Do-it-yourself budget repair ideas

Own housing periodically requires updating. The difficulties associated with this are simple and understandable - often it is simply a lack of budget. In addition, the lack of knowledge about a particular technology makes one think about inviting specialists. However, the best way to save money on renovating an apartment is to prefer a budget finish to an expensive one and do some of the work yourself.

Before deciding on the implementation of a budget apartment renovation with your own hands, you should familiarize yourself with the upcoming difficulties that will definitely arise at many stages of work. What are they:

So, having decided on an independent budgetary apartment renovation, having estimated their own strengths and means, they begin to work. Here is an algorithm of actions, following which time is spent rationally:

• The desired plan rooms. The position of communications depends on it - heating radiators, electrical outlets. If you like, the space is divided into zones - recreation, active life.
• Removing old coatings from all surfaces - floors, walls, ceilings. If windows and doors will not be changed, then they are also cleaned for the upcoming finish. To work, you will need a perforator, dissolving liquids, spatulas - depending on the raw materials to be dismantled. It is recommended to immediately impregnate the walls with antiseptics - mold is not uncommon in apartments, moreover, such an opportunity is not foreseen anymore.
• Laying a new concrete rough coupler on the floor - without it it is impossible to arrange an even floor covering, partitions, to wallpaper the walls with high quality wallpaper.
• satisfied communications - electrical wiring hidden in the walls, sockets and cartridges are brought to the surface. Install plastic water and sewer pipes, change the heating system. If the plan provides - they arrange frames for plasterboard partitions.

Now the room has taken on the appearance of a rough finish. Solutions vary depending on the previous condition of the apartment. It is important to keep in mind that for the duration of the repair, residents must be able to "alternate airfield" for at least a month. Especially when the apartment is small.

Now the prepared apartment is trimmed with inexpensive materials. For flooring, boards, multilayer plywood are chosen - this is environmentally friendly, inexpensive and beautiful, with appropriate processing. In wet rooms, you can’t do without tiles - consider substandard or battle offered in stores. It is always inexpensive or even free.

For walls - traditional wallpaper or painting. Ceilings are whitewashed and painted. Gives an unusual look to a city apartment - drywall. Arches, portals, partitions are made from it. Doors and windows are painted and subjected to many design techniques - aged, decoupage, decorated with frosted or mosaic glass inserts. So the work begins:

Repair completed. It remains to give the room a finished look - install lamps, arrange furniture, lay carpets. Sit on a soft sofa and calculate how much beauty cost you without the participation of professional craftsmen.

We bring to your attention options for budget repairs - before and after photos. Perhaps among them will come across worthy of repetition.

1. A good mine in a bad game.

100% polyester silk. Stone-like tiles, parquet-like linoleum, onyx-like laminate, Trekhgorka under Ralph Lauren. Porcelain stoneware "under the python". “Artificially aged” something there ... It’s embarrassing to even think about it. Alas, the number will not pass. Look through good interior magazines.There, everywhere, stone is stone, tile is nothing but tile, and wood is exactly what wood is. If there is no money for parquet, and a simple laminate is beneath your dignity, look for a good engineering board. As a result, you will get a floor that looks much more expensive than the money spent on it. A good alternative to porcelain tiles for kitchens, bathrooms and hallways is cement tiles. The result will look more expensive a hundred times.

2. Leave the ceiling alone.

Everyone has become obsessed with ceilings! If you think sensibly, riveting attention to the ceiling, you only remind everyone of its existence. And according to his height. Ceilings with a height of two sixty will not turn, even if cracked, into majestic vaults melting somewhere in an unthinkable height. This cannot be, no matter what the "decorator tricks" promise you. Just accept it. Tall doorways can do a lot more for your home than a ridiculous five-layer neon-lit ceiling. Let the interior doors be two, say, twenty high. And lower the door handles a little, five to seven centimeters. Having shown a non-standard approach, you will be pleasantly surprised by the result.

3. Choosing paint for the walls, consider the movement of color around the house.

Adjacent rooms should contrast. If you have a bright living room, consider painting the entryway a deep, relatively dark color. In any case, the cost of paint will be the same, and the result may look really expensive.

