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?

I think you’re pricing up the wrong activity here. It does rather sound as if you wanted to spend £45K to buy your way out of depression. £45K is a fuck of a lot of money - and shouldn’t have needed your husband to tell you that it was

Actually Plan A was £10,000 😅

Then came along my architect brother who means well but thinks everyone wants a massive extension and an L Shaped kitchen diner (I really don't, we have plenty of room) and I got carried away with it all as he's a very persuasive individual! 😅

I actually think we can afford the repayments on that. OH disagrees and he's the main earner so I'm bowing to him on this one. Especially since I'm not arsed about it anyway.

So we are on Plan C now and just looking at trying to get an idea of what things cost. You've all been very helpful. Amazed how much more things cost in London (that much for interior doors, were they gold plated?! )

As for having to do it all again in 10 years, I'm very much planning on being rich and famous by then. Or I could be dead...either way I won't have to worry about the cost of new sofas! (Or more realistically we will have moved by then as I said upthread)

When you orice up the doors, don't forget the cost of hanging them. Our joiner charged us £70 per door which i thought was steep until i saw how faffy it was for him. £70 per door plus the doors themselves adds up (obvs depending on number of doors - don't forget hall cupboards!).

I think you could do it if you are careful. We have spent a fair bit but it's been worth it

We had downstairs recently decorated

Entrance/livingroom/dining room - new oak laminate from beatsons + new skirting/facings fitted by joiner for £750ish

We have had the livingroom & dining room lined/painted + all woodwork downstairs painted for £500. This includes all paint except 2 walls feature colour which was an additional £50ish

We've also had new doors which were oak/glass & they were £160 each including fit

I also had new socket/switch covers fitted. Think I spend about £50 for the covers then electrician charged £50 to fit

Also got new radiators X3 downstairs. Cost approx £300 to buy off eBay then £160 for fit

We bought carpets for the bedrooms off eBay & wasn't much to have them fitted.

Also have had a new fence quoted & for about 15m is was around £1000

Hope some estimates help. If any help, we are close to Edinburgh

Have you had any quotes yet? I’m not in London and labour is hugely expensive here too! And as someone pointed out trades are hugely in demand at the moment. I’d maybe get some quotes if you haven’t and go from there with a list of priorities.

Also we saved a fortune (£1000ish) by buying an ex display IKEA sofa. Cost £600 & it's massive

Is it 2 beds for £500 each? Is that just for frame?

One bed for us and a cheap sofa bed for the spare room/son's boy cave.

That is one thing I've priced up properly and can definitely do both for 1000. We got a new mattress recently so should last us a few years yet.

Personally I would just do one room at a time as you can afford it. Saves on the hassle of getting people in and your finances.

If you diy the lot and choose second hand/very cheap options then yes you could but not if you are paying for the r have expensive taste. I would focus on one room at a time and use YouTube to learn skills to safe money eg laying laminate floor is pretty easy, also tiling is easy enough to learn

I've done work very cheaply - you might balk at the finish, but here's what I found worked.

Laminate: I'd do a kitchen but not other rooms, personally. I think it is something you can do for yourself, but you need to watch a lot of tutorials. It's doubtful it's worth it - I think this is one for professionals ideally.

Paint downstairs - piss easy; fine.

Get kitchen cupboards sprayed and over professionally cleaned - no, you don't need a professional, just crack on. This is much easier than laminate or painting.

New sofas - if you're on a budget, check out antiques. Honestly. I have a house full of furniture people think is super fancy and it's a fraction the price of good quality new stuff. A good upholsterer will make it lovely. If you can't do that you're sunk. A good sofa is a huge chunk of your budget here.

Coffee table/tv stand - again, go to the antique shops or the junk shop. Or gumtree.

New interior doors - sometimes you can get these second hand too.

Carpet upstairs - I wouldn't lay carpet myself; no idea here.

Paint 3 bedrooms - again, very easy and cheap

New floor in bathroom - very easy; can be cheap if you are willing to compromise on content. You can ring round shops and ask what roll ends they have; unless it's an enormous room you may get something very nice for not much money.

tile ensuite - you can tile yourself if you're careful.

New floor ensuite (more like a cupboard, very tiny) - definitely ring round for roll ends!

New bed x2 - like sofas, this will cut into your budget for decent versions.

New garden fence on one side

Do people really spend that much money on furniture?! Most of ours came from family, auction or Freecycle! If you get decent stuff you won't need to replace it.

When you orice up the doors, don't forget the cost of hanging them

Good point! Thank you I will factor that in.

I do have some very handy male relatives who would probably do things like that for us but haven't got time for fitting floors/carpets/tiling.

I seems like assuming it's going to be closer to £15,000 is more realistic. Very good to know.

