A bathroom renovation can typically cost thousands of pounds. However, one thrifty couple saved themselves from eye-wateringly expensive labour and materials costs, managing to pull off a bathroom transformation for just £550.
Sharnene Jewell, 45, a housekeeper and mum of four from Cardiff, and her husband Paul, 51, were determined to save thousands by doing their bathroom all on their own. By upcycling old furniture from Gumtree, they planned to save a fortune and give their bathroom a truly unique look. For example, they sanded and polished a bath from Gumtree that should have cost £2,000, but that they got for just £150.
Sharnene told money-saving Facebook group DIY On A Budget UK: “The shower room on our top floor originally had a full-length cupboard behind the door which I felt was a waste of space because it was really not used for anything.
"We took the cupboard away and put a door opening from the landing to create a separate room. We then closed up the doorway from the walk-through dressing area and that created a fourth bedroom because we also blocked up the arch between the master bedroom and the dressing area.
“In the middle bathroom, the door when fully opened used to hit the bath panel, so I felt it would make a better shower room. So it just made sense to swap them around. I took the old shower cubicle out, and kept the original toilet, but moved the pipework. I also moved the sink and bath pipework.
“I bought tiles on sale in B&Q, at £8 a box for five boxes. I bought a drawer unit from Gumtree for £40, replaced the handIes with copper pipes and fittings from B&Q and painted them black. The handles cost £30. I sanded and black washed the unit and painted some of it solid black.
“I bought a quarry cast bath from Gumtree for £150, which was sanded and polished. I also bought a freestanding bath tap from Amazon for £140, and a sink tap for £25 from ebay. The stone sink was £45 from eBay.
"I bought the glazed window from Gumtree for £20, and we handmade the frame. I used old parquet floor tiles as wall tiles from Gumtree, and they were free.
“The mirror was from TK Maxx from £18. It was silver, but we painted it black, with a brown rust effect. We had no outside help, my husband and I did all the work.
"My mother-in-law paid £7,000 about 10 years ago to have her bathroom done, so I just knew we would be able to save loads by doing it ourselves. My husband fitted our last bathroom so he had quite a bit of knowledge, but YouTube is a great place to watch videos on how to do things.
"It’s my dream bathroom, I just love how warm it feels with all the dark wood and plants. I’m very much into industrial decor so I’m loving my industrial style window, black taps and stone sink, but I think what makes me most happy is how cheaply I managed to do it all for.
"Buying new is a lovely feeling, but when you create something with your own hands it just makes you feel so proud. It cost roughly £550 in total.
“I’m really not sure exactly how much we saved by doing it all ourselves, but my mother-in-law paid £7,000 about 10 years ago, so it's definitely thousands: the bath alone to buy new is about £2,000.
"Buying second hand and up-cycling makes me so much happier than buying new. When I first started buying furniture for my home I only ever bought new, but when I designed and made my first piece that was it really.
"Especially if on a budget, you can get much better quality items for less money and make them unique and perfect for your own home very easily with just paint and new hardware. We were lucky really: because we had another bathroom we didn’t have to rush it, so we just did a little bit each weekend, so we did it over five months.
“It’s amazing really and we are very proud of our achievement!”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: “This beautiful industrial-style bathroom looks like it belongs in an edgy five-star hotel. To learn that Sharnene and Paul pulled this off for just £550 is amazing. They have saved an absolute fortune by doing all the labour themselves, not to mention the ingenious Gumtree upcycling.
“Upcycling isn’t only a brilliant money-saving trick, but also means they have totally unique furniture that no one else in the world will have!”
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