Renovating an entire house on a budget

[Renoonabudget]

So basically we borrowed as much as we could to get through the door of this property, £300k mortgage but its a bit of a fixer upper. Think 80s decor everywhere. It's liveable but desperately needs updating. This is the forever home.

So we have about £10k to renovate it until we build our funds up again, I can do alot of DIY, painting, etc even some basic carpentry like skirting boards and laid down laminate flooring before.

Kitchen is old with free standing range cooker (with a couple of broken burners) Awful laminate worktops, beige tile with a couple missing, lino roll floor, old stainless steel sink and drippy tap. It really needs ripping out and starting again however we might want to extend the kitchen one day but will be about 5 years before we can build the funds for that. But don't think I can live with it as is for 5 years.

Downstairs cloak has carpet floor and really old beige toilet, sink and mirror. But it's functional. Again could do with properly ripping out and starting again.

Carpets through out, beige but old, bit moth eaten in places. Probably wool or wool blend.

Living and dining room, ugly stone gas fireplace that doesn't work and has been switched off, generally awful decor with ugly wall paper. But liveable. Top hung sliding doors that seperate dining and living area, old and a bit wobbly.

Upstairs bathroom functional, at least its a white suite. I've already replaced the brown medicine cabinet with a white mirrored one and the knackered beige bathe panel with a wooden painted white one and installed a new over bath shower when the other one was on the fritz when we moved in. Again it needs redoing but its okay.

DC5's bedroom has been totally reskimmed and redecorated, with new light fitting and I've painted a mural on the wall (I'm a professional illustrator). Everything replaced apart from beige carpet (which we can't afford to do yet)

Our bedroom just replaced the handles on the built in wardrobes to more modern ones. It had been recently redecorated white but again needs properly doing, but liveable.

Spare bedroom/office, ugly decorations but functional for wfh. Just has our desks in when we do wfh.

Outside, lovely mature gardens. I've built a picket fence myself to secure it as its a wrap around side garden on a corner plot. Needs patio areas redoing at some point. I have also lifted up an area of patio to create a bark filled play area for DC's swing.

Combi boiler okay, not too old and Worcester. Loft partially boarded and needs more insulation, will probably need a new roof fairly soon (survey said it was only its last legs) but holding together atm and surveys are super cautious.

So where would you start on a tight budget? We'll have more money as we can build savings again. But with what I have now, where would you start?

We live in North East Cheshire. Early 40s, one DC.

Personally I think the cloak and kitchen need sorting asap but how do I make this budget stretch. 😬

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Don't do anything that you'll regret it want to redo soon. Wait until you have the funds to do one room properly.

Tbf I don't intend to do anything I'll regret. 😅 And not sure I can live with my crappy kitchen until I can afford the extention in 5+ years time.

I’d just do one room at a time. don’t start the next until it’s totally finished!!
Assuming electrics are ok and heating.

first I would sit down and make a project book on canva or similar / pdf and start by writing a list of rooms. Then I’d make a big mood board of the overall theme/look/colours/architecture of what I was aiming for across the whole house. Then I’d start a page per room with a master list of tasks and a mini mood board of the elements for each space. Then lists of materials, furniture etc.

then begin! I’d start with the rooms with the least passage. Eg don’t do your hallway first! Do those high traffic areas last because you’ll be bringing the materials in etc for all the other spaces.
you could add a time line if you can plan the time / spend in advance. I always double the time I think because it never ever takes the time I think!!!!

this is what I did! Near the end now 😅

Will add - you can definitely do a kitchen and a cloakroom on 10k if you are thrifty. Design your kitchen space on the ikea kitchen planner tool online and then buy some elements from Ikea and others second hand.
I actually use the ikea online tools loads for other room designs to gauge space etc as you do it all to the exact dimensions of your room and can create simple 3D simulations.

you could for example source a second hand IKEA kitchen carcass and buy new doors and worktop. If you’re handy you can manage that easy peasy. I took loads of inspiration from Devol and then built myself a kitchen with that look using an ikea carcass and worktops. You can make it look much more high end by adding nice handles, lighting, brass rails etc.

Thankyou, good idea about doing a book with a mood board for each room. Apart from DC's room I have just been doing "bits" everywhere rather than concentrating on one room.

It has been rewired, so electrics are good (although light switches and plug sockets are a bit ugly, ornate brass effect). It also has gas central heating but exposed gas pipes coming from the ceiling that need to be boxed in. 1960s house and solid concrete floor.

