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The Irish Sun
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Woman shows off the ‘jaw dropping' £50 kitchen she bought of Facebook and people are amazed – it even included an oven too
WHEN it comes to renovations, buying a new kitchen can be one of the most expensive parts. However, one savvy woman found the bargain of the century after she spotted a kitchen on 2 A savvy woman showed how she picked up a bland wooden kitchen from Facebook Marketplace for £50 Credit: tiktok/@thestylepad_uk 2 People were flabbergasted when they saw how she had managed to transform it with a bit of TLC Credit: tiktok/@thestylepad_uk Despite the kitchen set consisting of bland wooden cupboards, the homeowner was not put off and decided to immediately snap it up. On her The woman shared: 'My husband did ours. He's not a builder but is very handy! 'Would you believe me if I said the oven was included in the £50 deal?' More on renovations After they had installed the wooden units, they painted it from dull wood to a gorgeous olive green colour. The woman wrote: 'I primed and then did two coats of "The Tobacconist" by @COAT Paints.' Currently you can pick up a tub of the paint for £30, and the finished result certainly looks worth it. Next the homeowners spruced up their counters and went for 'compact laminate' in a marble design. Most read in Fabulous The woman wrote: 'We've had them in 6 months and no problems so far, so fingers crossed.' The woman showed off the finished result in her new video, which has racked up over 84,000 likes. Stacey Solomon reveals 99p transformation of grubby kitchen unit she picked up on Facebook Marketplace so it looks brand new She advised: 'Make sure there are MORE cabinets than you need. You can always take away (we used a couple of cabinets as wood for other projects), but you can't add!' Thankfully hundreds of people 'liked' her post, and many rushed to praise the incredible before and after shots in the comments. One said: 'THAT oven as well!!!! what a bargain. it's absolutely stunning!' Another added: 'What a husband (this is my first time complementing one)' With the average three-bedroom home renovation costing upwards of £83,000 in 2023, it's no wonder more and more Brits are getting savvy. What are the biggest kitchen trends of 2025? The kitchen is the heart of every home and this year it's taking centre stage, Tracy Coleman, Product Director at told Fabulous. Hardworking appliances Space-saving essentials are needed in every room of the house, and the kitchen is no exception, meaning appliances are often doing double (or triple) the job. Expect to see air fryer ovens that roast, bake, and fry or blenders with attachments for everything from chopping to grinding. Health and wellness With people becoming more mindful of what they eat and how it impacts their well-being, kitchen appliances are stepping up to meet the demand for healthier, more balanced lifestyles. Air fryers remain hugely popular, along with blenders and juicers that retain nutrients. Energy-bill conscious Finally, with rising energy bills and an increased focus on sustainability, people are turning to appliances that help reduce power consumption and keep costs down. More people are finding joy in cooking at home as a cost-effective way to enjoy delicious, nutritious meals. Cooking at home doesn't just save money—it's also a fun way to bring the family together or experiment with new recipes. With the right tools, such as multi-functional appliances and smart kitchen gadgets, creating meals at home becomes easier, faster, and more satisfying.
