Make Home Renovation and Save Money: Real Example in London

Alex Stedman is a popular fashion and lifestyle blogger who, together with her husband, bought this London house in 2016. The new owners did not hesitate to move into the property in winter, without hot water and functioning heating. It took about two years to get everything in order and make the space cozy and stylish.

The house was in catastrophic condition: damp, with mold on the walls and old hanging wires. The bathroom was especially sad, with peeling tiles and a kitchen like from horror movies, which Alex and her husband nicknamed the "gloomy dungeon."

There was no money for a capital renovation, so the couple worked on each room one by one. They started with the bathroom: they picked tiles with a fashionable pattern and painted part of the walls. "Many ideas I found on Pinterest," Alex recalls. "For example, using a golden trim made of brass for tile edging, I would never have thought of it myself."

To save money on the hallway finishing, they painted it in pure white color using the cheapest paint available. Then they spent some money on one bottle of Farrow & Ball almost black paint. It was enough to paint the door and frame, moldings, and part of the walls. This made the interior look more complex and expensive.

In almost all rooms, the walls were painted white. However, the "gloomy dungeon" was transformed into a home office with stylish blue walls. The floor was covered with oak parquet, and the table was custom-made from natural wood. It turned out cheaper to make the tabletop separately and buy the legs than to find a ready-made model.

Another issue to solve was the presence of a boiler in the office. "We decided to hide it in a cabinet, and the first craftsman quoted around five thousand pounds for it," the blogger explains. "But in the end, our builder made it from MDF, painted it with Farrow & Ball paint, and I picked out nice handles. We spent five times less in total."

In choosing furniture, the owners based their decisions on the range of popular stores: H&M Home, Habitat, and IKEA. To decorate the walls, they decided to use posters and paintings: Alex framed the simplest illustrations – from trendy posters to a map of Los Angeles bought for just one dollar.