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View PostI have been so excited about writing this post and showing you guys what I have been up to.
My favourite group on Facebook is a group called DIY ON A BUDGET. I am obsessed with it and I love seeing peoples creativity on there, it’s inspiring and the best part is that most of what you see is affordable and achievable.
One particular project I have been wanting to have a go at is giving my kitchen a makeover by painting my kitchen cupboards and changing how it looks. Now that it is mostly finished I wanted to share it with you.
This is a before photo: ( please excuse the quality as I had to dig them out of old photos)
After:
The first thing I had to decide on is what brand, and what colour I wanted to go for and after scrolling through so many inspo photos on diy on a budget, I decided I would go for Wilkos quick dry furniture and cupboard paint in the colour mineral stone. (I used 1 and a half tins in total for my kitchen)
You will also need to buy a bottle of sugar soap (£2.50) and foam roller. I brought mine from Wilko’s as it was all the same place but brought extra foam rollers from screw fix. Bare in mind that this paint is satin so you will also need to buy some white spirit to clean your tray. I chucked my foam heads away after being used and used a new one as it can get quite messy and I did this over a few days.
Prepping your cupboards
Do not skip using sugar soap because it does actually make a huge difference to the finish and after all, what is the point of even carrying on if you are not going to do it properly. The sugar soap cleans all the grease and oils off the cupboards and preps them ready for the paint.
I kept my cupboard doors attached when I painted mine and just took the kitchen handles off.
As you can see in the photos, my cupboards are all melamine which is a low pressure laminate covering. I was very nervous about applying my first coat, I even closed my eyes tightly whilst doing the first roll. There was absolutely no need for me to be worried because it went on so smooth and neat. I managed to complete the first coat to my whole kitchen in just over an hour.
I am a total neat freak so precision is essential for me or I wouldn’t be happy. As this paint is an oil based paint, I decided that a pack of baby wipes would be my best friend for this part.
I found a thin paintbrush, when in hindsight I should of just used my cutting in brush, but I didn’t want to throw it away after using it which is what I did with this. I used the brush to get as close to the edges as possible and then wrapped a baby wipe round my finger to wipe off the excess.
I did a second coat on the cupboards just because I could still see patches of the brown underneath. The tin says that this is a quick drying paint and that statement is true, however, when they say quick dry they mean it doesn’t stay wet for long before becoming tacky, but as I did mine in the evening and by the time I woke up it was dry. It also takes three days to harden up properly and when it does, it really does.
I have never had the need to take my kick boards off before doing this and always wondered how to take them off and its simple, they are clipped on so you just have to pull them out paint them. I only did one coat for these but did add more paint for a thicker covering, as I couldn’t be bothered to do two coats, and they look great.
Quite simply the finish is beyond what I expected and everything I had hoped it would look like. Just take care not to press hard when rolling otherwise you will get lines, and be careful for drips because they look horrible when dried; I have a few but you can’t see them thankfully, unless you are really looking.
Floors– If you are local to Peterborough then I can highly recommend Sean and Gemma from Affordable Floorings. They have done a fantastic job and it looks great.
Lighting– The lighting in my kitchen was depressing; so dark and dull and it made me feel miserable. Now we have a bright LED light which we brought for about £17 off Amazon and it’s now a happy bright room which I now like being in.
Paint– I have not re-painted my walls but plan on doing them soon.
Tiles– I want these tiles but I am still undecided. What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
Worktops– My worktop is dark and has light grey specks in which goes with the grey in my new flooring so I kept them as they are.
We are all going through a really tough time right now and with the school closures happening we are all having to keep our little cherubs educated and entertained at home.
I have put together a list of online resources to help you if you are struggling with activities to do, some of the websites will require a printer and others do not.
Twinkl– Printer require
My kid’s school actually use twinkl within the school and Twinkl have kindly given parents and carers a months FREE membership using the code : UKTWINKLHELPS
Mrs Mactivity – Printer required
FREE home learning pack available along with other FREE resources like colouring pages. Full membership for a year is a one off payment of £19.97 should you want full access.
Purple Mash– Most schools are signed up to this which means your child will have their username and password in their planners, If not you can sign up to a 14 day free trial
Phonics Play– Are offering a months FREE membership using username: March20 Password: home
Reading eggs– Most schools are signed up to this which means your child should have their username and password in their planners, If not you can sign up to a 14 day free trial
Numbots– Most schools are signed up to this which means your child should have their username and password in their planners. If not unfortunately there isn’t an option to sign up yet as a parent/carer.
Spelling Shed– Most schools are signed up to this which means your child should have their username and password in their planners, If not you can sign up to a 14 day free trial
Oxford Owl– FREE Ebooks,simply sign up and go
Activity Villiage– Printer required
FREE home learning packs , Full membership for a year is a one off payment of £19.95 if you wish to go ahead
Prodigy– FREE math’s learning platform with an option to to upgrade to premium if you wish
Busythings- 1 Months access for £1 using the code: HOME1FOR1
Classroom Secrets– FREE interactive resources and home learning packs
Cosmic Kids yoga– FREE and great for you and your kids mental well being
PE with Joe Wicks- FREE daily PE videos from Joe Wicks
Learning Resource– FREE Printable and online resources for 2-11 year olds.
