Woman shows off incredible dining room she transformed for £200
- Lisa Finch, 50, gave up smoking and drinking
- She used the money she had saved to overhaul her dining room
- She transformed her dining room into a cool industrial space
If you’re fed up with your dining room but can’t bring yourself to spend thousands on a renovation, take inspiration from this savvy mum.
Lisa Finch, a 50-year-old mum of three from Wigan, had an eye-catching orange dining room, but was keen to transform it into a chic industrial space.
Lisa wanted to stick to a tight budget and managed to overhaul the room for just £200 by upcycling existing furniture and shopping for new bits at budget retailers such as ebay.
Lisa told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: "I came up with the idea after looking through Google for clean, industrial inspirations. I wanted an airy bright feel.
"We live in a small three bedroom terraced house with the dining room at the front. I knew I wanted it lighter and brighter but also knew I didn’t have a massive budget either.
"The lounge in contrast is all earthy greens and browns so I wanted this room to be completely different. We couldn’t afford new furniture, but I recently quit smoking and drinking in December and wanted the incentive to stay quit so started to save the money that I didn’t use for cigarettes and booze.
"I started to research how to upcycle what we had. Everything was cleaned with sugar soap and then sanded.
"I used The Frenchic Lazy paint range, using Spitfire on the dining table, chairs, built in cupboard, radiator and skirting boards, and Hot as Mustard on the bookshelf and radiator cover.
"The curtains were old curtains we had upstairs in the spare room and I dyed them with Dylon smoky grey fabric dye.
"I also bought four grey chair covers from ebay for £9.99 and the lounging chair from ebay for £40. The wallpaper was from Very. It took around 4 coats of paint to get to the stage we wanted.
“The wallpaper cost £80 for eight rolls, the paint cost £39.90 for two tins, the fake plants cost between 50p and £5 from ebay, the canvas prints cost £20 each and the cushions and throw were £35 from Very.”
Lisa loves the new look of her dining room, and believes if she keeps up the not smoking and drinking, she’ll soon be able to transform her lounge next.
"It took around two weeks but I took my time with the painting because I wanted a good finish and wanted it to last too,” she explains. "My husband did the wallpapering over four days. I’m still saving from not smoking and drinking and the lounge is next on the list!
"I was blown away by the finished result - I never expected it to look so nice, I only ever saw what I wanted it to look like in my head. It’s definitely my favourite room at the moment and I’m very proud of it.
"I suffer from severe arthritis in my hands and other joints so it was a massive achievement for me to do this.
"My tips are to look for bargains and try where possible to upcycle anything you already have. Take your time and plan every single detail.”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, says: “We all have daily habits that add up to seriously expensive vices over the year, whether it’s smoking, drinking or buying a daily coffee from Costa.
“Lisa’s dining room transformation proves how if you give up one small habit and save the cash, you can make massive changes to your home."
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Well done that woman, quitting smoking has never looked so good.
