We’re loving the transformation that’s currently happening in our dining room. In just a matter of days it’s gone from a neutral (and let’s face it rather bland) room to a much more cozy and inviting space.
Since knocking down the load bearing wall between the kitchen and dining room it’s the area of the house where we spend most of our time and now we love it even more.
There are obviously still a lot of things to still finish off, not least finishing our Get Things Done Challenge and painting the skirting boards, but we do have one new gorgeous addition to the room – a bespoke radiator cover (oh, and of course a radiator under it, too)!
When we first bought our home we had so many ambitious plans from converting our loft (yep, still not started), installing a new kitchen and bathroom (both halfway through the planning stage) through to less exciting things like replacing our roof and installing underfloor heating in our dining room & kitchen.
Most of these projects are still on our to-do list, but after a lot of back and forth we eventually decided to not have underfloor heating installed and therefore now have a radiator in the dining room.
It was a tough decision, but the amount of work to install underfloor heating in our existing space (and of course the involved cost) just didn’t seem worth it. Because the room is fairly large, the radiator ended up being super chunky and a bit intrusive. Yes, it keeps us nice and warm, but it wasn’t exactly a thing of beauty – until now that is!
If you’d told me that I could get excited about a bespoke radiator cover a few weeks ago, I would probably have thought you were bonkers, but the new radiator cover that we have is so fab and pretty that it’s hard not to get excited.
When we ordered the cover (it’s primed mdf at the moment) the original plan had been to paint it the same colour as the wall so that it blended in, but actually it’s so pretty, that we’re happy to keep it white and be more of a feature in the room.
The cover is made by a company called Jali who make custom furniture to your specifications. Their concept is so clever – first you design your radiator cover (they also do bookcases, decorative shutters, wardrobes & cupboards) on their website.
It’s really easy to do and you can choose all sorts of different elements to make your cabinet truly bespoke.
When you’ve finished designing your cover, they ship it over to you in a big box with all necessary parts, screws and of course the instructions for you to assemble.
Putting it together was super easy and only took about an hour. The only part that was slightly more difficult was cutting the shape of our skirting out of the side pieces of the floor panel. Admittedly this is probably because we have fairly detailed skirting boards and wanted it to fit perfectly.
The quality of the radiator cover is really good and we particularly love the front cover which has a lovely geometric and modern design (there are a load of others to choose from, too).
The front panel itself just snaps into place and can easily be removed if you do want to access the radiator.
Overall it’s amazing what a difference the radiator cover makes. This has definitely got to be the best and certainly prettiest ways to hide an ugly radiator! Together with the new dark walls, the room feels so much more finished and we’ll definitely be getting ourselves some more radiator covers for our other rooms!
What do you think of our new bespoke radiator cover? Would you paint it to blend in with the wall or keep it white to stand out as more of a feature?
*Disclaimer: This post is in association with Jali. All opinions and thoughts are of course our own! Thank you for supporting the brands that make it possible for us to keep creating and sharing content here at Little House On The Corner
That is a real pretty cover, love the pattern. See you have been busy removing some paint also, smart thing to do before installing the cover!
Thanks Louise – we love the pattern, too. Yep, we’ve been stripping paint again – it’s never ending! ;)
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