Council housing and redecoration tips

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I'm a little worried about posting this with the recent spate of council housing trolls and the often anti-social housing sentiment from small groups of very vocal posters so I'm going to post a disclaimer first.

I will be paying rent. You have to do that in council housing. I do receive some housing benefit but pay a top-up rent as I work. I plan on working more/in a better paid job and not receiving any housing benefit once I finish college next year. The rent I pay will be higher than I pay now in a damp, poorly decorated, poorly maintained private rented because I will be subject to the bedroom tax. Although I believe safe, secure housing is a right and people should not be grateful for housing, it should be seen as a given I am grateful to have a secure tenancy, in a nice area. I am as grateful as I would be to have a nice, secure private rented which I would have to pay on rent on (as I will be doing when I move).

Disclaimer over

When I move everything will need doing, flooring, plastering, gutting the garden, painting/wallpapering in every room of the house. The bathroom will be made ready to use but any painting e.g the ceiling, skirting and door will need to be done by me. The kitchen will have tiled splash backs, new cupboards and a floor fitted. It's up to me to paint the walls.

I get £200 of paint vouchers (at this point I'd like to remind people I am paying rent. If it was a private letting being rented in this state, the LL would be prosecuted). Two bedrooms will be carpeted. I've chosen to have the children's rooms done.

The stairs, living room and my bedroom floors will be left bare as will the walls in every room.

My budget after moving costs is approximately zero. Family have offered to pay for flooring for the front room but I have either pay fitting costs or fit it myself. The garden is a state and the bathroom is a wet room (think old people's home not fancy, modern living style)

What I need advice on is

1. plastering - I understand it's not as easy as it looks but with tuition from a former builder is it DIY-able? How much (approx) would it be to DIY?

2. Boarding out the loft - again is this DIY-able.

3. How do I modernise the bathroom? I'm thinking tile stickers and a nice shower curtain and bath mat. Is there any kind of waterproof, super cheap, DIY-able flooring I could stick down over the horrendous blue rubber floor they have in there now?

4. Cheap (super duper cheap) waterproof bathroom storage. I've found a few plastic cabinets on Ikea but are there any cheaper/better alternatives anyone knows of?

www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/storage-furniture/bathroom-storage/dynan-shelf-unit-with-towel-rail-white-art-00318169/

www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/storage-furniture/bathroom-storage/vesken-shelf-unit-white-art-40307866/

5. Gardening - all of it. I've never had a garden. I have zero clues to the point where I don't even know what advice to ask you all for. It's a complete mystery to me. Imagine I'm from Mars and don't know what a garden is. I'd like to grow veg, if possible. I'm aware veg grows in the ground, that is the limit of my understanding on veg growing.

6. Garden shed. I'm going to need a lawn mower and somewhere to store it. Where/how does one go about acquiring/building these things cheaply? I've never noticed on any Facebook selling pages or in second hand shops.

7. The ugly concrete thing in the garden, can I put patio stones over this to make it less unsightly and how much will this cost and again, is it DIY-able?

8. Prioritising.

My plan is to complete the living room and the childrens room first and then board out the loft space for storage.

I used to have room in my bedroom to store things as we had two double bedrooms. The kids had one, I had the other. I'm moving to the box room and will longer have space to store the xmas tree etc in my room and I doubt the children want it in their rooms. That's why I want the loft doing asap. The loft is last on my list, until then I'll be storing the xmas tree etc in the kitchen. Second last is the hallway and stairs carpet, third last is my room. First is the kids room, followed by the living room and then kitchen. Good plan?

And that's it, unless I've missed essential things which I am sure I will have. It's all a little overwhelming, tbh. I've never had to refurbish a single room before much less a house. I could do with as many pointers as you are all willing to give.

Oh and also, you don't necessarily need to board the loft out to store things in it, just balance things very carefully on the joists! Very carefully though. That's what my parents did and nothing/nobody ever came through the ceiling!

You don't need to board the loft to store things in it. Just place things across the beams if they are heavy, boarding a loft to store 1 Christmas tree is a waste. I have bunk beds, wooden toy kitchen, Christmas stuff and a triple wardrobe in my with no boards and it is absolutely fine.

