A bit of budget DIY #5frugalthings

I know I have been a little quiet this week. In fact, I decided to give myself the week off work and focus on getting the spare room redecorated. I want to get it advertised and let as soon as possible, but don’t want to spend much money. So this week has been all about a bit of budget DIY.

I am slow at DIY though, partly due to only having 4 hours or so in the mornings when Archie the pup will nap and let me get on with it before deciding to ‘help’. Once he is awake, there is no hope – he eats the dust sheets and tries to run off with the paintbrushes, or chews the carpet when he knows you aren’t looking!

Using what we have

Like many people, we have a shed full of half used pots of paint, rollers, brushes, sand paper, etc. It’s crazy to leave it there for years to dry up, so I dug out everything I could find that would be useful. 

It helps that we have generally gone for a neutral colour scheme in most rooms. This meant we had some cream emulsion for the walls, some white for the ceiling, and a small pot of gloss for the paintwork. I am hoping that will stretch, but might need to get another. This won’t matter as I am going to do the wood in the hallway next and will  need a ton of gloss.

So far however, I have spent nothing on paint or brushes so my budget DIY efforts are off to a good start.

One wall is papered, and this was so grubby around the light switch I though we would have to re-paper. However, I used a magic sponge on it and it came off perfectly. I am super happy about this, as I hate wallpapering! Love a magic sponge.

A ‘new’ bed

I had intended to buy a new mattress at least for the bed that is already in the room, then toyed with the idea of buying a new small double bed. In the end the decision was made when I visited my friend Sara in her new house. She had a barely used single bed and mattress from their spare room that she was trying to get rid of on Freecycle, so was delighted when I said I would have it.

So again, no money spent!

Rearranging the furniture

Our last lodger had so many belongings that she needed as much storage as possible, so as well as the huge wardrobe, we gave her a large chest of drawers and a small table. 

On the basis that most people don’t own quite so many items of clothing, I plan to move the chest of drawers out and replace it with a smaller, tall one in my daughter’s room. This is now officially the spare room, since she has decided to remain in Brighton now that she has finished university so will only be back for visits.

The table will stay as it is quite useful, but I will paint the legs and sand down the top.

Hopefully the room will look bigger and less cluttered with a new arrangement of furniture, as well as less of it.

Boot sale bargains

There was a very old  basic cream lampshade in the room, which had seen better days. I was going to buy a new one, but spotted this wicker one for £1 at a boot sale. Perfect!

I also spotted a pair of brand new pillows at £5 a pair, which was an amazing price, so I snapped those up too. £6 spent so far!

Boot sales are great for budget DIY projects. You can find tools, furniture, furnishings and even the odd roll of wallpaper.

Still to buy

I will get some nice new bedding for the room and plan to look in B&M and Asda for this. Even though it is a single bed, I have a decent double duvet so will buy a set for that. 

I will look out for a couple of nice cushions and a bedside lamp as well. We do have some curtains for the room already, so I have given them a wash and iron and will probably reuse them. However, they are short and I would prefer some more luxurious looking long ones. 

But good quality curtains are an items that I often see second hand, so I will keep an eye out for some and might replace them if I spot something suitable.

I will also probably be in need of some new carpeting soon, so I’ll be on the lookout for some good quality carpets for sale to lay around the house.

So, for my budget DIY efforts I have so far spent six whole pounds! I will have to spend a little more, but I am confident of my total being less than £50. I will let you know if I come in under that!

In other news….

Archie has had his first trip to the groomers for a wash and blow dry, nail clipping and to be trimmed around the paws, face and bits.

He is a major wimp, so made a big fuss about it, but came out all fluffy and smelling fresh as a daisy. Let’s see how long that lasts before he rolls in another pile of fox poo…

He also has his first trip to puppy training tomorrow. He is pretty good when we are out and certainly his recall has improved, but we still have a fair way to go. 

We actually came across one of my readers when we were on our walk the other day – fame at last! So hello to Jo and her little dog Penny if you are reading this.

I hope you had a good week. Will get back to more frequent posts once the DIY is complete.

I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.

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