A DIY mum has created her daughter's dream bathroom for a fraction of the price she was quoted - after a trip to B&M Bargains.
Melissa Preston, 44, took on a bathroom renovation project for her 13-year-old daughter Mia - who had a quirky, Pinterest-inspired design in mind.
By shopping at B&M and Poundland, upcycling and repurposed existing household items taking on the labour herself, the savvy mum-of-two managed to save a fortune.
After originally being quoted £4,000 to do the job professionally, Melissa managed to completely transform the entire bathroom for just £600.
“I decided to do a makeover on the main bathroom so that my daughters could have their own room and their own products," Melissa told Facebook group DIY On A Budget UK.
"It got to the point where I was hiding my stuff in the cupboards because I was fed up with my daughters using up all my nice shampoo and products.
"As it’s just mainly the girls that use the main bathroom I let them design it. As Jasmine, 20, is away at university it was left to Mia."
Mia, 13, knew exactly the style and design she wanted for her bathroom, which was inspired by Pinterest.
"About four months ago she sent me images of ideas she liked down to the colours of the tiles and the toilet roll holder," Melissa said.
"She had a strong vision of pink tiles, a green wall and black accessories.
"I was a little dubious at first given these colours, but after lots of hunting I found some combinations that I felt would work and still keep in line with Mia's ideas.
“I love the fact that Mia has an eye for design - a passion we both share and that brings us together."
Melissa then started purchasing items for the bathroom renovation from bargain shops.
"I started buying the odd small bits over the months, including a lot from B&M and the pound shop," she said.
“Mia wanted a bath mat from Urban Outfitters but it was way out of my price range at £25 so I hunted a copycat one down for a bargain £6.99 - and she’s not even noticed.
"I did all the labour myself to cut costs but did pay a tiler £160 to tile for me.
"I had previously tiled my downstairs toilet but it took me forever and I thought I’d rather scrub people loos for hours than do that again.
“To cut costs with the tiler I had agreed to take off all the old tiles myself and prep all the walls ready for them to just tile."
Melissa did the remainder of the labour work by herself.
"I replaced the basin taps and the bath mixer and shower taps myself - these were on offer at Screwfix as they were selling off some of the gold range cheap " she said.
"Once the tiling was done I set about with painting and wallpapering.
"I didn’t replace the old bathroom unit I upcycled it using cupboard paint.
"I also replaced the handles with some cute brass beetles for £2.50 and also inserted some of the wallpaper to the back."
"I used DC Fix to revamp the shelves in the unit and also covered the old wooden main top units with DC Fix," Melissa continued.
"I painted the bath panel in cupboard paint also to tie in with the units and the bath screen was from Amazon for £104 and free delivery.
"For the blind I kept the old roller blind I had there already and just used some old cut off material to cover it to flow with my design.
"I sprayed the toilet flusher gold along with painting the tissue box in the same colour as the walls."
All in all the project cost Melissa just under £600.
"If I were to have got it professionally done I would have been looking at around the £4,000 mark for materials and labour," she said.
“I love that I saved so much by doing it myself, and also the satisfaction it gives me to know it’s all my own work, we all absolutely love our bathroom now.
“My main tips would be to think outside the box and be brave with your ideas, hunt around for what you want: look in different shops and compare prices, and look for codes and sign up to newsletters, as they often send a welcome discount.
"Also don’t be afraid to ask the tradesman for a deal, or agree to do some of the work yourself and use YouTube as your free personal tutor.
“I’ve never done any plumbing before but learnt from watching videos."
