Great Spruce Up Your Home Hunt

Cariad_3

We've just finished our kitchen on a budget for the 3rd time around in 10 years.
We sanded the kitchen doors and drawers and using a small gloss roller painted quick drying eggshell gloss paint over them twice. It leaves a lovely smooth finish and to finish off we changed the door handles to stainless steel.
Initially, the cupboard doors were plain but on the second decor my husband glued wooden beading in a large square shape to excellent effect and we've kept it this way.On the first coat I painted the beading with a small childs' painting brush to give good coverage.
I also painted the tiles around the kitchen with the same paint using the small roller but painting around the tops of the tiles with a little paint brush. Give them a thorough clean first, to remove any grease.
We removed the wooden beaden which we had placed on top of the tiles last decor as although it looked good it was very hard to keep clean.
We bought a stainless steel multi light from B & Q to give good lighting, steam cleaned our blind, emulsioned the walls, glossed over the wood and our kitchen now looks clean and fresh all for under £50 with still plenty of paint left. In the past we have changed the worktops and the sink and tiled the floor but we always wait for the bargains.

123xyz

littlebigfeat wrote:

If you don't have a brother who's a gas fitter but are feeling creative, how about nipping down to your local diy shop, buying a bit of wood and creating a screen to cover up the hole. A bit of trellis with some nice fabric behind it, a picture, some dried or real flowers...... this list is endless.

Incidentally I have a few questions:

1) I have a living room with dado rail. How can I get rid of it without having to replaster bits of the wall?

2) How can I spruce up some very dated kitchen units?

3) What can I do about an old bathroom suite without having to shell out for a new one?

Thanks xx

You could cover the doors of the kitchen units in what used to be called "sticky back plastic", I think it is Fablon and they do some very nice "country style" designs. For a modern look they could be painted; my Dad did this. You need a primer for the doors and then the special paint which is available from the big DIY chain we all know of (why be in a queue). Using a slightly different shade on any pannelling looks nice, or if you are very brave, you could make fake pannelling using masking tape, and going over the area covered with the different shade once you have removed it.

strangel

Can you please help me??? I live in a council house that is always freezing, heating is on all the time and radiators feel hot but they just dont heat the rooms up, council wont replace them as there is nothing wrong with them (apart from all being painted strange colors!!!) and I cant afford to replace them. Im open to any and all ideas.
Thanx

iglimpse

Daughter saw trendy small square cork notice shapes in Ikea (£15) But we had already bust the budjet to decorate her room and I was not inthemood to give in. However, this week in Asda I came across 4 table place mats in the Smartprice range for £2.35. Exaclty the same shape. She has painted them and is thrilled with the result. Also good for kitchens / offices where you don't want a large notice board....

the rest of the house is falling down!!

I would rather have teeth pulled than go through another builder episode

Incidentially we were in Warrington Ikea a few weeks back, the day it was evacuated for suspected fire on a very busy Sunday afternoon. Yes that was us on the top floor coming out of the metal fire escape, i used one hand to wave to all those on the M62 and the other to help 2 wheelchairs and pensioners down the stairs, whilst the staff watched...health and safety regs apparently..

mean.machine_2

Does anyone have any ideas how I can improve the 'climate control' in my conservatory? We have a polycarbonate roof, which means that it is freezing cold in the winter, and boiling hot in the summer. Consequently, it doesn't get much use, which is a shame. I don't want to fork out for expensive roof blinds, and those little roof insert things you see advertised seem awfully fiddly and time consuming to me.

So, come on all you Anne Maurice wannabees - transform a dead space into a wonderful study/computer room!!!

Thanks in advance!

toblerone_2

littlebigfeat wrote:

If you don't have a brother who's a gas fitter but are feeling creative, how about nipping down to your local diy shop, buying a bit of wood and creating a screen to cover up the hole. A bit of trellis with some nice fabric behind it, a picture, some dried or real flowers...... this list is endless.

Incidentally I have a few questions:

1) I have a living room with dado rail. How can I get rid of it without having to replaster bits of the wall?

2) How can I spruce up some very dated kitchen units?

3) What can I do about an old bathroom suite without having to shell out for a new one?

Thanks xx

you can get really cheap kitchen units at mfi warehouse shops there is definately one in wigan not sure where the other is but its end of their lines in kitchen units.we priced a kitchen for us at mfi normal store it was three grand same kitchen size and everything end of lines we can get full replacement including cupboards and doors for £450.ok you have limited choice i think there was only 5 styles to choose from but they are good styles and some are cheaper than others the one we chose was the dearest they had.they also do built in hobs fridge freezers suites beds worktops all at cut down prices. :T

toblerone_2

mean.machine wrote:

Does anyone have any ideas how I can improve the 'climate control' in my conservatory? We have a polycarbonate roof, which means that it is freezing cold in the winter, and boiling hot in the summer. Consequently, it doesn't get much use, which is a shame. I don't want to fork out for expensive roof blinds, and those little roof insert things you see advertised seem awfully fiddly and time consuming to me.

So, come on all you Anne Maurice wannabees - transform a dead space into a wonderful study/computer room!!!

Thanks in advance!

we have conservatory and we keep it lovely and cosy with an oil filled radiator and a dehumidifier in winter you wouldnt beleive the pints after pints of water we get out of there.it was a cheapo dehumidifier from b and q also make sure it has a frost guard in it or it wont work in the freezing temperatures that a conservatory gets to in winter before you switch it on.my kids spend hours in there now on playstation and its as warm as the house.we also have polycarb roof. :beer:

toblerone_2

:rotfl:

strangel wrote:

Can you please help me??? I live in a council house that is always freezing, heating is on all the time and radiators feel hot but they just dont heat the rooms up, council wont replace them as there is nothing wrong with them (apart from all being painted strange colors!!!) and I cant afford to replace them. Im open to any and all ideas.
Thanx[/QUOTEeveryone comments on how warm our house is now and all we did was get a couple of cheap dehumidifiers from b and q you wont beleive how damp your house is we get loads of water out everyday and the house is loads warmer. we have converted all our friends and neighbours should have got shares in b and q before telling them why the house felt better.oil filled radiators are great too as back ground heat also cheap.] :rotfl:

Philippa36

iglimpse wrote:

Daughter saw trendy small square cork notice shapes in Ikea (£15) But we had already bust the budjet to decorate her room and I was not inthemood to give in. However, this week in Asda I came across 4 table place mats in the Smartprice range for £2.35. Exaclty the same shape. She has painted them and is thrilled with the result. Also good for kitchens / offices where you don't want a large notice board....

I have been looking round for a cork board for my daughters room. I will check out Asdas this week. Thanks for the great tip :j

mean.machine_2

Thanks, toblerone. Not sure how the combination of a dehumidifier and radiator works, but I will take your word for it!!

Now, what do I do about COOLING the damn thing??