How to do up kitchens and bathrooms, and in fact the whole house cheaply?

[HenriettaBarnet]

I have no money saved up.

I have a monthly income and that's it - which isn't very high. But I live in a house that was last decorated in about 1986 and I really need to do something.

I can see that stripping floors and painting walls is a cheap way of making changes, but what about other things? theres a horrible peach bathroom suite, lino throughout the house (and creaky, sloping floors underneath - i know the kitchen doesn't have floorboards but it has boarding instead), a horrible white kitchen with floral tiles. and lots more besides!

The truth is I don't know where to start. I'm not creative, but if there's websites, magazines, books, or mumsnetters that can point me in the right direction on how to make the house look better with no money!

(I do need to knock a few walls down too - do I really need a man to do that? I suppose I do, but how can I do this cheaply?).

Thanks in advance.

I'm in the process of doing up my house on an absolute shoe string...

If you are on a tight budget I wouldn't knock any walls down. You'll need to get someone to do it properly (otherwise it will just look awful unless you are skilled and you could cause structural damage). You'll also end up with a lot of decorating and dust to sort out.

The cheapest way to update anything is paint - sand everything down, wash the walls and go for it. You can often get bargain paint on ebay and gumtree. Wallpaper is expensive. I'd go for paint and pick up some cheap photo frames at poundstretcher (starting at £1-2) and you can add lots of photos or small art cards to make a feature wall.

When it comes to floors the cheapest way to update them is lino via eBay or offcuts from a carpet shop. Make a template for the floor by sticking old newspapers together and drawing the edge of the floor onto it. Then use this to cut out the lino (clearly I'm talking kitchens and bathrooms here). You can either use double sided tape or carpet glue dotted round the edges and in the middle to stick it down.

If you are looking for new carpets we found some absolute bargains on ebay and just paid a local handyman to fit them - I've even done it myself in dds room. You just need a good hammer and a chisel to push the carpet into the edges and a really sharp Stanley knife. Clearly it's not going to look as good as a professional doing it but it's not too bad!

I'd replace the bathroom suite - look to buy the suite yourself and get a plumber to fit it. Victoria plumb, wickes and Home base all have reasonably priced suites.

As for the kitchen tiles.... for now, with a limited budget, I'd get some tile paint and cover them up or if you can live with them paint the rest of the kitchen to detract from them!

OP your kitchen floor has boards under the vinyl to give a flat surface - this is completely normal. We have this over floorboards in our kitchen. Apart from anything else if you didn't the floorboards would show through the vinyl after a short time.

Fairylea gives good advice.

Work on the house one room at a time - there's lots of advice available online and 'how to' videos on YouTube. Once you've changed something to your taste and style it will spur you on to do more.

OP I would start small - you have already identified painting, and previous posters have said you could improve the flooring quite easily. I would not even consider trying to knock down walls! It could go so wrong. Some new vinyl flooring and a lick of paint could make a big difference to your bathroom. My DH and a friend recently retiled our kitchen and once they knew what they were doing it was fairly straightforward, so this might be something you could do yourself. You can get tiles pretty cheaply. Can you paint the kitchen units, would that make them look better?

Great advice Fairy!

Thank you

I went through a difficult divorce a few years back and ex left me with 26k of debt and had to downsize and got made redundant all at the same time. Moved into an absolute bombsite of a house and renovated as cheaply as possible. ....! Still working on it now. Extended the kitchen into a very large kitchen / diner which in hindsight was probably a mistake as it covered the whole house in dust and was very stressful at an already stressful time!

The main priorities for me were dds room and the living room which I more or less did myself including carpets. It's quite satisfying when you get stuck in and just go for it! :)

Houzz is a great website/app, sometimes it does articles on cheap ways to update, you could try searching the site

Look for second hand but nice stuff on eBay and gum tree. As in toilet, bath sink taps and kitchen units etc.

You'd be surprised. A few years ago I moved into a house which had newly installed bathrooms and kitchen but it wasn't done well and didn't go with the house at all. So I pulled it all out and sold all the bits on eBay.
A nice tattoo artist lady was extremely happy with a sink and toilet unit for her studio. Another man was delighted with a bath etc.