That's good to know about the loft. I can just stick things in boxes and balance them until I can afford to get it sorted properly. There is more than a tree but it is mostly seasonal stuff like x-mas decs and Halloween stuff. It currently fills one double wardrobe in my room and is also piled on top of the wardrobe in boxes but as I said, I'm taking the box room so won't have space and the spare double wardrobe belongs to this house. My own has my clothes in.

I wouldn’t recommend attempting plastering, it’s a lot more complicated than it looks, and costs a fair chunk to screw up yourself! Seems I’m still grumpy about this a few years on 😣 If you can get away with just filling the marks etc then painting that would be great, and wallpapering with a nice textured or thicker paper if walls are unplastered. Wallpaper is pretty cheap online, and will send out samples too.

YouTube videos are awesome. Don’t know how to wallpaper? YouTube. Boarding out your loft? Blocked drain? YouTube! I love a good diy project, and it’s really helped me, even down to what tools I need.

Lino is dead easy to yourself if you wanted to go for it (eBay offers some really nice stuff for around the £5pm mark which stands the test of time well) or if you’d rather carpet and you’d have to pay the fitter, I had some done recently and paid £3pm fitting. They did have a min charge though, so something to be wary of.

I’d recommend getting a tool set, and a drill. Amazon do some great deals, or try checking out ebay.

Gardens I have no idea about, I know I have one, but that’s as much as I know about it.

Good luck!

Oh and caulk is your friend. Before you paint fill any gaps or cracks between skirting boards and walls and around doorways. Wet a finger in washing up liquidy water and smooth over. Every decorating job is vastly improved by smoothing and filling (use polyfilla and then sand) for dents or cracks in actual walks. Wilko is brilliant for stuff like caulk and polyfilla as is screwfix

The bathroom is nice, wet room isn't it.
I'd advise you to do the hallway/landing/stairs last, it'll be a thoroughfare and will get marked/dirty else.
I should think the council would do any plastering.

Are you definitely sure you need to plaster? I've lived in a few council and Housing Association properties before, so has my mum and we've never needed to plaster. They generally do that if it's needed, before you move in. However, they always leave the floors in a horrible state and previous tenants odd decoration decisions stay in place!

And they generally rip out built in wardrobes and often take down curtain rails, which can be a shame. But they always leave up awful wall paper!

One place I lived in they had ripped up all the carpets and hadn't cleaned up underneath, there were loads of cat hairs everywhere, it was sticky and smelt of wee. It was gross.

Can't offer much help but have been in your situation with little money. But I decorated it all slowly over the first year.

I don't live in social housing anymore, but it did enable me to get my life on track. It's a shame what's happened to housing in this country.

Good luck in your new home. Hope it works out well for you and your children

Nothing to add really, other than to second embracing Facebook and Gumtree. I bought a microwave the other week for a fiver, after the floor fell through in mine

I saved the owner a trip to the dump with it basically, so it was win/win.

Bought my washer-dryer and fridge on Gumtree from a couple who were moving to a new rental with white goods included, on the same day I was moving into mine so we gave their man with van a tenner to deliver to me. Cost £70 in total for both and they've lasted three years.

It's all doable. Exciting times, op. Good luck!

Is the wallpaper peeling? if it is sound and secure and not vinyl. You can paint over it. it is often a much better surface than the wall underneath. Saves a lot of time too
If you do have to plaster. ring your local college. They may run courses and am happy to have a real house to practice on.

Wet room is fine. Curtain and towels will make all the difference. Could get a wooden duck board. ( like a square of decking so you can use sink and toilet without getting wet feet

If you don't want to use shed base for shed decking tiles and pots, or just pots will make a lovely seating area.

lots of manure dug into veg patch area will prepare the soil ready to grow. beans, corn on the cob, potato. raspberries are good to start with. an Apple tree would be good too
I insulated and boarded my loft. very straight forward

An off cut of carpet and underlay and a staple gun is all you need for stairs. just staple them to the top of each stair after painting the sides with hard wearing paint (satin not emulsion) . should cost less than £20.
I would recommend vinyl floor to a cheap laminated.
I think you will regret scrimping on flooring. such a pain to redo. You may get a very good price on end of roll.