Scottish Sun
08-05-2025
- General
- Scottish Sun
Woman shows off the ‘jaw dropping' £50 kitchen she bought of Facebook and people are amazed – it even included an oven too
All recommendations within this article are informed by expert editorial opinion. If you click on a link in this story we may earn affiliate revenue. Plus, where she picked up the gorgeous paint WHAT A UNIT Woman shows off the 'jaw dropping' £50 kitchen she bought of Facebook and people are amazed – it even included an oven too Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) WHEN it comes to renovations, buying a new kitchen can be one of the most expensive parts. However, one savvy woman found the bargain of the century after she spotted a kitchen on Facebook Marketplace for £50. 2 A savvy woman showed how she picked up a bland wooden kitchen from Facebook Marketplace for £50 Credit: tiktok/@thestylepad_uk 2 People were flabbergasted when they saw how she had managed to transform it with a bit of TLC Credit: tiktok/@thestylepad_uk Despite the kitchen set consisting of bland wooden cupboards, the homeowner was not put off and decided to immediately snap it up. On her @thestylepad_uk account, she showed how her helpful husband removed it from the previous house and installed it in their own home. The woman shared: 'My husband did ours. He's not a builder but is very handy! 'Would you believe me if I said the oven was included in the £50 deal?' More on renovations FLOWER POWER Lavender will double in size if you add 45p kitchen staple to soil this spring After they had installed the wooden units, they painted it from dull wood to a gorgeous olive green colour. The woman wrote: 'I primed and then did two coats of "The Tobacconist" by @COAT Paints.' Currently you can pick up a tub of the paint for £30, and the finished result certainly looks worth it. Next the homeowners spruced up their counters and went for 'compact laminate' in a marble design. The woman wrote: 'We've had them in 6 months and no problems so far, so fingers crossed.' The woman showed off the finished result in her new video, which has racked up over 84,000 likes. Stacey Solomon reveals 99p transformation of grubby kitchen unit she picked up on Facebook Marketplace so it looks brand new She advised: 'Make sure there are MORE cabinets than you need. You can always take away (we used a couple of cabinets as wood for other projects), but you can't add!' Thankfully hundreds of people 'liked' her post, and many rushed to praise the incredible before and after shots in the comments. One said: 'THAT oven as well!!!! what a bargain. it's absolutely stunning!' Another added: 'What a husband (this is my first time complementing one)' With the average three-bedroom home renovation costing upwards of £83,000 in 2023, it's no wonder more and more Brits are getting savvy.
The Guardian
02-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Cafe With No Name by Robert Seethaler review – a cup of tea and a slice of life
On the face of it, Robert Seethaler's new book might seem twee. The novel – an instant hit upon its German publication in 2023 – is set in Vienna in 1966. It tells of Robert Simon, who follows a long-held dream when he gives up doing odd jobs around the market to set up a cafe, which becomes a hub of community. But Seethaler's prose is unexpected, taking the novel, far from being an easy-sailing story of the simple joys of community-building, somewhere knottier. The author, whose previous works include the International Booker-shortlisted A Whole Life and the German bestseller The Tobacconist, was himself born in Vienna in 1966 – and so the story, set over a decade, tracks the modernising city of his childhood. The cafe sits on the corner of Karmelitermarkt in Leopoldstadt – the historic Jewish district after which Tom Stoppard named his 2020 play. Into the neighbourhood comes Mila, recently let go from her role in a textiles factory – which had been advertised as 'a safe job for life' – because, the deputy engineering manager Herr Steinwender, said, 'the Chinese were on the advance […] and they were simply cheaper than Austrians'. When Mila faints outside the cafe one day, Simon aids her recovery with soda water and a couple of gherkins. She hasn't waitressed before. But, she says to Simon, she is a hard worker: 'See that tough skin on my fingers? You won't get a kitchen knife through that.' She starts serving in the cafe. The cafe's regulars are depicted with humour and compassion in Katy Derbyshire's translation. Rose Gebhartl comes every evening on the look-out for gentlemen: 'She always sat straight as a candle, her back extended and her chin jutting forward in challenge.' Meanwhile the butcher across the road confides in Simon about his family problems and inspires in the cafe owner a tender realisation: 'He'd known Johannes Berg for years and, although they'd never said it out loud and perhaps never even thought about it, anyone who knew them would have called them friends. He was only just realising that now, at that moment.' Most fascinating are the host of other customers whose voices we hear in evocative chapters of continuous dialogue. In these sections the nameless characters reminisce about their youth – 'But the men were so handsome, weren't they? And they smelled so good. My husband used to smell like fresh bread in the beginning' – and look ahead to what they fear about the new, changing Vienna, where a subway is being built, supermarkets selling vacuum-packed meat are opening on every street, and Yugoslavian immigrants keep arriving. 