LOCKDOWN gave people plenty of time to throw themselves into a project or two, and for one woman, being stuck at home gave her the time to create her dream dressing room and on a budget.
Fed up with her drab spare room, Kim Heslip, 42, decided to transform it completely using old furniture and bargain finds from stores like Aldi, Home Bargains and B&M.
The dog walker and blogger, from Leeds, explained that she wanted to put together a glam dressing room that "felt like a changing room in a glamorous clothing boutique".
The idea came to her "on a whim" when lockdown was announced, but Kim was aware that she didn't have much of a budget to bring her ideas to life.
"I largely reused and upcycled items we already had," she revealed to LatestDeals.co.uk.
"The dressing room already had fitted wardrobes and a dressing table which were good quality, just a little drab for my liking.
"I could see the potential to give them a revamp and bring some fun and style into the room so the design was really based around working with what we had and injecting my personality into the space."
Putting her plans into motion, Kim decided on creating extra storage over "awkward, wasted space"and a seating area for her and her friends to sit and chat while pulling outfits together.
"I wanted somewhere to plan outfits, so I added the hooks on the wall to hang things up and see what works together," she said.
Before, her spare room looked dull and uninspiring with faded blue walls, dated wooden furniture and faded cream carpets.
Giving the room a new lease of life, Kim jazzed it up with a coat of white paint, printed wallpaper and a fun gallery wall.
She upcycled her old furniture to create a cool dressing table with patterned drawers and marble effect vinyl top she snapped up from Amazon for a purse-friendly £12.
Conscious to reduce her costs where she could, Kim explained: "All of my paint came from my local decorating store. I got Johnstone's Matt Emulsion for the walls and Bradite One Can for the wardrobes.
"Both shades were colour-matched to the shade Middleton Pink by Farrow and Ball, and the total cost was £80.
"The wallpaper on the wall is called Bond Girls in black and white, and I got it from Wallpaper King for £45. The wallpaper used to upcycle the dressing table drawers is called Trio in pink and came from Made.com for £20 in the sale."
She hunted down a second hand worktop for £20 off eBay, picked up a wire 'hello' sign for £5 and wall shelves as cheap as £2.99 each from Home Bargains.
"There is no natural light in the room so the plants are all faux and came from Home Bargains and B&M stores for £20 in total," she revealed.
"The dressing table chair was originally from Ikea – we’ve owned it for about 15 years – and the black and white plant basket was an Aldi special buy for £14."
She reused a long-length mirror from John Lewis she had previous owned for 10 years and added some sass to her dressing room with zebra print decor, including a floor rug (£79 in sale) and custom-made wall hooks.
Breakdown of renovation costs
Kim’s total room transformation came to £414. Here’s what she spent her money on:
- Paint – £8, Local Store
- Marble vinyl top – £12, Amazon
- Worktop – £20, eBay
- Wallpaper – £45, Wallpaper King
- Dressing table 1allpaper – £20, Made.com
- Hello sign – £5, Rosewire Designs
- Wall shelves – £2.99 each, Home Bargains
- Faux plants – £20 in total, Home Bargains and B&M
- Black and white plant basket – £14, Aldi
- Wall prints – between £5 and £25 each
- Zeba rug – £79 in sale, iRugs
- Zebra wall hooks – £60, Morton Shaw Interiors
"The zebra wall hooks were £60 and made for me by my friend Zoe from Morton Shaw Interiors. They used to be in my hallway and are made from an upcycled floorboard."
All in all, her dressing room project cost her a total of £414.
A DIY job, Kim took on most of the work herself, painting the walls and wallpapering her furniture.
She upcycled an old cream bench given to her a friend by painting it yellow and created her dream dressing room chair by adding a new lease of life to an old Ikea dining room chair with cow print upholstery fabric.
Kim said of the transformation: "I am fairly confident when it comes to DIY and there was nothing too taxing involved in this project.
"My rule of thumb with home renovations is if I can do it, then I do it. That way I save money to spend on the jobs I cannot do such as electrics, plastering and building work."
Meanwhile, this single mum-of-two transforms drab flat into dream family home including a whole new ROOM for her son for just £12.50.
Plus, one couple who purchased run-down 1930s house turn it into dream home with eBay bargains.
And one woman who was quoted £1k to replace her "outdated" floor did it herself by painting tiles which were "ready for the bin" for £100.
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