Money-saving Mum Saves Hundreds on Stair Panelling, Doing It Herself For £126
- Amy Evans, 31, fell in love with a panelled wall she saw on Pinterest
- Rather than splash out £500 for a builder to recreate it, she did it herself
- Amy watched YouTube tutorials and bought supplies from B&Q and B&M
If you’ve ever seen a stunning interior style you’d like to recreate in your own home, but written it off as it seems seriously pricey, you’ll want to take a leaf out of this money-saving mum’s DIY book.
Amy Evans, 31, a student nurse and mum of two from Doncaster, was determined to recreate the gorgeous panelling she had seen on Pinterest, but didn’t want to spend a fortune.
Instead, she decided to give it a go herself, watching a YouTube tutorial and stocking up on tools from B&Q.
Amy told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: "I saw something similar on Pinterest and wanted to give it a go. I feel like I can put my mind to anything so I looked on YouTube and found a tutorial about how to cut the angles right with a mitre block.
"I bought the mitre block from B&Q for about £8 along with the wood which cost around £48 for each flight of stairs.
“I also went to B&M and bought No More Nails glue which was around £5, paint for £16 and caulk for about £2.
"I planned out on paper first how many panels I would need to do and then worked out the length of the panels.
"I then drew on the wall in pencil the shape of the panel I wanted. After this I then worked out my angles with paper.
"I then cut the paper after I had worked out my angles and used this to mark my wood so I knew where to cut and at what angle.
"Then I applied the No More Nails glue and applied the wood to the wall, repeating this for every panel.
"Once all the panels were on the wall, I used caulk to make sure there were no gaps between the wood and the walls.
"I let it dry, then applied primer to the wood and then painted it in Dulux Goose Down. After this, I applied the dado rail to finish off and again primed the wood and painted it.
"It’s just a case of getting your head around working out the angles to cut but once you’ve got it it’s pretty easy to follow.
"I am a mum of two young boys so my partner helped me to do the panelling. We had to do it on an evening when the kids were asleep, so it took about three nights each for both the flights of stairs.
"As we bought a new build it was a blank canvas and all the walls were white so it was nice to see the change thanks to the panelling. It’s so cheap but very effective."
Amy is delighted with how her panelling project has turned out - and the cherry on top is that she saved hundreds of pounds doing it herself rather than hiring a tradesman.
"I am a student nurse so I do like to budget and do things myself and I also like the satisfaction at the end of knowing that I have done this myself,” she adds.
“The total cost for both flights of stairs was £126 including wood, tools and paint.
“My partner and I are also due to get married next year so anything to keep the costs down is a bonus.
“I love that we have done it ourselves instead of getting a builder in. It means the money can go to other uses such as the wedding.
“I feel proud that we’ve done it ourselves instead of having builders in and have the satisfaction that we did it ourselves.
“A builder would probably have charged at least £500, so I feel good that we didn’t have to spend that much and the money can be put to other uses.
"When I posted this on Facebook, I had a lot of people asking me how I did it as they had been quoted hundreds of pounds from tradesmen, but it costs very little to do yourself!”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “If you, like me, spend all your free time browsing Pinterest and Instagram and feeling some mega interiors envy, you’ve probably thought that many styles are expensive and cost a fortune.
“Amy has proven that using free YouTube tutorials, affordable tools and materials from B&Q and some hard work, you can make your house look just as Pinterest-worthy without spending a fortune.
“I love how smart this looks, and can’t believe it cost just £126 to pull off!”
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I love what Amy has achieved doing up her staircase herself. Seeing the finished result i'm thinking of doing something similar as my staircase needs doing up. 
This looks absolutely fantastic I have the same stairs and I am going to attempt it thank you very very much for showing us thanks a lotThis looks absolutely fantastic I have the same stairs and I am going to attempt it thank you very very much for showing us thanks a lot