I think with the kitchen I could maybe get away with new worktops, sink and flooring to tide me over and then maybe sand and repaint the doors? 😬

Ooh thankyou for the ikea tip, I will use their tool! I've had a go with the DIY Kitchens app so it'll be good to compare. Xx

We did the roof first (but ours was actively leaking), then decorated our bedroom (no DCs then) so we had one nice room to retreat to while we saved up for the windows (draughty & definitely needed doing). We wanted to do them before decorating other rooms in case replacing them damaged the decor but actually the installation team did a really tidy job in the master bedroom so we didn't really need to although it made saving for them faster. Then the boiler as it packed up in the middle of winter (typical).

I did a very cheap & cheerful update in the kitchen - painted the doors & wrapped the damaged laminate worktop in dc-fix vinyl to cover up the burnt patches (previous owner had managed to put hot pans on it more than once!). It didn't look great but it was an improvement & made it feel more "me" until we finally extended & replaced 5 years after moving in.

One day I'll get to do the front & rear garden - nursery fees have somewhat derailed that plan!

I think my worktops is beyond repair, lots of burn marks but also the sink and tap need replacing so it makes sense to budget to replace those. Have you any tips on cabinet paint for your kitchen? My kitchen is North facing so thinking of warmer lighter colours if possible. Don't know what level of worktops to get, really need to price up everything properly and see what's in the budget. Xx

What is 1980s decor?

Colourful, wallpapers, fugly doors, dado rails, patterned curtains

I would agree with others. Do a room at a time. If it were me, I would see if I could do the downstairs cloak room and bathroom for the £10,000 and then use any left over towards kitchen stuff. You can still paint the kitchen units and replace the tap and worktop when you have save up a few hundred pounds. The kitchen tap can be reused when you redo the kitchen so buy a nice one. You may even be able to get offcuts or a second hand section for the worktop if you have time to stake out ebay.

Some good advice already, especially the mood boards/project notes and tackling one room at a time! Also, not rushing to do stuff cheaply, because a) it's better to buy better quality once and b) you need to live somewhere a while before committing to making expensive changes etc.

I've lost count of what number renovation project we're on, but I know from past experience that it's so much nicer to get a whole room finished, than living on a complete building site where everything is ripped out (did that once in a huge thatched house - never again!)

Our current place sounds similar @Renoonabudget , although ours is a Georgian cottage that was last fully renovated in 1965, when two small cottages were combined into one. There's not an original feature in sight - artex ceilings (fortunately only in two - albeit large - areas), flat doors, fugly architraves/skirting, horrible crazy paved fireplace in living room, floor-to-ceiling 'chick' tiles in kitchen etc etc.

The boiler is between 40 and 50 years old and worked fine when we moved in (Sept '24), but has since died a death. If we'd had it replaced immediately it would be in completely the wrong location as we've since decided to swap the kitchen and living room over. Only problem, we're now struggling to find a heating engineer to even come out to quote!

Regarding a temporary fix in the kitchen, we painted our - hand built, solid wood, 1960s cabinets - within weeks of completing on our purchase. We chose a bold colour (they were yellowed white gloss) and added a fabric skirt beneath the sink and across the floor-standing boiler, which immediately made the space feel more 'ours'.

We're actually planning to reuse some of the old drawer units as theyre so well made, but we found more - pan drawer - units on fleabay that only set us back around £400 including hiring a van to collect them. We've already started painting them and we'll have saved a fortune by choosing second hand!

We had to get a new fridge freezer immediately as we left ours for our buyers and there wasn't one here. The hob we inherited here worked, but the oven didn't, so in the short term, rather than buying a small cooker, we got a couple of airfryers so we could cook a proper Christmas dinner.

Our buyers bought our old range cooker too, so we always knew we'd be having to get a new one eventually, but there was no space in the kitchen here for what we wanted. Rather than a temporary fix we splurged on a lovely reconditioned French range that we won't install till the room is ready (we've had to take down a couple of walls) - so for now it's in the garage.

Fortunately we're reasonably good at building work, so once we'd had the calculations done for the one load-bearing wall, we did the removal/rsj fitting ourselves and we're doing everything else except electrics/heating stuff.

Our initial budget was small (around 30k) and we'll obviously need to top this up, but we enjoy seeking out bargains and would rather wait for decent quality than buy crap, so for example I found a £900, brand new bathroom basin (London Basin Co) for £250 (also on fleabay)!

