put in and you’ll have less weeds to deal with. Depending on the height of your bed, it can also be easier for children and older relatives to plant and water, plus it’s educational, as young children can find out where food comes from as their seedlings grow!
Five steps to a raised bed:
Mark out the position of the raised bed in the chosen location, digging four shallow trenches for the sides and digging holes at each corner for the posts
Set the posts securely in each corner. If the bed is particularly long, you can strengthen it by adding posts in the centre of the long sides as well
Cut the boards to the required length and place against the corner posts. Drill the boards into place with the screws
Place a layer of weed membrane inside the box, overlapping with the edges all round, and nail or staple
Add the soil and get planting! You can use the beds all year round to grow different vegetables and fruit depending on the season, and don’t forget that rotating your crop is also good for the soil!
Once the hard work is finished, all that’s left to do is sit back on the newly-painted garden bench, switch on the outdoor lights and make the most of lazy summer evenings!
