Homeowner revamps 140-year-old kitchen with budget Tesco and Facebook Marketplace buys

If you have purchased an old property, chances are that it came with a tired and outdated kitchen. But there are ways homeowners can easily update the space on a budget - without having to rip it out and replace it with a new one costing thousands.

Cecilia Effa, 28, bought a 140-year-old home with her boyfriend last October. They inherited a kitchen with character, but they wanted to inject some personality, giving it a fresher and more stylish look.

The editor, from Liverpool, wanted to maintain its original features, so instead of completely modernising the kitchen, they gave it a rustic look. She paid a decorator to paint the cupboards an on-trend sage green and used budget finds from Facebook Marketplace, Tesco and The Range to accessorise.

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She puts flowers from her garden in vases to give it a homely touch, and made shelves from old pieces of wood. “My boyfriend and I bought the house in October; it has six bedrooms which seems crazy but was a steal of a price," Cecilia told money-saving Facebook group DIY On A Budget UK.

"It's 140 years old, so we loved the older features such as the wooden kitchen, and didn’t want to change that much of it. We wanted to keep the old cottage style feel to the kitchen, but thought it could do with a more refreshing colour - so we came up with the style of rustic meets modern."

They first had the cupboards painted green, which was the one thing the couple didn't do themselves. Due to how consuming the project would be, they paid £1,000 to have them professionally done.

Cecilia continued: "They are a lovely real wood and we didn’t want to take any of their original loveliness away