This is a paid partnership in collaboration with Aldi.

Today’s blog post is something a little different so bear with me… I’ve been trying to find the time to get back into doing more DIY and creative projects so I’m really excited to have been asked to get on board with this campaign with Aldi. On 29th July, Aldi are launching their upcycling range, which includes a range of tools, sanders, chalk paint, furniture wax, brushes and so on, and Aldi have challenged me to purchase a piece of furniture and upcycle it using their new range! But here’s the best part, once I have upcycled my chosen piece, I must then sell this item and all proceeds will be donated to Aldi’s charity partner – Teenage Cancer Trust. Which makes this campaign even more worthwhile. Now there is a little bit of a light-hearted competition going on here as 3 other influencers are taking part in the same challenge and whoever raises the most money will be sent a case of champagne. So here goes…

Now my choice of item to upcycle may seem a little unusual but since this is only going to be sold anyway, it didn’t need to be appropriate for in my home and it’s the perfect opportunity for me to do something different and create a piece for kids! My victim – the IKEA DUKTIG Play Kitchen! I’ve seen kid’s play kitchens upcycled a few times before but now it’s my turn to transform one with my own interior style! Once this goes to auction, hopefully it will bring joy to a little girl or boy somewhere!

So here’s how I did it using products from Aldi’s Upcycling Range…

As I mentioned, I started off with an IKEA DUKTIG Play kitchen and accessories, but you could use any play kitchen at all!

Once I had decided on all the parts that I wanted to paint I gave those surfaces a good sand down with the Aldi 75W Detail Sander. You want to rough the surfaces up to prepare them for painting.

The paint I used was the Deco Style Chalk Paint in Charcoal. I love chalk paint, I’ve been using it for years – you can get so many different looks with it and it makes painting furniture so, so easy. It’s thick too so you never need to do many coats.

I gave all parts of the kitchen 2 coats and whilst they were drying…

I used the Upcycling Light Stone spray to give the kitchen worktop a granite effect – this is probably my favourite part of the whole kitchen, this spray is so effective for a worktop look and it looks so great with the charcoal cupboards.

For the fixtures, various components and accessories I sprayed them using the Upcycling Gold Spray Paint which gave them a nice deep bronze shine – I only did one coat on each side and this was plenty. Make sure you leave the items you have sprayed for plenty of time to dry before touching them – always check the directions for exact times.

Once everything is dry it’s time to start fitting everything together – be careful not to scratch your paintwork/spraywork when fitting everything back together!

I also used some stick on tiles which I got online for an extra touch – I applied this to a piece of plywood which was cut to the size of the back of the kitchen and then tacked the plywood to the back of the kitchen with nails.

And that’s all there is to it!

It might be worth mentioning that for additional protection you can of course add a coat of furniture wax to the surfaces where chalk paint has been applied if you wish!

But it’s very easy to do, anyone can do this upcylcing project, you just need a few items to get you started, a bit of patience and a free afternoon!

Below is all the products I used from Aldi’s Upcycling Range for this project:

Deco Style Chalk Paint

Pivot Hangle Screwdriver – this came in very handy for building the play kitchen itself

Gold Spray Paint

Light Stone Spray Paint

75W Detail Sander

Big thanks to Aldi for letting me have a go with their new range of tools – all which will be very easy to get hold of and are simple enough to use with ease! I’ll be putting this play kitchen to auction this week which I’ll be discussing more over on my Instagram so make sure you’re following over there!

What do you think of the upcycled play kitchen? Would you give it a go?