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.

Its an early Victorian terraced house. wiring etc will have to be ok for the time being.

I want to start on the kitchen I think as it's the room that most depresses me and the children. (someone's advice upthread!). I am wondering whether to rip the units out and get some more from ebay - I quite like the ikea freestanding units and there seem to be quite a few for sale. I already have a freestanding cooker, fridge and dishwasher, so it would just be the sink that would cause me some problems. I can maybe get a builder to sort that out and also the internal wall that I want removing.

Otherwise I'll look at replacing the worktops and tiles, painting the units and sorting out the flooring. If I do that and the walls and window (we have a horrible net curtain atm) I think that will look much better.

I feel ok about retiling (not that I've ever done it before, but I can learn!). I'm not so sure about plastering, but I need to find a local handyman I think to help me with odd jobs that come up.

I don't have a dad or man around that can help me. So it's me and the internet for the time being!

I want to take all the carpets out too so that I can sand as and when I get a spare moment/£50 to hire the sander. I think I'll need help with that as I'm not going to be able to move the furniture on my own.

I think I have a DIY manual somewhere so I'll dig it out, but thank you for the tips about moneysaving expert - I'll have a look.

We did our kitchen fairly affordably (photos on profile) by

a) doing huge amounts of work oursleves and finding trades people who were happy to only to do half a job, e.g. paid a builder £100 to install an RSJ but did the hard labour of removing the wall underneath and making good ourselves, chased out channels for rewiring but got an electrician in to do the actual wiring bit. Haggled for kitchen appliances.

b) Spread our costs out by buying kitchen units from Ikea on an interest free deal so our 2k spend was spread out over 12 months.

Here is a mumsnet link to an old thread about tile painting

Link to tile stickers. Dolphins, flowers plain colrurs - you name it.

You can definitely put a plaster on the tile problem until you find a permanent solution. Good luck.

There is so much good stuff on YouTube! I have surprised myself with what I've managed to do. Hard to do stuff with DC around though, is there anyone who can have them occasionally while you get your teeth into something? You don't need a man - I spent most of my twenties/thirties tarting up various crappy flats with no dad or boyfriend. Got a DH now but he's not really the practical type - I wear the tool belt around here!

Watching with interest. We are in the process (very early days) of buying a house. It belonged to a very sweet old lady with an obsession with 1970s flower decor. It will need total modification with zero money.

You sound like you're going to be just fine! I would say that in my experience proper plastering is a job for a professional - we've redone a flat mostly ourselves, but plastering is the one cosmetic thing we paid for. That said, with walls especially, minor (or moderate, even) issues can be filled with joint filler, sanded and they'll come up fine.

One of my other favourite budget products is wood filler. It's excellent for fixing cracks and dings in skirtings and doors, and it's harder wearing than plaster type filler.

You mentioned woodchip- there are a bunch of threads on here about getting rid of it- again not that hard (she says optimistically) just time consuming and messy. Basically it's 'wet it and scrape it'. Your walls probably won't fall down if you take it off, they might actually be in quite good nick- mine were. Don't use a steamer too much though if you want to preserve the walls.

We did our house up very cheaply, the most expensive thing was probably the skips to get rid of all the old carpets, bathroom (avacardo ) and kitchen units.

I've just replaced my bathroom for less than £250 plus a local plumber fitted it for £200. I've currently got no tiles on the wall and no flooring other than the bare floorboards, but I'm doing it as and when I can afford it! The big job is done and the rest I can do myself.

The next project is the kitchen, as my units are very old and tired looking; worktop is knackered and handles on cupboards/drawers are all different! I'm planning on a new worktop, sanding and painting the cupboard doors, new handles, stick on tiles over existing ones and an offcut of vinyl for the floor. It will tide me over for a few years until I can afford to get it replaced properly.

I have completely changed my kitchen for less then 1000. I got a few mates rates for tiling etc but still really cheap. I bought new work tops, new cupboard doors, lino, new blind. Painting throughout and having a feature wall, new tiles, floating shelves, new accessories.

Shop in places like B&M for paint, wickes are half price for tiles atm and I found a 10 percent code online. .

I opted for white brick effect tiles, white cupboard doors and a block wood effect worktops. Walls are neutral and the feature wall is neutral too. It's hopefully going to have a good finish at fraction of the cost :)