My plumber ended up buying the kitchen for one of his daughters new house.

So I got some money back towards the work plus rid of stuff I didn't want and there were some very happy folk with nearly new stuff for their places.

And yes to cheap paint.

As for knocking walls done. As long as they are stud walls and not load bearing. If load bearing you really need a structural engineer, a builder and of course Building Control.

Thanks all - Fairylea I'm in a similar situation to you now. I am left with a crap house and no money!

I think I may pull up the vinyl and the boarding.

Agree I can paint the kitchen cupboards. Maybe take the flowery tiles out myself.

Is sanding the floor hard? My xh did this previously, but he's not at all handy.

I may leave the walls for now! But will lie for a white bathroom suite on eBay or similar - does it cost much for a plumber to fit? Luckily the tiles in the bathroom are white not peach.

I've seen Houzz but they all look v expensive to Me. Are there websites, magazines or books which are full of tips about how to improve a house on a minuscule budget? My dcs are embarrassed to bring their friends back and I want to make it a nice environment for them

Go on Pinterest for ideas and how tos. I'm currently trying to do our house up on a tight tight budget. Im planning on building units and things myself - look at ana white website for lots of free plans which are also divided by skill set.

Have a look at your floorboards, if they are not painted/stained and just dirty, they might not need sanding at all. It's possible to just clean them instead, ideally using turps and wire wool. After that they can be oiled/waxed etc. and they will look incredible. also pained boards can look really good too.

Sanding the floor isn't hard in itself (you can hire a floor sander for about £30-50 a day the last time I checked with a hire place) which isn't too bad (just need to make sure you bang all nails etc low into the board itself before you start) but it's more the finish afterwards. .. If you leave them bare they will get stained easily from spilled drinks etc and barefoot you'll be prone to splinters. If you opt for a wax or polish it might be a difficult job to get a good finish.

If the floor is uneven you could get a carpet fitter or handyman to screed the floor (not even sure I've spelt that right, if you enquire they'll be able to tell you!) We did this in our kitchen diner... The floor was covered with screed first (a sort of rubbery substance to make it even) and then we put lino on top.

Totally outing myself here but who cares - here's a photo of my kitchen - the whole floor cost £130 for screeding, cheap lino from eBay and I fit the lino myself. It was done 4 years ago now and still looks okay.

(I'm halfway through painting so excuse the horrible paint job - only had one coat so far!)

There are loads of American house blogs that are very addictive.
www.younghouselove.com/
www.centsationalgirl.com/
www.remodelaholic.com/
www.betterafter.net/

I used ready varnished cork tiles in my old bathroom which where easy to put down. Then picked lovely large tiles which where the same colour as my bathroom suite - this somehow made it far better and blend in.

Use eBay for second hand kitchens...some excellent bargains to be had.

In terms of rennovating property:

Well
Cheaply
Quickly

You can two of the above - to the detriment of the one you don't pick!

Good luck.

*You can have two of the above....

If your cupboards are in good condition you can paint the cupboards very cheaply (a friend used Annie Sloan and lots of coats of wax). Depending on size you could paint or retile, and even change the worktop for a cheap but attractive laminate. You could effectively have a new kitchen for under £1000. Painting the cabinets would cost more like £30 and could make a huge difference.

I would say tackle one room at a time or it can feel overwhelming. Pick either the worst or the easiest depending on how confident you feel or how much a room is depressing you.

Some great advice here.

Try the Ideal Standard outlet online for reasonable bathroom kit.

Do you have a local Facebook buy and sell page? Is there a "nice" area close by which does that you can join? I have joined various FB buy and sell sites and have had some gorgeous bargains - people emigrating / doing up houses that aren't to their taste so getting rid of some perfectly lovely things. We bought a full new bathroom suite from the showhome of a local development for £100 when new owners wanted something else - although it is still in the garage (whilst we live with a peach bathroom suite - I feel your pain !). Local FB sites are also good for local tradesmen recommendations - people that live a couple of streets away so might pop round to help you out for an afternoon for a reasonable fee rather than an extortionate daily rate. Watch Ebay / Preloved / Gumtree for bargains.

