To think I can do all this for £10,000?

[Iremembertheelderlykoreanlady]

My house desperately needs a revamp, to the extent that it's causing my depression to rear it's ugly head just living in it.

(I realise I sound horrible and entitled...at least I have a house etc)

I was hoping to get additional borrowing on our mortgage and do a renovation for about £45,000 knocking through some walls etc but OH says we can't afford the payments.

So I've been looking at what the minimum we would need doing to make the house feel nice and this is my list.

Laminate floor in living room and kitchen/dining room

're paint downstairs

Get kitchen cupboards sprayed and over professionally cleaned

New sofas

Coffee table/tv stand

New interior doors

Carpet upstairs

Paint 3 bedrooms

New floor in bathroom

're tile ensuite
New floor ensuite (more like a cupboard, very tiny)

New bed x2

New garden fence on one side

I've spent the day on Pinterest and looking for ideas of costs and I reckon we could do it for £10,000 if we are careful.

Both of us are shit at DIY so would have to pay for everything except the painting which we can do ourselves.

Are we kidding ourselves that it can be done for 10 grand?

[LawnFever]

Possibly, it’s really hard to know without knowing how big rooms are for new flooring, how long the fence is etc but yeah I’d think it’s probably do-able

[Newnamefor2021]

Sorry, I don't think I that's possible, especially with having professionals involved. Can't you select one or two rooms?

I'd love to do my entire house at once but I can't, I choose a room and do what I can.

What room needs the most attention?

[spookycookies]

How long will cheap as chips last until it looks tired and needs redoing. I think you'd be better spending a bit more on really doing a few rooms.

[Wavey123]

Are there wooden boards under the carpet or current floor that you have? If so sand them up. In my experience laminate is never a great option and is bouncy, loud to walk on and the edges never look good with beading. Even the expensive laminate looks a bit plastic.

Getting nice doors can make a huge difference.

Would you be happy posting pics?

[MiloAndEddie]

I think you’d be pushing it tbh unless you’re buying very low end quality wise.

Flooring and sofas could cost you £3k easily

[spookycookies]

Beds alone will be 1,000 sofas another £1000. And that's cheap dfs prices.

[HalzTangz]

@Newnamefor2021

Sorry, I don't think I that's possible, especially with having professionals involved. Can't you select one or two rooms?

I'd love to do my entire house at once but I can't, I choose a room and do what I can.

What room needs the most attention?

It's totally doable, professionals would only be needed to lay flooring and do tiling and kitchen cupboards. Painting they can do, shopping for furniture they can do. Personally I think whole not can be done for 6-8k depending how expensive they go on the furniture

[RJnomore1]

You could def do everything except the fence. No idea how much fencing is sorry. At a push you could get beds and sofas on 0% finance, even carpets too.

[SendMeHome]

I think you’d need to do a lot more yourself. Using professionals for everything will massively drive up the cost.

Can you narrow it down to specific areas that are really impacting on you the most? Do you know what the link between the house and the depression is? Not in a rude sense - I know it’s tough - but just so that you prioritise that bit, and don’t find that it refers to something else as soon as you’ve done this work.

[Blibbler]

Yes possibly if you buy your laminate as end of line/ebay and then arrange the fitter separately. I have used mybuilder/rated people websites to get quotes and its worked out OK pricewise.

I'd also give the tiling a go yourself it is very easy if you aren't doing anything fancy!

[SendMeHome]

Although it looks like some people with potentially more experience than me think it can be done, so that’s good!

It might depend where you are, too. We’ve just been quoted circa £7k to paint a communal hallway in the Midlands so that might be skewing my views!

[Sprig1]

I reckon it's totally possible. I would buy the furniture off Ebay, or similar. There is loads of second hand furniture in excellent condition for next to nothing. That leaves you the vast majority of the money for the rest of it.

[pumpkinpie01]

I would say that's quite doable for £10k , decorators don't have to be that expensive. I wouldn't skimp on carpets thou , buy cheap buy twice !

[Thehop]

Perfectly doable

[ims0rrydarlingg]

Maybe do it one room at a time. I would personally start with the living room as that's the room you'll be spending the most time in.

If you try and do everything with that budget throughout the house, you may cut corners and then opt for cheaper options which won't last.

[Newnamefor2021]

@HalzTangz ... maybe, but not in my experience. It's a pretty big list. My one a straight piece of fence cost over £1000 play paint cost around & £100 for it, sofas are easily going to cost over £1000 for basic sofas, beds (with mattresses?) could easily come in pretty high.

A kitchen (units) professionally sprayed is likely to be pretty expensive.