Best of luck. Very exciting.

It's that awful textured wallpaper, which is why I assumed it was there to hide something. I attend the local college and they do have a plastering and decorating course, I will ask at student services tomorrow if this a is a service they offer and will not attempt to plaster myself.

I asked my relative about vinyl and he believes it will rip so would rather pay for something that would last me. It's midrange laminate he was looking at not the cheap as chips kind I kept showing him. He advised me to use cheap rugs from the charity shop for the dog that can be binned when he is no longer with us. He told me to look for laminate that is at least 8mm thick and AC4 rated, not that I have a clue what that means.

I like the style of the bathroom and prefer showers to baths but the decor is a bit dated for my tastes.

Once you get in there, with your own things, the décor not being to your taste will fade a bit.

It always seems worse (as in needs decorating/plastering/completely gutting/razing to the ground and rebuilt) before you've made your mark, ime.

Also - it's amazing what you can live with until you can save up enough to change things. When I bought my first property the boiler was broken so no hot water or heating. I managed for 5 months by boiling water for baths. Furniture was a beanbag and a bed. I had a TV from when I had rented property and a few pots and pans. It took me 3 years to get the property how I wanted it. It takes time. I realise you're renting but you'll be there for a long time, nothing has to be perfect immediately.

This was, crikey, 14 years ago and I've sold and bought another derelict property (still in progress and I've been here for 5 years), had a child (single parent), just starting to get my feet under me properly.

Life is long, you have time. I've been lucky but it sounds like things are turning around for you too. I do hope so and wish you every happiness in your new home.

I'm used to living in poorly and/or oddly decorated homes from all my years in private rented. It'll take time to get this house how I want it and I'm fine with that.

Our college don't do outside plastering but the woman on the desk said if I hang around the canteen or smoking area and collar a couple of the trade students, they'll probably do it for a few quid for me, so if it needs doing, I'll do that.

I'm loving that Facebook group. Big thanks to the poster who put me onto that, it's given me loads of budget friendly ideas, including how to fix my manky old desk which I love but everyone keeps telling me to scrap. I'm gonna Fablon it. I've developed a slight obsession with Fablon

I would live in the house for a few months, then decide what you want to do first

I would see how much your utility bills are eg electric, water, council tax, broadband, TV, mobile phone, rent, insurance etc

Then see how much you will have for decorating and renovations

Ref any painting, the preparation is the key
Clean any surface that you are going to paint with sugar soap and hot water
Then hot water, leave to dry
Mask off anything that you dont want covered in paint with plastic sheets, old cotton sheets or newspaper secured with masking tape
Paint top to bottom, so ceilings first

Uneven inside walls, you can fill holes with poly filler, dry, then sandpaper to smooth finish, then paint

I would check the loft and find out if you have loft insulation. If you dont you can get government reduced loft insulation installed at a reduced price
Do this before you put in the loft boarding

Garden I would suggest leaving until last

Car boot sales, freecycle, local facebook great way to find bargains for house and garden

You don't need a shed unless you have bikes etc to store too? We have a shed but we also have a plastic storage box - they are about £60-100 in b&q and would easily fit in a lawn mower and then you wouldn't need to bother with a base etc and much cheaper!

You can get some quite nice lino flooring too - my friend has some wood effect and it looks just like laminate and is much cheaper and I assume would be a lot more easy to lay and cut.

We don't have any bikes. Bikes have come and gone but my current house is tiny with no outside space and not enough indoor space to store essentials much less bikes. I've spent the last ten years promising they can have bikes "when we get a house with a garden and a shed" under the belief we'd never have a house with a garden and a shed

But it's good to know about the lawnmower storage box thing. That might be a starting point if I can't find a reasonably priced shed. I've been browsing Gumtree etc but only seem to find ads for new sheds for £££.

My relative paying for the laminate flooring is really, really against the idea of vinyl flooring in the living room. He's only willing to pay for laminate. Even carpet is out of the question because he can't see it lasting with the dog/kids/muddy garden combination. He wants to pay once for something that will last me at least 10 years.

How did you get on OP?