Inside the home of a creative

With ten years as self-employed, I have always strived for finding the latest new thing, hungry for inspiration and when DETALE CPH started in 2014 I was sold. I have never been the kind of type to go for the minimalistic black-and-white home, so I would happily apply a splash of paint to my walls. But suddenly I was standing with a product in my hands that could do so much more. A product of which the lively expression changes depending on the lighting. Woah! 

While everyone else was plastering their walls, my first project was to create a door – an illusion of a concrete door. We got so carried away that we ended up doing three doors and when we sold our house four years later, we got to bring one of them with us to our new home. Nobody knew how well it would last – a door is in constant movement so would KC14 last on the wood? The answer became: most definitely! Now, five years later, it looks just as good in our new home. 

The medium-density fibreboard the door was made of has an absorbent surface, so we started by priming the board before the application of KC14 in the colour Concrete and then finally the topcoat.

When we could confirm the durability of the product, we were ready for the next project – a headboard, again made on a wood surface. The colour we didn't quite agree on, so I sent my husband away on a trip and well, then I was the only one home to make the decision. Beige Berry it was! The advantage of building your headboard yourself as opposed to choosing one made with fabric is the win of having a shelf at the top for small knick-knacks and at the same time, the cords for electricity were hidden in the box. 

We didn't use the entire bucket for our headboard project, so we used the leftover product to upgrade the tabletop in our otherwise very boring and uninspiring laundry room. Both projects were finished with topcoat. 

The durability also came to the test in our kitchen. KABRIC had just been launched and we "dared" use this new product on our tall kitchen cabinets. We made built-in cabinets and chose to cover walls and cabinets in the same colour – Coal. The cabinet doors were just ordinary doors from IKEA which we first lightly sanded with sandpaper, primed, and then applied two layers of KABRIC Coal to. We finished off with a two-component clear varnish, so the cabinet doors can be wiped clean. The skirting board got the same treatment.

I rolled KABRIC onto the surfaces with a smooth roller before smoothening it out with a filling knife. Don't be in despair if you don't think it covers your surface entirely and that you can still see a bit of the white cabinet doors through. It will be covered entirely on the second layer. 

When the doors were dry, they were sanded gently with sandpaper and then it was the same procedure again (roll it on, smoothen it out, dry and sand). Even if the doors are nice and smooth afterwards, it is still important to apply varnish, at least if you are using the product in a kitchen exposed to much wear and tear and need to be wiped off frequently. The doors will also be exposed to hot steam when you open your oven, so the varnish will help protect against that as well, assuring that the product will last.  

We have now had our kitchen for more than a year and the cabinet doors are still just as nice as they were in the beginning. A great way to do an IKEA hack! The process is quick, as KABRIC does not have as long drying times as KC14 – so get set, GO, if your kitchen needs a make-over!