A couple who couldn’t stand to live with the outdated decor in their new home, but didn’t have the budget to renovate, have carried out an incredible budget modernisation.
Neil Painter, 36, and wife Katie, 32, from Marston Green, Birmingham, moved into the family home last year with their four children aged between two and eight.
Having spent the majority of their budget buying the spacious home, the family set about making it their own and updating the decor with budget renovations on almost every room.
Undertaking all the work himself – along with the creative input of wife Katie – Neil managed a full bathroom revamp, complete with a tiled-look floor and vanity mirror, on a total budget of just £307.40.
The Painter family, who live up to their name, have also completed renovations on their living room, dining room, and all four of the children’s bedrooms, updating them by painting radiators and adding quirky touches such as wallpapet on the ceiling.
Here the chic and modern bathroom looks as if it has just been newly installed in their Marston Green, Birmingham, home
Before the bathroom looked dated, with avocado green carpets and old light fixtures
Before hand the light colours made the large room feel cold and unused despite being the centre of the home
The couple transformed the living room with new flooring, a coat of chic dark grey paint and new shelving
Neil said: ‘We really fell in love with this house for the space it offers, however we secured our home at our upper limit, leaving no room for hefty makeovers throwing money at the house.
‘We have made it our “thing” to really try to work with what we have and think about what our aim for each room is, and how we can make it our perfect home for less.’
Neil Painter, 36, and wife Katie, 32, from Marston Green, Birmingham, moved into the spacious family home last year with their four children aged between two and eight
He added that although they plan to do fuller renovations in the future, but the low-cost revamp was a much needed refresher.
Neil said: ‘We plan to have a big bathroom overhaul in a couple of years, but couldn’t live any longer with the previous owner’s decor and a carpet in the bathroom.
‘This really didn’t cost much at all or take long to complete, all work completed by myself and the wife’s creativity.
‘We really focused on working with what we already had. There’s a few more decorative finishing touches to go, but pretty much there.’
The family has been sharing their home makeover room by room on their Instagram ThePainterHome after taking inspiration for the DIY revamps on social media.
Explaining the money-saving hacks that resulted in such a cheap revamp Neil said that the family avoided spending £200 on a new shower screen by creating the window-effect screen themselves.
Before the room served as a standard bedroom with a mishmash of decor creating a chaotic space
A magical multi-coloured transformation has taken place in another of the children’s bedrooms, with a feature rainbow painted over the ceiling
Using £4.50 PVC strips, strong adhesive and Rustoleum Matt black spray paint, £8, Neil up-cycled the decades old screen into a modern feature by cutting the strips to size before gluing them into a grid and painting them.
To clean up the existing tiles, that were previously a mottled marble colour, Neil painted them with three coats of high-quality white tile paint, v33 satin white tile paint, £20.
He then spray painted the radiator with the same matt black paint and refitted the bath and sink with new waterfall taps purchased from eBay for £100.
A jungle paper ceiling has transformed young Toby’s room, with animal shaped pot planters mounted on the wall (right). Before large fitted wardrobes took up the room (left)
The room also was given a new set of spotlights, installed by Neil for a total of £36, and new vinyl flooring in a mosaic patter, £120.
In order to cut costs the family painted over the bath panel and cupboards with left over paint, Sulking Room Pink from Farrow & Ball.
On the upper section of the wall they used Down Pipe Grey from Farrow & Ball, left over from their living room.
The room was finished off with a nifty set of cool white motion detecting LED lights from Amazon, £13, installed on the step of the bathroom and designed to turn on when the kids enter the bathroom at night.
Here LED lights, which are motion sensor, safely light up the curved step in the bathroom for when the children need to use the room at night
Before the interior looked shabby and very much of a 70s or 80s aesthetic, with a large corner bath
Now the bathroom appears light and airy with the linoleum creating the effect of a period feature floor
The bathroom before was drab and dreary, with cream coloured cabinets – now painted in Sulking Room Pink paint
The mirror’s frame has been spray painted black giving it a modern appearance, and a sleek black light fitting added along with spotlights
The Painter family, who have been documenting their renovations on their Instagram – ThePainterHome