Hopster.Tv- Play and Learn app for 2-7 year olds. One month FREE trial and then £4.99 a month should you wish to continue.
World of David Walliams – FREE downloadable activities and resources
Minecraft- FREE educational lessons to help kids stuck in Quarantine, Until June 30th 2020
If you know of anymore websites I can add to this which will help, please could you send me a quick email on Jo@theknighttribe.co.uk with the details and I will add it to the list.
Claiming criminal injury compensation can be a long process. Due to the sensitive nature of the situation, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority only allows victims to claim once for each criminal incident.
It may be possible to reopen a CICA claim if you appeal against the decision within the appropriate time frame. Victims may be able to reopen compensation claims on medical grounds if their condition resulting from the injury worsens significantly. Some conditions might not manifest for several years after the victim’s original CICA claim was awarded. However, you cannot attempt to make a new claim for the same criminal injury that you already claimed compensation for. Doing so could result in you being prosecuted for fraud.
In some cases, a parent or adult guardian may submit a CICA claim on behalf of a child victim. The victim will then not be able to make their own CICA claim when they turn 18. Again, if symptoms resulting from the criminal injury get much worse when the child has become an adult, they may be able to request that the CICA reopen their case and review the original award. If a CICA claim was made on your behalf when you were a child, you can access the money when you turn 18 years old, unless you requested advance payments.
In short: no. The CICA seeks to prevent what they call “double recovery” – which is when a claimant is compensated twice for the same claim. Multiple injuries may be considered as part of a claim, with the 3 injuries with the highest-value tariffs used to calculate the final award. This is usually 100%, then 30%, then 15% of the top 3 criminal injury compensation tariffs. Payment will then be made in one lump sum rather than via multiple instalments.
If you also claim financial support in the form of state benefits or insurance relating to loss of earnings due to your injury, then the CICA may deduct such expenses from your award total. In some cases, the CICA will make an interim payment if they are unable to make a decision while they wait for your medical condition to settle. For applicants under 18 years old, the CICA usually holds their compensation in an account until they become an adult. However, they can apply for advance payments if needed for the individual’s education or welfare.
Up until the CICA makes the final payment, they may reconsider the award if they need to account for changes in circumstances or new evidence. If the CICA has already made a final payment, they have the right to request partial or full repayment of the award if they find that your claim was not completed properly. This could be due to your failure to declare another payment that should have been deducted from your award, deliberately misleading the CICA about your claim, or failing to cooperate with the authorities to bring the criminal to justice.
Ad/gifted products- We received these products in exchange for the purpose of this review, all thoughts and opinions are our own
UniVerse Surprise toys retail for £5 each and there are over 40 of these cute little Unicorns to collect.
UniVerse is an emoji inspired soft cloud toy and inside the cloud there are four blind bags to reveal, but how do we get to the blind bags?
Simply submerge the cute little cloud into a bowl of warm water and after a few seconds you will see the water change colour and the cloud starting to disintegrate leaving sticky slime and revealing your bags.
You will need to grab a tea towel for this part as it can get very sticky, the bags are all safely protected in a sealed bag which you will need to open to take your surprise’s out of. I would also lay something on the table as It can get a bit messy with the slime.
Both girls had so much fun opening the bags especially when they saw the Unicorns, they LOVE unicorns. In each cloud surprise you will get one unicorn , a pet, two accessories and scratch card with that particular unicorns likes, dislikes and favorite food. You can also swap and change the accessories with another Uni-Verse Unicorn if you have ‘un-boxed’ more than one.
You can use the Unicorns horn to reveal your scratch card but Emily wanted to use a scratchy pen that she already had. They love going through the collectors guide to see what their Unicorns names are and what type of rarity they are.
Who did we get?
This one is called Super Stariana from superstar city and she loves bows, dislikes hot sauce and her favourite food is toffee apples
This one is called Jam-Boree Jamie and she is from sweet treats landing. She loves palm trees, dislikes scratching and her favourite food is sponge cake.
Meet Anne- Artica from Mist-terious land, she is a translucent Unicorn. She loves snowmen, dislikes the sun and her favourite food is hot chocolate.
And last but not least we have Dilly Dolly Dotty from Funtasy land. She is extra unique and she loves socks, dislikes combs and her favourite food is pie.
What we thought:
The girls loved that you had to submerge the cloud into warm water to get to the surprise bags but didn’t like the slime or the smell of the slime, however, the Unicorns and accessories made it all worth it at the end and they love playing with them. I think these are worth the £5 price tag but I wouldn’t pay anymore for them.