I didn't say it was impossible, but it's unlikely, I think it's better to prepare one or two rooms, do that and then move on to the next, rather than plan too much at once and have nothing completed.

It's my third house, last house was a complete renovation.

There are three or four floors in this list and all internal doors.

Yes you could paint everything in white or magnolia paint which wouldn't be a huge cost, but a floor being fitted for example isn't cheap unless you know someone.

You can do lots of jobs pretty cheaply if you know enough friends with skills. My husband is in a tread and things cost less as we do it ourselves or know someone sometimes, but even still, it's a big list.

Just my opinion, I'm only suggested trying less as I imagine your mental health could be worse if you have lots of josh unfinished rather than a few great rooms.

[MuchTooTired]

I think if you want everything brand new, i don’t think it could be done. If you were willing to buy secondhand furniture and a spray gun to paint the kitchen yourselves it’s doable I think!

I’d definitely recommend against laminate, it was horrible to live with (admittedly it was the cheapest shittiest laminate I could afford at the time) and I ended up ripping it up a couple of years later and replacing it with wood effect lino which looked brilliant and suited my family so much more. Weirdly, people used to take their shoes off so they didn’t damage the wood Floor 😳

I hate tiles on the floor, so I’d have jazzy lino on the floor which is really easy to lay and much cheaper. I don’t work for a vinyl flooring company, I just love the stuff 🤣

[Gardengrace]

Paying professional tradesmen - very doubtful, doing as much as possible yourselves - more likely.

You could get some decent cleaning products, clean your kitchen yourselves and then paint with cupboard paint, walls use standard trade paint in a 25l tub in white/cream/grey etc, retiling go to a kitchen and bathroom showroom they will generally have a stock of last season tiles that are much cheaper but equally standard that they won't age a bathroom in 6 months time, bathroom floor, buy an off cut, downstairs floor pick vinyl instead of laminate perhaps, garden fence - is it panels, if not buy wood and build a frame then nail each slat on, treat and good to go.
Check market place/2nd hand furniture places for sofas and TV unit, is it single/double/king beds? You could use ikea kallax units for a base obviously providing storage too then. Can you tell I'm on DIY on a budget on fb 😂😂😂

[parietal]

don't plan to spend £10K all at once. Set a budget per room and do one room at a time.

Pick one room (say living room) and take your time to get it really nice without spending too much. Time spend searching online for the right curtains / sofa etc at the right price will be an investment in the room.

Then when you've got one room perfect, you'll have that space to enjoy while you gradually do the next room. That also gives you more time to budget for each room.

[Pbur]

Possible if doing yourself, but labour would massively eat into that budget. I would start small and watch lots of YouTube to get the hang of everything! Have you looked into porcelain tiles instead of laminate? You can get wood effect. Might be more expensive but lovely and long lasting! Do one thing at a time with a smaller budget and see how you go. Having just renovated our bathrooms, which I hated, we have come up against a new cause of distress which is regretting the tile we chose! So I would take it easy and do one thing at a time and save up over that time if possible to have more budget for the final things.

[Standrewsschool]

I think £10000 is optimistic.

SofAs can easily cost £1-2000, and beds aren’t cheap either,or at least decent mattresses.

Fences always cost more than you expect also.

[Chewbecca]

Only way to know is to price each item up. Guessing at costs here (cheapest rates):

Laminate floor in living room and kitchen/dining room £500
're paint downstairs £1000
Get kitchen cupboards sprayed £700
oven professionally cleaned £80
New sofas £800
Coffee table/tv stand £300
New interior doors £500
Carpet upstairs £500
Paint 3 bedrooms £1000
New floor in bathroom £200
re tile ensuite £600
New floor ensuite (more like a cupboard, very tiny) £150
New bed x2 £600
New garden fence on one side £500

£7340

So that gives quite a lot of wiggle room where I have under priced.

[haveapieceoftoast]

Buy cheap, buy twice

[pumpkinpie01]

@Chewbecca that seems a lot for painting , I've got a decorator booked for next month ( have waited 4 months for him as he is so popular) 2 lounges ,hallway , landing , dining room ceiling and a bedroom ceiling for £380

[PickAChew]

I'd prioritise a room at a time. If, say, the kitchen is most grim to you and you spend a lot of time in it get that sorted. It'll give you a boost and you'll be pacing yourself as, clearly, money is a bit tight. Sort out the garden on the spring, then you can enjoy it.

Our house looked pretty unloved when we moved in. We're practical but busy people and it has slowly evolved in the 3 years we've been here into something much cosier. The one room we haven't touched looks increasingly student and crap!