Mum under lockdown transforms her home using bargain brands
- Nelly McShane, 28, used budget brands like Home Bargains and B&M to transform her house
- Nelly swapped around her daughter’s room and dressing room
- Nelly managed to change both rooms for under £500
If you’ve always thought your spare bedroom could make a great home office, or that your kids would fit much better in a larger shared room, take inspiration from this creative mum, who switched the rooms of her house around to better suit her family - and kept the switch to a tight budget.
Nelly McShane, from Cheshire, moved into her house with her fiancé Chris two years ago, and immediately set about transforming the space on a budget.
Nelly, 28, who work in accounts and has two daughters, aged three months and six, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk:
“When we moved into our house, I was already a big fan of Pinterest and Instagram, and I would spend hours looking for decor inspiration.
"I would take ideas from different pictures and go on the hunt for exact matches, and if I couldn't get them the next best thing would do.
"I never buy expensive stuff either - I’m always shopping at B&M, Home Bargains and IKEA - they are my favourite shops.”
Nelly has undertaken a number of room transformations in her home, and manages to keep them inexpensive by making home furnishings multitask. She swapped her daughter’s room for a dressing room, and moved her daughter into a larger room, transforming the looks of both spaces for under £500.
“When I decorated my daughter's old room into a dressing room, I kept the old grey and white heart paper and the grey walls and bought a dressing table with a mirror and side lights and a clear chair from IKEA for £150 all in which I thought was super cheap.
"I then bought two single Kallax units for £20 off a selling site on Facebook. I already had the boxes to go in them which are £2.50 from IKEA and to decorate the chair I had a grey faux rabbit fur rug to throw over which added some texture.
“The final touch was the big paper starlight from IKEA which was around £15, but it made the room pop and was one of my favourite features of the room.
"Then for my daughter's room, we moved her to the big double room, we got her the unicorn wallpaper from B&M for around £20 a roll but we only need two as we only did a feature wall.
“We also bought a Kallax unit from IKEA, which cost £40 for the four squares.
“We bought her a day bed that pulls out into a double. It is £400 in IKEA but I found it even cheaper on Facebook Marketplace for £200 pounds and knocked them down to £150 - if you don't ask you don't get!
“We also bought baby pink blackout curtains for £20 from The Range. For her clothes cupboard, we just bought a rail and screwed it in, and bought a clothes divider for around £5 and a shoe rack for £7.
"They fit in the cupboard perfectly so we were really made up with that!
“She has a glow in the dark unicorn rug from B&M for £5, and her pictures and unicorn head were also from B&M.”
Nelly, who shares her home transformations on Instagram at @nelldappywomble, says that redecorating needn’t be expensive and can be a soothing pastime, especially while we’re all under lockdown with coronavirus.
"I love transforming a space into something beautiful - I know its not to everyone's taste but we have made it our home and we couldn't be happier,” she adds.
"My daughter Evie was over the moon when she saw her room as we did it as a surprise for her - her face was well worth all the hard work we put in and now she never wants to sleep out and she always wants her friends to stay here!
“If you don't think you are able to do it because of money issues. always start with what you have already, upcycle, change the room around, declutter and it will help with your wellbeing so much.
“Decorating absolutely helps with.both my anxiety and depression during times like this, and it takes my mind off of my worries.
“Even in lockdown, you can still get everything ordered to your door and it doesn't take too long either.
"I wanted to do these rooms because I was tired of looking at my dreary rooms - they made me feel sad and now I am proud of each room I decorate and it just gives me more motivation to do more with my house!”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “It’s scientifically proven that doing something creative makes you feel happier and improves your health.
“If, like Nelly, you’ve always wanted to switch your home around and change the purposes of various rooms, sticking to online ordering from the likes to ebay and IKEA is an affordable way to do so under lockdown!"
What to read next?
Absolutely stunning. Brave with the mirrored furniture with a young family. Sticky fingers, but it all looks amazing. Good job. Giving others with anxiety inspired to keep themselves busy. I will try some revamps myself I'll not be doing mirrored furniture( I got a very messy crazy son of if 2 and half. Disaster wiring to happen in my house) My OCD wouldn't cope.
