Inexpensive DIY tips please

Carly84

Hi guys,

I own a 3 up, 3 down terraced house & I am currently in the middle of a complete rewire - awfully messy but thank goodness we're having it done as the electrician pulled out some black, charred cables & even some that had gone right through to the bare wires!! :eek:

We will also be having a complete new roof in a few weeks & some insulated plasterboard putting up in the length of our bathroom to help with the bad condensation damp we get in there (the external wall is only one brick thick & when it's cold, it literally drips with moisture, yuk!).

Anyway, my hubby is currently serving in Afghan until end of year so I have the delightful task of re-decorating the whole house myself.

We took out a loan for the major work & will have a small amount leftover for the decorating but it won't stretch very far so I am looking for tips on how to get it all done as cost effectively as possible please.

Five rooms & our landing/stairs will need new wallpaper/painting, depending on how good the walls are underneath the existing wallpaper.
Some floorboards need replacing upstairs & then I'll need new carpet/laminate in 2 bedrooms, which aren't small really.
New flooring in the kitchen - although we currently have lino down but underneath are quarry tiles but these are filthy & need cleaning & grouting again & I haven't got a clue how much that would cost.
Some tiles need replacing on the kitchen walls where the electrician had to take them off to get to the sockets.
Every room will need glossing again & ceilings painted.

I am trying to make the most of the disruption by getting the house as space saving as I can, so this includes taking out the drawers in the kitchen & placing the fridge there. So I will have to buy one of those wall mounted plate/cutlery racks. Then buy one of those little tables that fold right up & store the chairs underneath.
And my daughter needs a new bed as the little monkey thought it was a trampoline & broke it.

I think thats it for now.....so there's more than likely something I've missed!! lol.

We have about £1000 & I am currently sorting through EVERYTHING we have, selling as much as possible to raise the extra money. I have made about £110 so far but its going quite slow without dropping everything down to pennies.

I am not very DIY minded but I'll give it my best shot & my parents will help with the painting & decorating - my mum is a whizz at wallpapering.


I am happy to buy second hand & keep my eye on Freecycle etc but so far, I haven't seen much in the region of what I'm looking for.

So really I'm looking for as many tips as possible to get all that done on a small budget please & thank you

MX5huggy

Just on the bed, I imagin it's just a slat or two that have broken. Detach the broken one and take it to a timber merchant or joiner and get a new one for less than the price of a take away. If you get it made in a hard wood, beach or oak, she won't be able to brake it again. If its a fancy sprung slat try http://www.bedslats.co.uk/
But never used them.

DVardysShadow

Carly84 wrote: »

So really I'm looking for as many tips as possible to get all that done on a small budget please & thank you

I think in your situation, the best tip is not to spread the money too thinly. Do out 1 room nicely and leave the rest until you have the money for another. Otherwise you will be around it like the forth bridge, never having the money to do anything properly - and what you do do won't last.

nickj_2

DVardysShadow wrote: »

I think in your situation, the best tip is not to spread the money too thinly. Do out 1 room nicely and leave the rest until you have the money for another. Otherwise you will be around it like the forth bridge, never having the money to do anything properly - and what you do do won't last.

it is better to buy quality paint as and when you can afford it
if you paint everything white to start with then you can just do the walls in colours as and when you have the money

fluffpot

What about keeping the floorboards in the bedrooms - sanding and varnishing and getting rugs? All this is DIY and you might be able to pick up some rugs on Freecycle - carpeting can come later when you have more £

dawyldthing

i've just got my paint on the buy one get one free offer at b and q over the weekend. Keep an eye out for the deals over the bank holiday weekends too. Try ebay too. I've just got a relatively new bed off there for 90 quid and 33 for delivery off shiply, so its worth keeping an eye on even if its miles away as often you can get it delivered relatively cheaply

Owain_Moneysaver

If the quarry tiles are in good condition (not chipped or cracked) but just manky then you can probably strip and reseal them yourself. Quarry tile cleaner products Tiledoctor