I turned my grim flat into stylish home for FREE by scouring the tip, skips, bonfires and beaches for unwanted treasures
A MUM revealed how she transformed her “depressing” flat for practically nothing after scouring skips, tips, bonfire heaps, shorelines and even the compost for hidden treasures.
Anna Kilpatrick, 47, bought her two-bed flat in East Sussex in 2017 and said it was ‘a serious challenge'
"It was in a grim state," she admitted.
“Although the two bedroom flat cost £250,000, it had no central heating, no gas to the building and one storage heater.
“But I knew it had potential.”
Former teacher Anna had virtually no cash, having spent all her budget buying the property.
The mum to a son, 15, and daughter, 12, explained the flat needed some essential work doing, which she had to pay for, but she spent virtually nothing improving the rest of the property.
It involved weekly trips to the dump - and she scoured local skips too.
Meanwhile, she dug about charity shops for old crockery, china and glassware - which she then lovingly restored to make a interior designer’s dream home.
Her mates love her pad, and she has loads of fans on her page where she shares ideas for creating sustainable style on a shoestring.
“It looks totally different now,” she said. “But it wasn’t easy. There were a lot of trips to the tip."
“It takes a lot of confidence and faith that the 'junk' that you spot will be fantastic in a different place.
“But I was fed up trying to find £1,300 a month for rent and I had to try to make the little flat that I could afford, into a lovely place for us to live.
One thing that she totally changed is her bathroom, which had an old white bath, basin and toilet, but is now all replaced with a pink retro set - costing just £20 on eBay.
Her tiles were free too.
“I tore the tired old bath out and replaced it with this pink suite I bought really cheaply on eBay,” she explained.
“I guess it was so cheap because no one wants a pink bathroom, they're so hated. But I love it, and so many of my friends love it too now."
A wooden cabinet in her living room is an old wooden locker unit from a school, still containing penned graffiti of all the former kids' names who 'owned' it.
This - along with a school bench - was destined to be chucked on a bonfire, but she rescued them just before they were set alight.
“I love them,” she said. “They are so useful.”
She got a stylish riveted metal corner section of a ship, washed up on the beach, which she keeps on display in the lounge. It was lying abandoned on the pebbles and weighed a tonne. She asked boyfriend Gus, a builder, 43, carry it back up a cliff and bring it home.
Meanwhile, the fancy porcelain tiles in her kitchen were taken with permission from a skip.
“They were left over from a job nearby. The people had bought too many and said I could have them,” she said.
“I got all my bathroom taps and shower fittings for pennies too. They were from the tip.
Instead of having posh taps installed in my kitchen I got brass garden taps installed and they cost under £10.
“They look brilliant.”
Meanwhile, a mid-century designer Swedish chair which retails at over £1,000 on retro antiques sites, was picked up for £20, “There was a section at the local tip where you can buy household things cheaply that people don’t want anymore and you save them from landfill” she explained. “I cleaned the chair up and it looks brilliant."
“When I googled it, I was amazed how cheap it was. I got a cherry wood king-sized double bed frame that hadn’t sold at an antiques fair like this too.” I have a 1950's sweet shop light with the 'Cadbury's' logo on, that was found in a skip about 20 years ago in Brighton.
Anna also looks for seconds and got a high-specification fridge for £130 rather than £500 because it has a scratch down the side.
“I really recommend people look at web pages where they offer reduced prices on externally damaged things like this,” she said. "You can't even see the scratches the way that it's positioned in my flat".
I got all my bathroom taps and shower fittings for pennies too. They were from the tip.
Anna Kilpatrick
Meanwhile a vintage enamel sign in her kitchen was “liberated” from a compost heap where it was buried under grass.
This is also where she found her Butler’s sink - which is a fancy white sink - the kind that normally sells for around £200.
“In my old garden I was digging and hit something hard. It turned out to be a Victorian sink so I dug it out and cleaned it up, then plumbed it in when I moved to the flat,” she said.
But she isn’t only into refurbing her home for free.
She also takes holidays with the added intention of looking for cheap charity shop clothes, buying nothing new.
“Last year we travelled to Scotland and camped in Gus’ van,” she explained.
“We stopped on the way back in posh towns just to check out their charity shops. Anywhere with a cathedral is a goldmine. I got lovely stuff, really cheaply”
Her best buy is a Diane von Furstenberg jumpsuit for £5. “There’s loads of beautiful bargains out there," she said. It’s all about sustainability, using what's already been made and getting great bargains for next to nothing.”
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