Spray Painting Our Kitchen UPV Doors and Windows – And, Paying with Guitar Lessons

It’s amazing what a splash of paint can do and, yes, we paid for the job of spray painting our kitchen doors and window with guitar lessons – but, more on that later.

We live in a pre-war house and, sixteen years ago, we decided to improve the size and look of the kitchen. This resulted in demolishing the outer coal house and utility building to enable us to extend our small kitchen, making it into a large kitchen-come-living area for our family.

The dream for our extended kitchen was to have extra space while also building the illusion of spilling out of the doors onto a wooded decking area and then, of course, onto the garden.  This was going to be the place where we could while away the hours in the sunshine, inside and out.

As you can imagine, it was a major job.  I’m not exaggerating when I say we had nightmare builders, too. But, that’s a whole different story.  The whole shenanigans resulted in my husband having a flare up of shingles which we put down to the stress of it all. It also resulted in me not trusting anyone to finish a job, properly. And, yes, they were totally checked out.  Prior to doing ours, they had just completed a similar job at our next-door neighbour’s house, so we got to know them and observed their work.

This photograph brought back lots of memories.  It was when the renovation had just started  and we were excited and full of optamism – This is the decking area, as it was before.

It also took some time to complete the project, as halfway through, they took off to Benidorm in Spain for a month’s drunken “Jolly” (holiday) at our expense. Then, on their return, having already being paid for most of the work, they were reluctant to continue the job.   Months later, they eventually finished. They were also supposed to design and fit our new kitchen, but, we jettisoned them as soon as we were able to.  We then sourced professional and trustworthy workmen to complete the job.

The doors and windows we chose for the kitchen were white UPVC.  The style of the doors was key, allowing as much light into the kitchen as possible and, as you can see, we have four panels to allow for this.   At the time, I would have preferred wooden doors which would have been more in keeping with the style and age of our home. But the costs had spiralled, thanks to our dodgy builders. So, we settled for UPVC instead.  We also learned that, for maintenance reasons, UPVC would be the best option.  As mentioned, that was sixteen years ago and, the once-white doors had aged and faded, and with general wear and tear, they were looking a little grubby.

Lately, while giving our kitchen a little decorating refresh, I noticed a few houses getting their UPVC windows painted. I was inspired and started to investigate.  I quickly learned that this had to be done, professionally. Then, while talking about this to a friend, she said she knew someone called, Wayne, who specialised in this type of spray painting and was very good. So, I gave him a call.

When sizing up the job, Wayne noticed one of my husband’s guitars on a stand, and asked who it belonged to.

When he found out it belonged to my musician husband, he said he would reduce the rate if we threw in some guitar lessons……so, that is how we paid!! A very old-fashioned way to do business, don’t you think?

The Result

We were both on hand to provide lots of coffee and a sausage sandwich while the work was getting done, which only took one day……. Then some guitar lessons followed – ha ha!

As the windows and doors are a critical look to the whole vibe of the kitchen, I’m really pleased with the outcome.  The dark frames add a modern updated twist to the look of the kitchen. But, as you can see in the photographs, you really have to know what you are doing as this is a skilled job. I certainly wouldn’t like to attempt it.  If you would like to have this done, I have included links for Checkatrade and Wikihow.  If there is anything you would like to share, or ask, let me know in the comments – I’d love to hear from you.

Alison x

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post.  All items are my own.  Like most blogs, this post may contain affiliate links (from which I might make a small commission if you make a purchase). This helps towards the running costs of my blog.