I found myself staying on Courage Yard this week as we moved out of our flat to renovate the kitchen. Naturally, I’ve been thinking about my first reclaimed renovation when I transformed the kitchen into a walk-in wardrobe, and strangely, remodelling the kitchen has coincided with wardrobe renovations again. Just as we were embarking on work in the kitchen, the room became shoe-maggedon as I cleared out the contents of my wardrobe to resolve a mould issue. Aside from the stress of discovering mould on some things, I had to laugh (or else I’d cry) at the timing of it all as these two things that sustain me – spaces for food and fashion were colliding again.
I am lucky; our flat has a tanked vault that I’ve made my walk-in wardrobe. The estate agent who showed us the flat was enthusiastic, knowing that my husband is a DJ and the room would be perfect for a music studio. However, he got the lounge for his records and decks, and I got the vault with the promise that the built-in wardrobes in our bedroom would be his. My woman cave suited me nicely until we discovered the damp issue. Fingers and fashions crossed, installing a PIV unit (Positive Input Ventilation), said to ventilate the whole flat by drawing in fresh, filtered air, among other measures, has solved the problem.
So that’s the story of the wardrobe; here’s the mood board for the kitchen with the salvaged Royal Doulton sink lion.
Inspiration from Cafe Avissinia in Athens. We were originally drawn to the idea of red cabinets before we settled on Little Green’s Split Pink below to go with our reclaimed terracotta floor.
The herringbone floor tiles are from Natural Stone Consulting and the reclaimed marble was sourced on SalvoWEB.
Our kitchen table is made from this antique marble tabletop with a salvaged Art Deco bistro table base.
The backdrop is an antique West African textile from Ian Shaw Tribal that we’ll use to make curtains to use under the sink and to hide the washing machine. I sourced secondhand Lefroy Brooks taps on SalvoWEB, which had scratches where they were removed so I’ve just had them stripped and the brass polished. I’ll share the finished result with the full kitchen reveal.
Tip – If you are also reusing an antique kitchen sink, Mongers Architectural Salvage stocks an extensive range of plumbing fittings to go with antique sanitaryware. I just bought this brass bottle trap from them to go with the refurbished brass bib taps.
Inspiration for art and lighting from Le Bon Georges in Paris. I’ve just sourced glass light shades reclaimed from a French bistro for our kitchen.
© Photographs Reclaimed Woman