How can you make a house renovation look expensive when you are doing it on a budget?

[Levantine]

I know about things like lovely door handles, just wondering if there are any tricks.

We are doing a galley kitchen in ye olde ikea and also replacing a bathroom. Tbh it is not a house that would merit mega bucks even if we had them, but we would like to make it look as good as possible, and we may well sell within next few years anyway

Any tips especially wrt flooring would be much appreciated

For tiling in the bathroom, we've gone for plain white square 6" tile (dirty cheap) then put a band of mosaic tiles (expensive) at about shoulder height. It looks expensive but was actually really cheap.

Sorry, not a flooring expert unless you want to know about tiles or carpet.

General tips would be:

-Go for plain, simple and timeless. Plain simple cheap things invariably look better than more ornate cheap things.

-Don't dismiss 'expensive' shops - my upper limit for floor or wall tiles would be £40sqm, and we have lovely real slate from Fired Earth that was within that price range, and lovely wall tiles. 90% of their stuff is way way more, but it's always worth a look for the exception.

-Ditto always check out the cheap shops for everything, for that fluke bargain yet really classy find.

-You can get some bathroom suites absurdly cheap in places like B&Q. Yes, not your first choice of style, maybe, but simple, contemporary yet fairly timeless and could work with almost any overall look. A lot could be saved this way and the the money put elsewhere where you'd notice the difference more. I think if the rest of a bathroom is nicely done, any clean new suite looks good.

We didn't get wood flooring but I do remember being told that a timber merchant called Champions (think they're limited to SW London and Surrey if that's any use to you) was unusually good quality and value for flooring. Heard some people raving about it while in there once and out of curiosity we then compared prices/quality elsewhere and it certainly did look v good in comparison.

For carpet I'd say try to use a local shop - there's always so many - preferably on recommendation.

We bought some posh 'waterfall' type taps on the Internet much cheaper than in B&Q.

Try to keep things bright clean and neutral.

I think the really trick is to make sure standards are high even if the budget isn't, meaning really take your time to make sure what you do put in is well fitted. I've seen many expensive kitchen and bathrooms that are ruined because they have been fitted to a poor standard. Same with paintwork take your time to prep walls and woodwork well and do a really neat and tidy job.

My mum bought a plain cheap white bathroom suite then bought some really nice taps from ebay that made it look expensive, she also got plain white cheap tiles then had an expensive border and it looks fantastic.
My brother recently moved and found flooring, wrote down the brand and style and searched online getting it loads cheaper by going direct

I think the finish is as important as the materials. Skimming the walls, for example, really makes a place look great and it's possible to DIY in a small area (my DH did a little wall in our old galley kitchen and it looked great). Taking off the skirting boards and replacing them on top of the flooring, using heritage paint like F&B (pricy but not so bad for a small area). Nice blinds/curtains - again, if you have small windows you could buy more expensive fabric as you'll only need a couple of metres.

We are doing this. My top tips so far have been - don't go to a bathroom place and choose your bathroom. Shop online and save £££ then get a plumber in to put them in.

Keep your eyes open for a bargain, and remember that less is more.

In our bathroom we used large rectangular matte white tiles and the tiler set them lengthways down the walls. We then chose a matte mid grey tile (same shape) which we used on the floor and then used it to create a feature 'panel' behind the shower fittings and then centrally behind the bath where the mixer tap was inset into the wall. Sorry I can't remember the price but they were VERY cheap. I used a pic of a bathroom completely out of our price range and told every supplier I wanted to achieve that kind of look without spending £££££. It does look superb, the tiler came up with such a great idea re how the tiles were laid and the matte effect makes it look much more expensive than it is.
A friend of mine used large inexpensive mirror panels all over the wall behind the bath, then white tiles for everything else, including the floor. Again she went for matte white tiles and it all Iooks brilliant - great contrast between the matte white and the mirror panels.

Screwfix are great for posh looking taps at great prices (vola rip offs) plus stuff like pop up and swivle basin wastes, chrome traps etc. Their catalogue might be your new bible -- and all delivered to your door in record time. Fab!

Use good design and layout. You can use the most expensive stuff in the world but if it isn't thought out and nicely fitted it looks rubbish.

Do your research and measuring in shops and either buy over the internet, or go back to the shop and ask if they can match the internet price. Don't rush if you are painting - sloppy edges, paint splats etc really let a place down. Don't clutter - if you can help it!

If its a smallish kitchen really good quality worktps can upgrade the look. We have granite either side of the sink in the kitchen trimmed with oak off cuts by our local carpenter who also made bespoke oak shelves for an alcove and a double wall shelf like a dresser for plates due to not being able to fit wall cupboards as we have beamed ceilings. You may think carpenter=expensive, the look certainly is but at a day rate of £150 with planning you can get a lot of really nice finishing touches done in a day. The granite pieces by the sink were also off cuts and came in at £50 each finished.

Towel radiators are practical in a bathroom as a design statement and for drying laundry in the winter. Keep an eye on eBay and sites like preloved for ones at a far more competitive price than big warehouses.

In our old kitchen which was so tiny, we used floating glass shelves from Ikea on one wall with plate holders to store all our crockery and glassware. It looked really smart and was cheaper than units, and made the room feel bigger as you didn't have cabinets on that wall.

Thanks these are all really really helpful. I love that vertical tile look justbogoffnow

Just remembered something that I was told once, although I've never done it. If you do want granite, bry going to a place that makes memorial stones for cemetaries - some do kitchen tops as well - as it is probably cheaper from there!

We had an expensive kitchen - and everything else from Ikea; literally.

My toptip: be obsessional about the finish of things.
Something cheap fitted well, will look better, than something expensive, fitted badly.

Neat paintlines, well cut tiles, everything in right angles that should be, lightswitches lined up with each other etc.

Word of warning re taps. Cheap ones end up being more expensive in the long run - they break sooner and need fixing/ replacing sooner. Some things are worth spending money on, taps are one of them.

Plastic baths look cheap, but ditto what others have said re toilet and sink, b and q are fine. If you can spend money on good worktop and thoughtful lighting.

Good tip for ikea kitchen - use different handles not from ikea range. If you go into an expensive e kitchen shop and have a look at the sort of handles they use, you can normally find them on line, makes quite a big difference.

Have a tiled bath panel. Also you could minimise tile spend by only having tiles round bath, sink etc, and colour matching wall or having white tiles with a strong contrast colour. Def no shower curtain.

Marking me place :)

The taps thing is not always true. Our screwfix tiles are going strong while my friend's vola tap (10x the price) stopped working!

An alternative to tiling on a bath panel is softwood match boarding fixed to a sheet of wbp ply. Looks better than plastic.

Screwfix taps.