MAKE your house a home – without blowing your deposit or your savings.
Interior fanatics Whinnie Williams and Tyler West from BBC Three’s Flat Out Fabulous have lots of quick-fix solutions for transforming your interiors – from modernising your bathroom with a pen, to making white goods look kitsch.
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Ahead of the second series starting on iPlayer this Thursday, the pair tell Siobhan O’Connor how to dress your home for less.
Clean up the kitchen
FISH-HOOK AND CURTAIN-COVER WASHING MACHINE, £4: You can cover white bulky goods that are making a mess in your kitchen with hooks, fish wire, and a net curtain made of a cute pattern., pick up both from Amazon for £4.
Whinnie says: “This is a great way for making it look kitsch and makes the kitchen look tidier.”
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MDF CUPBOARD DOORS, £2 to £10:You can easily replace handles and doors on your cupboards.
Whinnie says: “In my house, I couldn’t buy the coloured doors I wanted so I just got MDF cut and I could paint them any colour.”
Tyler adds: “eBay has loads of great options. People will rip out ’60s kitchens and shove them on eBay – just don’t search “vintage” as they’ll be marked up. Look for old doors – you could get them for just a few quid.”
STICKY SHEETS, £5.97:It is easy to cover countertops with self-adhesive material.
Fake marble countertops can be made to look exactly like real marble.
DRESSING TABLE:A makeover can be achieved by using fabrics or soft-furnishings.
Whinnie says: “Dress the table to distract the eye. Use leftover fabrics, like a scarf for a table runner and ribbon for decoration – use this to tie cutlery and crockery together too, making it look more fancy. Perfect for Christmas tablescaping.”
Living room: Use fabrics
DYE DUST SHEETS, £3.99:You can recycle old sheets by putting them in the washer with dye.
Whinnie says: “This is a quick and easy way to turn them into curtains and costs next to nothing – you probably already have dust sheets up in the loft.”
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RUG OVER CARPET, £15:A stained carpet can ruin your room, but it would be expensive to replace. Tyler says: “Learn to mask what you don’t like.
“Rugs are saviours at making grim carpet disappear.
“Use one long one or several little ones.”
COMMAND STRIPS, £3.28: If you can’t put nails in the walls, Tyler recommends command strips to hang pictures.
Bathroom boujee
FELT-TIP TILES, £4:Get creative with your bathroom walls and start coloring.
Whinnie says: “A hotel I went to the other day had boring white tiles but bright-blue grout which looked so cool and chic.
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“Using grout pens to paint over the lines between tiles instantly spruces up the bathroom – and you can just pen them back white when you move out.”
GET STICKY WITH VINYL, £15:The floor tiles in a bathroom can make or break it, and can be very expensive to replace.
Whinnie suggests using easy stick-on versions – you can cover the whole floor and walls if you want and peel off when you leave.
MIRROR MAGIC, £3: Whinnie says: “If the floor is gross, put a great big mirror up and write a slogan on it to distract the eye.”
Tyler adds: “Faux-plants also work wonders and are low-maintenance.”
Your bedroom can be transformed into a buodoir
DRAW THE CURTAINS, £20: Rented homes often come with dated wall-paper that you could never replace – but fear not.
To make your bedroom more sexy, hang curtains that go from ceiling to the floor on each wall.
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Whinnie says: “Get a plank of wood and drill it to the top of the wall. These only require screws on either side, and can be filled with Polyfilla later.
“Staple the curtain to the wood. If you go for a plush fabric, it gives the room a cosy feel.”
WALLPAPER FURNITURE, £10: Don’t like your wardrobe or drawers? Use wallpaper to cover them.
Use the same or similar print to match the wall. You can also frame a wallpaper sample to make a fancy print.
Searches made easy and free
TYLER and Whinnie purchase lots from eBay and Facebook Marketplace.
Tyler says: “Most of my furniture was either free or I paid a few quid for it. I got a £70 Ikea mirror for a tenner – chairs for free, too.”
Here are Tyler’s and Whinnie’s top tips for finding second-hand furniture.
USE THE WORD “OLD” Avoid “mid-century”, “vintage”Or “retro”. These options will always cost more because sellers know how valuable they are.
SPELLING MISTAKES ARE INCLUDEDSometimes, it works miracles to search with spelling errors.
ASK FOR SCRAPSAsk your local hardware store for wallpaper scraps. They are often available at a discount.
WAREHOUSES WOOD:You can find huge wood-reclamation yards that recycle and upcycle wood. For a few pounds, you can fill a bag.
JOIN COMMUNITY GROUPS:You might find a neighbor who has a great deal of tiles and is willing to share it with you. Link up with the community so items don’t go to waste.
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