You'd never know this luxe-looking living room was transformed on a budget with Facebook Marketplace finds and clever design ideas

Blue living room with beige L shaped sofa, bespoke shelving, rug.

The perfect living room isn't built overnight, especially not when you're working with a budget. Even the smartest DIYer needs a few years to transform a room into somewhere special that is both stylish and comfortable. That was the case for Laura Deller, a DIY and interiors content creator, who over the course of a few years turned her problematic living room into a luxe-looking space using upcycled furniture ideas and clever design tricks.

When Laura, author of Nailed It - The Essential Guide to DIY, first moved in, she knew the living room was going to be a tricky project. It had very low windows she couldn't position any furniture in front of, which meant one whole wall of the room wasn't usable.