DIY Genius Turns Dated Home Into Amazing Rustic Space For £3,000
- Ben Price, 30, bought a dated and tired home
- He lovingly transformed it into an amazing chalet-inspired space
- Ben made his own accessories and sourced affordable items on ebay and Facebook Marketplace
If you spend hours browsing Pinterest and wishing you lived in a gorgeous alpine chalet, don’t lose hope that your own home could one day look like a rustic paradise.
One man transformed his formerly dated home into an incredible chalet-inspired space.
Ben Price, 30, who owns his own home improvements business and lives in the Forest of Dean, decided to turn his house into an amazing rustic home.
After transforming his attic for around £350 and overhauling the stairs for £300, Ben accessorised his home with furniture and pieces sourced on ebay and Facebook Marketplace costing £2,500.
Ben told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: “I bought the house last year. It was very dated and old. Nothing had been touched for years.
"I saw the potential in the house. I loved the area and loved it being detached. I wanted to make it like my own chalet cabin, which inspired me to go with the rustic interior design.
"I came up with the idea of the rustic style after visiting Alaska and Canada. I love the rustic, lodge cabin-style decor.
"I found that purchased standard stair parts are very expensive and the staircase would have cost £1,000 or more.
"I managed to do the staircase on a budget using fence posts that I reworked to make them look like rustic old beams.
"For the spindles, I used 10mm concrete reinforced bar, which cost £1.50 a metre, unlike the wrought iron ones that cost over £10. In total, it cost me around £300.
"I wanted something very unique and a wow factor when visitors enter the house. I believe I achieve that as the staircase is definitely a one-off!
"The stairs were in a sorry state for a while, but the lockdown gave me the chance to focus on that project and get it exactly how I wanted it.
"The fence posts I had lying around in the garden, and the concrete rebar was ordered from ebay, which came very fast considering the circumstances.”
Once Ben had turned his stairs into a stunning rustic feature, he turned his attention to his attic room, and then focused on decorating the rest of his home in the same style.
"The attic room was wasted space in poor condition, with no insulation,” he explains.
"It was extremely cold in winter and too hot in summer. The room was never used.
"I decided to strip the plaster, fit a new Velux window, insulate and clad the walls.
"I wanted a cosy cabin feel like you would find in the woods in Canada, for example.
"The large Velux window is lovely at night when it's clear for looking at the stars.
"Most of the items in the rooms were sourced from holidays in Alaska and the rest of the USA.
"I made a lot of the pieces myself from reclaimed wood and old furniture, and I bought a few pieces on ebay and Facebook marketplace, all for fairly cheap.
“For example, I managed to get the antler lamps for £20. I updated the shades by adding £2 leather cord and punching the holes.
"I found some old bullet cartridges and glued them onto the lamp to make it feel even more rustic.
“I got the faux fur throw for £35 and the suitcases for £15 from a charity shop.
“The small roe deer plaques were from ebay at £11 each, and most of the wood was free from reclaimed pallets or broken down furniture.
“I repurposed a wooden ladder I found for £10 in a charity shop into a shelf.
“The most expensive items were probably the antler mirror in the bedroom at £100, and the wingback chairs at £250 each.
"The transformation of the attic conversion cost around £350 and the stair makeover cost £300, plus spending extra on accessories and furniture for the rest of the house."
Ben is delighted with how his home renovation has turned out, especially considering how well he stuck to a tight budget.
"My taste is very different but every person that has been to my house has been lost for words with the detail put into the rooms,” he adds. “They cannot believe it's the same home. I've made a house a home!”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “The rustic look is more than a trend - it’s a timeless, warm and cosy style that makes any home seem immediately welcoming.
“Ben’s home transformation is simply amazing and worthy of glossy interior magazines - he’s taken a dated and tired house and turned it into a rustic, cabin-style home that looks like a five-star alpine hotel!"
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