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Refurbishing your home for under £5,000

Posted 9 September 2015 by Keith Osborne

Kate Faulkner shares her tips for cost-effective renovation

Property expert Kate Faulkner shares her top tips on how to refurbish your property in a cost-effective manner. You can find more of Kate’s advice at www.propertychecklists.co.uk 

It’s easy to think that it costs a fortune to renovate a property these days, but there are lots of things you can do which don’t cost much – and, if you take your time, can look fabulous.

One of the main ways of giving your property an instant uplift is just cleaning up the paintwork, if it’s not in too bad a condition. All you need is a cracking product called ‘sugar soap’. Test out using it on walls and woodwork people can’t see and then see how much of a difference it can make. Sugar soap costs a few pounds and it’s saved me re-painting a property many a time.

Give it a lick of paint 

However, if the paint is chipped, peeling or if it was just give one coat of poor quality paint, a quick and cost-effective way to achieve a makeover is to paint the property thoroughly. Don’t just do the inside, remember people and anyone valuing or thinking of buying your home, if you doing it up to sell, will want the outside to look good too.

A pretty rough old front door (especially if wooden) stripped well can look like brand new, especially if do a thorough job so you use a primer, an undercoat and couple of coats of quality paint like Dulux or Johnstones. It might seem ‘overkill’ to do several coats, but it doesn’t cost much more and it can mean the great look genuinely lasts for some time.

Next if you need a new kitchen a quick and easy way to spruce it up is to change the worktops and doors – as long as the cabinets themselves are in good condition. Add in a new floor (I prefer vinyl to anything like laminate) paint the tiles and walls and you could have a brand new looking kitchen within a day or so at a fraction of the cost of the fancy ones in the showrooms.

Bathroom makeovers can be also be achieved cheaply as long as you don’t move things around. If you have an old property and the bath can cope, just re-enamelling or re-surfacing can make your bath and sink look pretty new. You can either do this yourself, or if you want a perfect job it isn’t expensive to get a professional in.

Electric showers are pretty cheap to buy and fit these days and fairly powerful. Do make sure, though, you use a quality electrician who is Part P qualified, such as members of NAPIT. If you can’t afford a brand new shower, chat to your local plumber or gas engineer to see if they have one that’s spare because they bought it incorrectly, or it was still in good working order when someone else decided to upgrade theirs.

Finally, accessories and finishes can make an instant difference. You can buy ready-made curtains, rugs for the floor as well throws for sofas and chairs pretty cheaply these days. And carefully placing second-hand pictures or mirrors around the home can make everything look a lot bigger and brighter.

 

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