DIYer Saves £600 On Bathroom Makeover Using 79p Stacey Solomon Hack
- Paula, 48, transformed her bathroom for just £360, saving £600
- She was inspired by a Stacey Solomon Instagram hack to create her mirror
- Her bargains include 79p photo frames and £7.99 floor tiles
Decorating a room for the first time can be a nerve-wracking experience, but one DIYer has managed to turn her ‘extremely tired’ bathroom into a sophisticated, fresh-looking new space.
Paula Atkins, a 48 year old mum of two from Liverpool, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: ‘The bathroom was looking old and tired, and I wanted to give it an update. However, as the room is tiled from floor to ceiling I knew that replacing the tiles would be costly.
‘I knew we would not be able to afford getting the bathroom done professionally. When I looked at bathroom remodelling, the prices online were in the £1000s. I wanted to have the challenge to do it ourselves so we could feel the sense of achievement when it was done.
‘When I was looking at designs for inspiration, I liked the bathrooms with wall panels on Pinterest. I wanted it to be light as it is only a small room. I had heard of wall panels before so I checked them out on YouTube and thought I could have a go at that.
‘I also wanted to create a black square mirror using a DIY hack I saw on Stacey Solomon’s Instagram page. I was able to recreate what she did using picture frames and mirrors from Ikea. The mirrors were 99p each and the frames were 79p each, which I thought was great value for money. I got 16 frames and 16 mirrors for £28.48.
‘I got the panels and other tools such as trims and glue from DBS Bathrooms, and the floor and bath tiles are PVC stick on ones from Amazon. They were £7.99 per tile. The final price for everything was £360 and I actually overestimated how much I would need. I had enough left over to give my small toilet room a makeover too!
‘Once I had everything, it was time to begin. I got started by cleaning the walls and ensuring they were all dry. I measured the length required for the panels and then applied the corner trim. Next up, I cut the panels to the required length with a thin hand saw.
‘We applied the adhesive to the back before applying the panel. As each one had a groove for the next one to be slotted in, we were able to simply repeat the process. When I was making the mirror, I made sure all of the frames were straight by using a spirit level. The mirrors also came with sticky tabs to fix to the wall. I then measured the tiles to fit the floor, cut them to size and applied them.
‘The hardest part of the project was applying the panels in tricky places such as behind the radiator and around the window. We also both work full time hours and have two children who were homeschooling due to the pandemic. This means we could only fit the work in at weekends.
‘If I was going to do this project again I would have bought better tools and measured the area correctly as I ended up buying way too many panels for the job!’
Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘Considering this is Paula’s first time at DIY she has done a stunning job. The bathroom has been completely transformed.
‘Solutions such as stick-on PVC tiles can make a space look brand new with minimal effort and cost. What’s more, by spending just £360 on the project, Paula has saved at least £600 compared with professional jobs that could easily come with a bill of £1000 or more.’
Stacey Solomon’s Panel Mirror Hack
In January 2021, TV personality Stacey Solomon shared a DIY hack on her Instagram account which involved her creating a giant mirror out of frames and mirrors from IKEA.
She said: ‘I'm going to try and make a giant mirror. I feel like I really need something in these big white spaces (the living room) and I love those giant panel mirrors but they're so expensive.
‘So I bought these black frames and mirrors from Ikea, all together cost £30 so I really hope I can make it look nice.
She used command strips to hang them up and made use of a spirit level and tape measure to ‘make sure I get them in the right place’.
To get started, she ‘put a line in the middle then put two mirrors either side of the dot and worked from there.’
Once the project was done she said: ‘I can't tell you how happy this is making me. I can't believe it. For £30 I'm soooo happy.’
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Paula, you have done a fantastic job for a first-timer doing a bathroom makeover. Love the floor tiles. 