I was quoted £3k to transform my boring bathroom into a chic grey space but did it myself and it saved me thousands
RENOVATING a bathroom is a messy, time-consuming and expensive job, one that can end up costing thousands.
However this wasn’t the case for Kelly Burton, 36, a customer service associate from Middlesbrough.
Rather than forking out a small fortune to get professionals to revamp the bathroom for her.
Instead, she used affordable paint and self-adhesive floor tiles to totally transform the look of her bathroom for just £162.
Kelly told money-saving Facebook group DIY On A Budget UK: “I’d been living with the same bathroom tiles for almost nine years and really wanted to change them.
“I’d already done the rest of the house and the bathroom just didn’t ‘fit’ or ‘flow’ with the rest of the house..
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“I’ve been a member of DIY social media groups for a while now and I’ve seen many people’s transformations. I’d already had my kitchen sprayed with Frenchic and looked into possibly doing the bathroom.
“I trawled through Facebook pages looking at everyone’s before and after photos and thought ‘I want to give this a go myself,’” says Kelly.
She spent a while convincing herself to give this a go, saying: “I do struggle with anxiety and almost talked myself out of doing it as I started to focus on the small minority of bad outcomes rather than the hundreds of positive ones.
“But in the end, I just thought everyone’s experiences are different and it was worth a shot.”
So how did she do this?
“I went to my local Frenchic supplier and bought myself two tins of Frenchic Alfresco paint in the colour Swanky Pants and a bottle of Frenchic Tuff Top Coat,” says the supersaver.
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“Each tin was 750ml and cost £19.95 each. It may seem pricey for one tin but the paint does go a long way. The Tuff Top Coat was £15.95.”
Kelly adds that she had been told the key to making this work was to fully focus on prep work.
“So I cleaned all the tiles fully with sugar soap, rinsed and let it dry overnight. The next day I used an electric sander to lightly sand the surface, dusted it off then went in and started painting.
“I painted each tile individually trying my hardest to avoid the grout, as I’d already found out previously the grout pens aren’t very opaque to go over the ‘painted grout’.
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“I did two coats of Frenchic paint using a two-inch paint brush and let it dry overnight between coats.”
She says she ached for two days straight after completing this but “it was worth it.”
After a brief recovery she continued with her DIY work: “I then went over the grout lines twice with a UniBond grout reviver pen. I used two pens, which cost £4.50 each.
“Finally I finished the tiles with two coats of the Tuff Top Coat. I applied it with a sponge making sure to catch any drips and left it to dry.”
Finishing with the prep, Kelly ordered some self-adhesive floor tiles on studio.co.uk, adding they “were a bargain at £7 for 11 tiles.”
She says: “I ordered four boxes just in case I went wrong on some of them. Then I went ahead and started it.
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“The hardest part was going around the sink and toilet. I sat there staring at the sink for a good 45 minutes just looking at how on earth I was going to do it, but I just went in with a Stanley knife hoping for the best and it turned out brilliantly.”
Moving on to furnishing the room, the customer service associate says: “I bought the under the sink cabinet and mirrored cabinet from B&M, and it was £65 for them both.”
She adds: “I think it would have cost at least £3,000 to get a new bathroom suite, getting it all retiled and so on, which is money which I don’t have, so I’m pleased with the amount of money I’ve spent when it looks like a brand new bathroom.
“The cost of material paint and flooring was £97.84 but if you were to add on the under-sink unit and above sink cabinet the cost would be £162.84.”
She adds: “I think it would have cost at least £3,000 to get a new bathroom suite, getting it all retiled and so on, which is money which I don’t have, so I’m pleased with the amount of money I’ve spent when it looks like a brand new bathroom.
“The cost of material paint and flooring was £97.84 but if you were to add on the under-sink unit and above sink cabinet the cost would be £162.84.”
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Kelly is chuffed with how the bathroom has turned out, saying: “I’m absolutely over the moon with how it’s turned out, and I’m proud that I did it all by myself. I feel like I’m in someone else’s house.”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “Even for those of us who do have the DIY skills to retile a whole bathroom, the prospect of it is daunting, expensive, messy and time-consuming.
“Kelly’s way, using paint and stick-on tiles, isn’t just quicker, but loads cheaper too – it’s saved her thousands!”
