This “Bland, Outdated” Kitchen Was Basically Entirely Vinyl-Wrapped (It’s So Bold!)
It’s always impressive when DIYers use only one material (like spray paint or plywood or fabric) or to make a room or object look completely different, and furniture designer and builder Jakob Mizrahi (@jakob_mizrahi_furniture) used vinyl wrapping to the max to suit his extremely maximalist style.
When he moved in to his Copenhagen home 10 years ago, the kitchen was a “Scandinavian-styled IKEA kitchen from 2010,” and while it was in decent shape, it was color- and pattern-free: nothing like the heavily patterned furniture he loves to create.
The original kitchen was “still perfectly functional, but extremely bland and outdated-looking,” Jakob adds. “I didn’t have the money to change the kitchen, so I knew I had to do something to make it a bit more exciting.”
In 2020, Jakob started wrapping his refrigerator in checkerboard vinyl from D-C-Fix. A few years later, he painted the kitchen walls light pink and the adjacent living room walls light blue. To add some visual intrigue, Jakob vinyl-wrapped the kitchen cabinets with a bold zebra print.
The next update added vinyl wrapping to the steel faucet and backsplash in seafoam, periwinkle, and light pink. In 2024, the oak counters, which “no longer fit the rest of the kitchen,” were wrapped with the same seafoam and pink. (As a bonus, it’s waterproof now!).
“I’m not a person who creates every little detail meticulously in front of a computer or even paper quite often,” Jakob says. “I have a background as a classical pianist and composer, and I guess I still prefer to work as a composer. I work by intuition and invent the theme and its elements as I work my way through the process.”
It was important for Jakob to use “quality vinyl” when wrapping his kitchen because it’s more durable and will last longer. While he used top-tier materials, he notes that the project was still “a fraction of the price” of an entirely new kitchen — even though it’s totally unrecognizable. The total cost was about $340 and he “slow decorated,” taking four years to complete (although he admits his home designs are always in flux, and he dreams of covering the floor in vinyl, too).
What Jakob loves most about the kitchen is its personality. “It’s different from anybody else’s, and it fits the theme of the rest of the house,” he shares. “And it’s still as functional as before I put my hands on it because, at the end of the day, a kitchen is where you cook your food and not a show-off art gallery.”
This post originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: Before & After: This “Extremely Bland, Outdated” Kitchen Got a Dramatic Makeover (for Just $340!)