'It seems to me as if all I do now is drip, drip, drip through life,' says one. 'Oh, you said that 10 years ago, you didn't want your armchair upholstered, it wasn't worth it any more. Now the chair's a wreck and you're still fit as a fiddle,' is the spunky response. It's a typically entertaining pair of lines in this moving, charming novel about to what extent we must change as the world around us hurtles into the unknown. Sign up to Observed Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers after newsletter promotion The Cafe With No Name by Robert Seethaler, translated by Katy Derbyshire, is published by Canongate (£16.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at Delivery charges may apply
The Guardian
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Café With No Name by Robert Seethaler review – lost souls in postwar Vienna
Austrian novelist Robert Seethaler is known for his restrained and sensitive novels that illuminate the struggles and joys of peripheral lives. His debut, A Whole Life, centres on a man who barely leaves his mountain home. The Tobacconist is a coming-of-age novel set against the rise of fascism in Vienna. The Field introduces a chorus of the dead who tell the story of their village. Like The Field, The Café With No Name uses a narrow lens to tell the story of a whole community. At the centre is 31-year-old Robert Simon, an itinerant worker who assists the stall holders of the Karmelitermarkt in Vienna. In the late summer of 1966, Simon notices that the cafe on the corner of the market has closed. He decides to take on the lease in order 'to do something which would give his life a positive affirmation. To one day stand behind the bar of his own establishment.' Simon's eponymous cafe has nothing in common with the grand and elegant cafes normally associated with Vienna. It is semi-derelict and unappealing and serves beer, lemonade, pickles, bread and dripping and occasionally hot punch. It is frequented by the stall holders of the market and by wrestlers, scallywags, 'drunks and crazies', all struggling to make a living in a city still suffering the effects of the second world war. These lost souls become the subject of this slice-of-life novel. There is Mila, hired as a barmaid. There is the artist Mischa, who fights in the street with his lover Heide, giving everyone 'the sense of satisfaction that comes when others live out the passions denied to ourselves'. Harald Blaha, from the gasworks, rolls his glass eye across the bar. Mad Jascha cradles a dead pigeon tenderly in her hands and Simon briefly loves her. In common with Seethaler's earlier work, this is a pensive novel, written with sensitivity and compassion. There is drama here – unrequited love, a stillbirth; a furnace blows up, a bridge is swept away. However, Seethaler's writing is always purposefully inconclusive and oblique. Threads of narrative are dropped and not picked up until several chapters later. In general, the text moves fluidly from one character to another but occasional chapters are written as a vox pop. The reader overhears the general chatter of the cafe rendered without speech marks or attribution, the voices overlapping and echoing together in a confused chorus. These chapters provide a welcome contrast to Seethaler's elsewhere unadorned prose. What exactly is Seethaler's intention here? The characters do develop and there are clear suggestions that the city is changing. TV becomes available on two channels and in colour. A subway is being built, newcomers arrive. However, the novel doesn't feel fully situated in the 1960s. The intention – in accordance with the no-name cafe – may be to illuminate the universal rather than document the particular. The formless nature of this book will appeal to some, while others will long for dramas that are more fully explored. What one reader experiences as quietly powerful is received by another as slightly dull. Where does the line fall between austerity and flatness? Seethaler's novel is positioned on these perilous borders. The viewpoint is perhaps too diffuse. Sometimes the novel is vague where it needs to be explicit, and vice versa. Less abstraction and more characterisation would be welcome. Often Seethaler's homespun philosophy absolutely hits the mark, as in 'hope is the sister of stupidity'. But truisms such as 'we don't know anything until afterwards' and 'perhaps you always remained the greatest mystery to yourself' are repeated too often. Overall, however, these are minor quibbles. Seethaler's subtly understated voice remains warmly welcome in a literary culture that often displays its intentions too obviously. Many will love this calming, gentle and unsentimental story. Certainly, Seethaler remains admirably true to his creative vision. A poet of the small, the random and the event without consequence, his is a world we can all enjoy. The Café With No Name by Robert Seethaler, translated by Katy Derbyshire, is published by Canongate (£16.99). To support the Guardian and the Observer buy a copy at Delivery charges may apply.