Don’t do too much to your kitchen if you might extend it later. Use your £10k to do the cloakroom and bathroom. For the kitchen, you can cover the worktops by wrapping them in either vinyl (if you’re a careful person who won’t put hot pans down), micro cement or even sealed plywood. Then paint the cabinets your favourite and most cheerful colour (I suggest bright yellow), as you’ll never choose that for a permanent kitchen but it would be fun for the time being - or paint them with murals too, e.g. you could paint them green and add vines and wildflowers climbing up them. Go really crazy and arty. Take down excess wall cabinets (you said 80s which tended to crowd the room as full as possible) and put up some shelves for pretty things. Put a thin layer of plywood over the wall tiles and paint it (not behind the cooker - put a sheet of stainless steel or brass or copper there). Get some cheap and cheerful lino. Improve the lighting. Instagram is full of people who have done temporary fixes on their kitchens with a view to pulling them out later.

Tile paint for kitchen and bathroom, peel and stick vinyl for cupboards/wardrobe doors. Lining paper for the walls and paint over

Are the cabinets solid wood? Just as you mention sanding and sealing. If they are, I’d be tempted to sand and paint, and get new worktops, sink, tap, range cooker and handles. Worktops weren’t too expensive, quotes varied wildly though. Sink and tap were very reasonable. A freestanding hob should be easy.

I don’t think a cloakroom would be too expensive, ours wasn’t last year. I’d do that next, and make the downstairs nice. Then personally you mention old worn carpets. I’d probably suggest somewhere like Designer Carpets for remnants, I’ve used them several times. Hire a local independent fitter to fit them. The room sized remnants are great value.

I used a cheap furniture paint from Aldi which didn't hold up brilliantly, but there are much better options available from Ronseal, Rust-oleum, etc.

Yes they are solid wood but the fixings are knackered and the one set of drawers looks like they've cut a door into 4 pieces and bolted it to drawers after the fact. I'd really like to replace that set of drawers and the little cupboard, between that and the cooker, into a wide pan drawer. I'll take some pics of the kitchen to give you all an idea. (Need to do a mop, apologies)

I also have used designer carpet remnants in my old house (they're great aren't they!) and I do actually know a fantastic carpet fitter but carpets will be last after I do most of the dirty work and decorating. Xx

Thankyou all for the messages so far, lots of very helpful suggestions xx

Some of the tiles are cracked and missing in the kitchen so need replacing, and the doors have decorative cut outs so don't think I can use vinyl. Will have to sand and paint if I keep them. Xx

For walls I would strip back, fill, sand and then paint over, its hard work but I managed to make my DCs room look like it'd had a proper reskim. I bought a very expensive professional trade polyfilla and highly recommend it.

Thats a brilliant idea about the plywood over the tiles! I'll have to look into that, Thankyou. Xx

Do you have local FB selling pages? Given you are handy, you could see if anyone is getting rid of a kitchen.

Many people rip out decent kitchens because they are doing an extension or remodeling.

There are some sites dedicated to it but these are generally a bit more expensive.

My brother sold his from a house only six years old for £200 complete with appliances. It was a decent kitchen which failed to make good use of the space.

Have a look on freecycle & Gumtree as you might find people giving away or selling very cheaply materials they have left over from a day project.

My friend bought 20 boxes of plain white metro tiles for £30 as the guy over ordered but couldn't return. If you're vigilant, you'll be able to find a lot of good quality items to help spread your budget further.

As @FiveBarGatei sold a two year old kitchen for £500 with all appliances and quartz worktop because I was extending. The guy who bought it was an invested with rentals and said he buys all lightly used kitchens cheap for his rentals.

For handpainting a kitchen, best bet might be to go to an independent specialist paint shop and ask their advice. I got colour matched professional kitchen paint mixed up, and did two coats to make it tough and to withstand scratches and chips. Then put my standard matte woodwork paint over the top. It’s held up well so far in the last year

Kitchen really sounds the priority
any chance the shells of the units are sound? Then it’s a doors and tops and floor sand cooker “only “

and the - what have you got under the carpets - could they be ripped up then hire a sander , upva glue the sawdust into any gaps and varnish? Then rugs are much cheaper than carpets where you want the warmth underfoot ?

It also if you can afford to build an extension in 5 years - that’s a huge yearly saving as it would be at least 100k you need to raise ? I might delta the extension a couple of years and that gives you a healthy budget for most of the rest of the house