For those looking to renovate their home without spending a fortune, these budget tips will give your home a thrifty makeover.
Lending experts Ocean Finance consulted with property and interiors experts for advice on budget DIY home renovations, reducing the average professional cost from £14,500 to £2,940.
Kitchen – saving £7,000
Parminder Mew, Construction Director at Darcy Construction suggests slotting a quartz overlay over outdated worktops. Quartz or marble vinyl overlays cost around £50 for 15 metres, generally enough for a standard kitchen.
Replacing cabinet doors and handles but keeping the carcasses costs as little as £28 per unit and can transform the look and style of a kitchen. Replacing your tap, but keeping your sink is can also smarten the room up.
Bathroom – saving £2,775
Lee Devlin, Managing Director of Homecure Plumbers suggests co-ordinating a high-quality bath with a less expensive sink and toilet. Where the suite is white, colour matching is not a problem. He warns that cheap shower trays and fixtures should be avoided however.
He advises that one of the best ways to save money on your home renovation is to carry out as much work as you can yourself. While plumbing and electrics must be done by a qualified professional, there are plenty of jobs you can tackle yourself, such as removing tiles and putting up shelves and mirrors.
He suggests putting together your own toolkit for DIY including a chisel for removing tiles, a pry bar, tap spanner, wall plugs, screwdrivers and a quality drill. Caution is essential in taking on home DIY though, and removing sinks, toilets or baths without expert guidance could result in extra costs for repairs.
Instead, you can save money by drawing up your own plan for plumbers and electricians, giving them a clear idea of the work you need done and where everything is to go. This will save you needing bathroom design services and allow you to make the best choices cost-wise for your space.
Bedroom – saving £825
Steph Briggs, celebrity interior designer and Co-Founder of La Di Da Interiors suggests painting the skirting boards and architraves the same colour as your walls and investing in bedside lamps for subtler, more atmospheric lighting.
Buying new bedding and adding layers of texture and colour with throws and cushions will provide an attractive focal point.
Office – saving £960
Jeremy Poole, Sales Director at Building Interiors suggests painting or tiling your desk or replacing the legs with metal ones for a modern rustic look.
He also suggests painting a section of the wall with blackboard paint and framing it with wooden slats for a feature that is also useful, giving you somewhere to write notes. Blackboard paint costs only around £5, with old wooden slats available for a few pounds.
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