I was going to say buy new kitchen cupboard doors and handles. Will probably be cheaper and you can put them on yourself. Can’t believe someone was quoted £4K for just doing up kitchen cupboards, my entire kitchen cost less and it’s very good quality. I put a new b&q sale kitchen in a house for £1500 fitted last year but it’s not great quality.
Bathroom floors should come in cheaper, it would be £240 is for vinyl and fitting where I live.
Shop around for the fence panels rather than buy them from the fencer. Often builders will also do fences
Sofas from sofa sofa wait until there’s a sale. Beds wait for the sales, I got a really good M&S mattress for £300 in the sale last year. I didn’t buy a new bed frame just painted it. TOok my time did multiple thin coats of paint and nice gold bed knobs.
I think it’s doable if you shop around

Ah. Good you have the mattresses already. Yarh, that's even mlre than doable then on this item

Pie in the sky.
You don’t care about being in the same position again because you:

• could be dead
• plan to be rich
• will move anyway

Well, I can’t argue against you not needing new sofas if you’re dead 🤷🏻‍♀️

But if it’s so easy to plan to be rich - go get rich and then get this done to a high standard, without wasting money on interest.

As for moving... OK. Because you’re going to move into a another place and not need to or want update that? Right.

I really think you should think carefully before adding debt for this - your ears are blocked to the idea that maybe you shouldn’t just take on debt for this.

Oh, and hanging doors is surprisingly easy. You'd think it's a faff but it's one of those things where you need to watch a tutorial, think about it, buy good quality hinges, and just crack on.

You need to get to your local builders merchants explain your doing the house up and will need quite a lot of things and what discount will they give you. They’ll have door catalogues, tiles etc

I think you said that you were painting and decorating yourselves. That makes total sense. Money for nothing, it's such an easy job if you aren't bothered about perfect flat walls prior.

Erecting fences is so easy. Unless you have physical issues or lots of tiny kids under your feet, I wouldn't pay anyone for that either. Ditto tiling.

I would look for replacement kitchen doors rather than respray as the shape/ moulding will probably look old fashioned no matter how shiny. And it will chip and you will get annoyed with it. A new cheap worktop will freshen things up unless what's there curently is something that you can refinish or e.g. silestone in good nick.

Second hand furniture as well. Sofas and beds I think are tricky as id want to try before buying. But tables etc: there is heaps out there.

But if it’s so easy to plan to be rich - go get rich and then get this done to a high standard, without wasting money on interest.

It was a joke love.

@SarahAndQuack

Oh, and hanging doors is surprisingly easy. You'd think it's a faff but it's one of those things where you need to watch a tutorial, think about it, buy good quality hinges, and just crack on.

It’s not that easy if your door frame isn’t perfectly square, or not a standard size!

You need to get to your local builders merchants explain your doing the house up and will need quite a lot of things and what discount will they give you. They’ll have door catalogues, tiles etc

Thank you I'll look into that!

Oh, yes, fences! I find doing straight fencing an absolute bugger. Does it have to be a fence? Because if you want to be both cheap and eco, lay a hedge. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but if you hammer in hazel poles (or cheapie pine) every 1.5 metres and plant bare root hedging now, you'll have something lovely in a few years. Bare root hedges are really cheap in March.

It’s not that easy if your door frame isn’t perfectly square, or not a standard size!
Sadly, I second that🙄 i have to get upstairs ones changed. Mainly due to the fact that previous owners were as good in dolr hanging as us, but unlike us, didn't admit after 1 try it and fucked the frames up🙄 Then we finished them off with that q try😂

@BungleandGeorge, the house I live in is c. 1700 and has no straight lines anywhere!

It's really easy - you just need to take it slow and be patient.

I will admit, our house is rented and dilapidated and we've never aimed for a magazine-perfect finish, but the doors we've re-hung open and close smoothly and don't have visible gaps, and I think that's as good as you need to get.

I've done similar in the North West fairly recently: £10k is tight but do-able if you can bargain hunt, £15k more realistic for ordering things off the shelf.

I'm a big fan of using professional decorators (and tilers if you can find a decent one!) as I wouldn't be skilled enough to get a good finish. Doing proper redecoration like woodwork takes ages and if you're prone to depression might just get you stuck deeper in despondency if you half start it. I would start things off with a £3 Oven Pride kit though as it's quick and easy, and leaves a bit of spare cash for some decorative items when all the work is done for a bit of an extra treat .

If I had your budget I'd start with the decorating (messy stuff like tiling first) move on to the flooring and do furniture (and outside) last. I've a lot of second hand furniture, and would be happy to get cheap bits off Facebook and eBay if I'd spent my budget on the decorating.

If you're mentally up for it, getting all the decoration done at once may be more cost effective as the decorator can be painting other things while one area's drying. It can be full on though, and might be overwhelming. Good luck with it!