I saved £1.5k by painting my own fancy designer flooring – it was a doddle
A WOMAN has revealed how she saved over £1,500 by creating her own fancy designer flooring.
Emma, 30 from Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire completed her dream home through numerous DIY projects, sharing her progress on Instagram.
Emma’s love of the retro style is displayed loud and clear throughout her home, but there are three rooms in particular that stand out, the master bedroom and the two spare rooms.
These rooms feature hand painted floors inspired by Orla Kiely prints.
Emma said, “We chose to paint the flooring as I can never find a carpet that really suits my style. I just found that it was a really interesting twist on the ‘feature wall’.
“We actually had a carpet fitted in the main bedroom when we first decorated 3 years ago, but it just didn’t work for me.”
In order to achieve the look she wanted, Emma was looking at a cost of around £2,183 for flooring with a similar design.
In a bid to save where she could Emma said, “I had the idea of taking the carpet up and painting the floorboards myself, and so that was the direction we decided to go in.
“However, the floorboards weren’t in good enough condition to leave exposed, so we fitted new ones over the existing ones ourselves.”
The process saved Emma and her partner a further £500 on fitting fees.
She continued: “Once we had fitted the new floorboards, we primed and painted them with the background colour.
“I made a scaled plan of the floor and pattern I wanted to create, so I measured it all out and made a stencil.
“I drew most of the pattern with a pencil and then painted layer by layer to build up the colour and finished it off with 3 coats of floor varnish.”
All in all, the floors in all three rooms cost just £636 to totally transform, which is a huge saving of £1,547 if she had purchased patterned flooring instead.
Emma added:“We also made our own wardrobe doors to fit Ikea Pax, to make them completely bespoke.
“We had the MDF cut to size at B&Q and primed, painted and varnished them ourselves. We made Orla Kiely-inspired handles from offcuts of MDF using our electric jigsaw and sander.”
This isn't the only area of the home where Emma’s DIY skills have saved her money.
Speaking of their recent side return extension Emma revealed: “We did everything other than the main construction ourselves - from digging and pouring foundations and laying the concrete base. This saved us thousands!”
“We also designed and fitted our own kitchen, buying units from Howdens, then making all of the drawer fronts and cupboard doors ourselves from birch ply, painting, varnishing and adding luxe handles. We even made our own micro-cement worktops!
If we see something we like, we try to work out how we can make it or do it ourselves
Emma
“I also do any tiling and wallpapering myself too, which I love to do!”
Upcycling and restoring old and thrifted items is something else Emma is a fan of in order to maintain a more retro feel in her home.
Speaking of her biggest bargain, Emma said: “Our biggest bargain has been the vanity unit in our bathroom. We love 60s retro furniture and knew we wanted a piece to ‘upcycle’ and remodel into a sink unit.
“We picked one up on eBay from a charity shop for just £30! We used oil based eggshell to ensure protection from water, which cost about £30, and along with taps and sinks the whole unit cost about £220! Our final product was just like one we had seen on sale for over £1000!! It’s as good as new two years later.”
Sharing her best decorating and DIY advice, Emma urges: “DIY as much as you can! If we see something we like, we try to work out how we can make it or do it ourselves - it can be your own twist on something you’ve seen, which makes it unique, and often a fraction of the price of buying manufactured!
“We do have limits, but there’s so much you can do with a few basic tools, an electric jigsaw and drill.”
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And, when working to a budget, Emma recommends you “make sure to work out what materials and tools you’re going to need to do the job before you start.
"That way you know roughly how much it’s going to cost, and if/where you can save and splurge.”