Making Home Repairs and Saving Money: Real Example from London

Alex Stadman 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 a horror movie that Alex and her husband nicknamed the "gloomy dungeon".

There was no money for a capital repair, so the couple worked on each room one by one. They started with the bathroom: they found tiles with a trendy pattern and painted some of the walls. "I found many ideas on Pinterest," Alex recalls. "For example, using a gold trim made of brass for tile borders – I wouldn’t have thought of that myself."

To save on hallway finishing, they painted it in a clean white color using the cheapest paint available. Then they spent money on one bottle of Farrow & Ball nearly 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. But the "gloomy dungeon" was transformed into a home office with stylish blue walls. The floor was covered with oak parquet, and the table was made from natural wood on order. It turned out cheaper to make the countertop 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 says. "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."

When 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 on posters and paintings: Alex framed simple illustrations – from trendy posters to a map of Los Angeles bought for just one dollar.