EBAY. Can't say it enough, you can get lovely things. What I tend to do is have a perve online at things I can't possibly ever afford, then set up a bunch of ebay searches under their brands or names. If you don't mind being a bit 'take whatever comes' and above all patient, then it's far, far nicer for things like bathrooms and furniture when you're on a budget.

Floorboards - a bit of a sand will be worth it, even if they're in good nick. It's really easy, just takes time and is unbelievably dusty. Once they're sanded, either stain or paint, or just wax/varnish as they are. I use stuff called Polyx-Oil. It's a bit pricey but it's lovely, easy to use and it wears unbelievably well.

New kitchen cupboard door handles can make a world of difference. And paint! Paint!

How old are the kids? Old enough to learn new DIY skills and lend a hand? They'll grump but they'll be grateful later, when they're doing their own houses.

My parents generation just did everything themselves without professional help. Including rewiring and plumbing!

Thanks all. I want to paint all the floors white in the house I think (have already done the passage and it looks much better), so my intention is to sand and paint them all one room at a time.

Also will paint all of the walls which hopefully will make a big difference.

Do I need to take woodchip off the walls do you think? I'm slightly concerned that the whole wall would crumble away behind it. (and also wallpapering - eek!).

In an ideal world I'd move the kitchen to a different room altogether. but I have no money and really can't do that myself. So I think it needs to stay where it is. I don't mind the cupboards - which are wooden and can be painted, but the worktops are horrible. What can be done about them?

Also the tiles are hideous - so I think I would need to remove the tiles and put some different ones in their place.

I'd probably be able to afford a few freestanding kitchen units (off ebay maybe) and then could take the whole lot off.

I agree the children should be able to help. My eldest is quite dyspraxic so probably not the best to do this, but he could do some childcare of the youngest while I do it with the others maybe.

You can change the work tops and tiles and keep the units. People do give them away as off cuts. I hear if you're handy you can do it yourself but we've had a joiner quite £300 labour for it. You tend to damage the tiles apparently getting the old one off.

Cost really depends on how big your kitchen is.

Great advice already, just to add that we took down a stud wall ourselves and it was messy but not difficult. We asked the builder to check it was OK to do and then he came back to board the gaps and plaster.

You can tile on top of tile. Not ideal in the 'doing it properly' scheme of things, but definitely do-able

How old is the house? Assuming the electrics/heating/plumbing/structure are basically OK then it's a cosmetic facelift. Don't knock down any walls or you may end up on DIY SOS.

I'd suggest this book Collins DIY Manual as you can read through jobs and get an idea of whether you can tackle them. Interiors magazines like Ideal Home often have houses featured where ppl have done them up cheaply to give a bit of variety. Also the Martin Lewis moneysaving expert discussion boards are full of posters who take pride in doing for £1 what any fool can do for £2 etc...they have a DIY board.

In your position, I'd start with the least technical rooms - give your lounge and bedrooms a freshen up. The bathroom as long as it works, I'd leave till last. Nobody sees it but the family for a few minutes every day. Concentrate on the places you spend most time.

Kitchen you might find you can get worktops, sink and tap changed and just paint everything else, it would be a few hundred pounds if you get cheap ones (try Wickes or Ikea). Lots of advice online about painting units online. If your units need some running repairs then you can get new hinges, even new drawers for a few pounds. I think I'd try taking the tiles off, normally they just leave glue and you can hide that with the new tiles. Become a bit of a scavenger on ebay/freecycle/the tip, get acquainted with less glamorous shops like Screwfix and plumber's merchants where you can get bargain but (normally) decent stuff.

Floor sanding is messy but not that hard, as Grumbelina says, but check your boards are not too gappy/mutilated by previous electricians/plumbers ripping them up.

Really you are going to need to get handy - but you can learn this stuff don't worry. Have you a friend/dad who can show you how to use a drill etc? You don't need a man just a toolbox!