DIYer Saves Over £300 With Budget-Savvy Downstairs Bathroom Makeover

• Gilda-Maria, 50, wanted to update her ‘cold and bare’ downstairs bathroom
• Picked up supplies from H&M, Marketplace and friends to save money
• Made the space ‘warm and inviting’ with ‘a touch of industrial’
• Saved over £300 compared with purchasing items at full price

When we think about upgrading a space in our homes, it’s easy to think of bedrooms, living rooms and gardens.

This means that bathrooms are often left feeling outdated, with colour schemes we don’t like or tiles we hate.

One savvy DIYer decided to leverage her budget and completely transform her downstairs bathroom, creating a warm and inviting space with earthy tones.

Gilda-Maria Sidonio, 50 from Kent who works as a traffic officer, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: ‘I had wanted to give my downstairs bathroom a makeover for a while.

‘The room wasn’t very imaginative before, with grey vinyl flooring, grey and white walls and white tiles. It just felt cold and bare.

‘It looked the same as countless bathrooms across the UK and I wanted it to stand out, so finally I decided to take the time to give it a completely new look.

‘When I was thinking about ideas for the space there weren’t any particular patterns or themes that I followed. I wanted to have a mixture of textures and a feeling of warmth and cocooning in this small space so that it was inviting and cosy.

‘My love for natural materials, texture and recycling inspired the supplies I ended up getting and the overall feel of the room now is warm and inviting with a touch of industrial.

‘I shopped all over for the supplies. I got Crown Suede textured emulsion paint in the shade Taupe from Homebase in a clearance sale for just £8. Usually a tin of 2.5 litres would have cost £28 so I saved £20.

‘The wooden wall tiles came from Facebook Marketplace for just £45 and they would have cost £350 at full price. However, the seller had leftover supplies so I got a good deal.

‘The mirror back wall came from eBay for £15, and the mirror cabinet above the sink cost £40 from an independent trader in Tonbridge. I wanted to upgrade the sink as well so I bought one from a friend for £35 which was unwanted.

‘I got the floor tiles for £40 from Facebook Marketplace and I had enough to do both this room and the upstairs bathroom. The light fixture was £40 from Habitat and the shelf was just £10 from H&M.

‘I already had the photos but I picked up the frames from an Eleanor Bowmer sale on eBay. They cost between £2 and £5 each and they were half price.

‘I started off by ripping up the vinyl floor tiles with a floor scraper. Then I replaced the sink - this was easier to do than I thought as there are plenty of YouTube tutorials online.

I then installed the wall tiles using adhesive and grout. I hadn’t tiled before, but I managed to get an electric tile cutter for free from a friend which made the job a lot easier.

‘One obstacle was figuring out how to tackle the pipes. I wanted to create an industrial look, but installing copper pipes would be incredibly expensive.

‘The yellow glossed pipes looked unsightly, so I chose to paint them in a copper effect rather than hide them - I wanted to show them off!

‘Once the bigger jobs were complete I was able to hang up the photo frames, install the mirror cabinet and add finishing touches such as lighting and greenery.

‘This job took a couple of weekends to complete but I’m really happy with the results. I’ve managed to save over £300 by shopping around for good bargains and the transformation is really dramatic!’

Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘Gilda-Maria has created a warm and welcoming space which makes use of some wonderfully unique texture combinations and colour schemes.

‘What’s more, she has made some impressive savings by looking out for sales - those wall tiles are an amazing bargain!’