A woman turned an old caravan into a luxury nail studio - using DIY skills she taught herself from TikTok and YouTube. Nyasha Maponga bought the caravan from Facebook Marketplace for £400, plus an extra £50 to have it towed to her home.
As salon rates are so expensive, Nyasha wanted to find somewhere to work from. She said many of her friends working in the beauty have summerhouses but the cheapest was well out of her budget at £8,000.
In total, Nyasha said the renovation cost her £2,550 - saving her almost £5,500 in comparison to the cost of building an outhouse in the garden. She said the most expensive part turned out to be buying all the tools she needed from B&Q.
Nyasha, 23, from Leeds, who has been a nail technician since November 2021, told the Mirror: "It was a trial and error process. It was a lot of improvisation and learning from TikTok. It cost me £280 to change the fence to a double gate so I could fit the caravan in the back garden. Then I had to level the ground first and rip everything out.
"It cost £445 for panelling, work tools, wood filler, primers, paint and a heater. The panelling was much more expensive than I thought at £97."
Nyasha, who runs Ny's Nail Room, lives with her mum and brother. She bought light grey vinyl flooring for £178 and paid £80 to get it fitted, then spent £119 on a small fridge.
She painted the walls white to make it as bright a space as possible, bought translucent curtains and picked up a sink and tap from Facebook Marketplace for £65. She also paid £80 to get the counters fitted.
She bought most of the interiors from IKEA and Homesense - which cost around £420. She also spent £90 on new cleaning supplies and bits for tea and coffee from B&M and The Range.
To add the finishing touches, Nyasha decorated with a green plants, pampas grass, small vases and miniature woven baskets. Her uncle, who was visiting from South Africa, helped me with parts like the electrics and panelling - then the transformation was complete.
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She said: "It took six weeks in total which felt so long, but in the grand scheme of things was very quick. I was still working full-time. I've had clients in the for the last two weeks and they love it as much as I do. They feel much more comfortable and like the 1-1 vibe.
"It makes me so much happier and I can tow the caravan with me whenever I move. I get to keep my workspace separate from my house but also work from home."
Amid the cost of living crisis, Nyasha has found ways to save herself money on bills, like purchasing as many things as possible that are battery operated.
She said: "My nail drill is chargeable and only needs to be charged once a week. During the day, I don't put the ceiling light on and just use a lamp or overhead light.
"It attracts a lot of light space so I don't end up turning the main lights on until 5pm. At the moment I've got a portable eco-friendly heater that only needs to be on for 15 minutes to heat the space."
Sharing her advice for any other avid DIYers, Nyasha added: "Things that look doable are probably doable - just YouTube or TikTok it and have confidence in yourself."