4. Buy modular laminate cabinets from the store, and order the doors to them in a good carpentry workshop.

This will give you significant savings, which, however, no one will ever notice. The same is true for kitchen equipment.

5. If you still purchase ready-made cabinet furniture, let the facade veneer be dark, and the door panels simple (rectangular).

Remember: light wood always looks cheaper. Avoid yellowish and reddish shades of veneer. And, saving on the furniture itself, splurge on good pens!

6. If there is no money for a good carpet, look for viscose carpet or mixed fibers, imitating a silk or wool pile carpet.

Choose the color and texture that suits you and order a piece of the size you need. For additional small money, its edges are swept with braid.

7. Plant the curtains on a thick lining.

Even inexpensive curtain fabric will seriously benefit from this. Look for fabrics that are three meters wide. This results in significant savings. If you are not ready to spend a lot, give up printed textiles (fabrics with a pattern). When cutting fabrics with a pattern, due to the need to properly join the fabrics, there are a lot of scraps. The more rapport, the more waste. Do not use curtain tape for curtains. Let the seamstress lay the "manual" folds. It's not that expensive, and the folds gathered on the braid look very cheap.

8. Set-headset-set. The same things in the interior are allowed only in one case: if they are paired things that form a symmetrical composition. Chandeliers, table lamps and sconces from one set, leave those to whom God did not give imagination. He also - sets of upholstered furniture "sofa-two chairs" and similar tender sadness. For more details, see the next paragraph.

9. Ready-made solutions.

Bad news: there are none. At least for us. The shower room is built using the construction method because it is a room. Unless you run a student hostel or an underground massage parlor with a striptease, the shower stall (it's a sad structure of yellowish acrylic and skewed doors) will not work for you. Do not spend money on "designer" plumbing. Let the appearance of the sanitary equipment of the bathroom (kitchen, bathroom) be dictated by the function. Buy washbasins and faucets with simple shapes, without inappropriate decor. The toilet bowl should be invisible and cope with its duties. No one will love them, right?

10.Paintings, prints, prints, photographs and posters frame in simple but deep frames with glass and be sure to passe-partout.

Even a picture printed on a home inkjet printer (or a naive children's drawing) looks very significant in such a frame. Play with the size of the passe-partout. A small work in a very wide passe-partout looks very “designer”. And, by the way, cardboard for a passe-partout can be almost any color.

11. Comfort. Another collective fetish.

According to my observations, what is called “comfort” in our Palestinians is, in 99 percent of cases, poetic crampedness. In many ways, this is a bodily memory of a bygone childhood, of a warm and affectionate meager Soviet life with carpets teeming with saprophytes, a kind grandmother, Czechoslovak crystal and Dreiser, unread by anyone, in the polished Polish wall "Hanka". The coziness will not be added by an expensive demon like a round bed with music and a minibar, a bar counter with a built-in aquarium, etc. The same is true for such rich things as a lambrequin, a garland and a swag. Do not worry: in a good, thoughtful interior, coziness inevitably comes naturally. So…

12. ... Farewell, Gypsy Sera!

Duvet covers made of coarse calico in a small Nefertiti, towels in scarlet roses, pillowcases with “stray-eye” shades, nylon blankets with Shanghai leopards. All these are attributes of collective farm chic, forgive me for being direct. They don't add comfort. Motley coloring is often necessary for these things solely to hide their exceptionally lousy quality. Let the bed linen and bath towels be plain white (options: ivory, ecru). But from excellent Egyptian cotton.

13. However, it is also important not to overdo it with ivory.

Peach, beige, sand… The average nuance range is good for chain hotels. Because their stencil interiors are bound to please everyone. Your interior should please you. After all, he is a manifestation of your essence, right? Pick up a fan-palette of any paint manufacturer. Do you feel a pleasant heaviness? These are your possibilities. Don't miss them!

Hello, dear participants of Vdolevka! I want to show you our modest apartment. The repair is very budgetary, but large-scale: everything was replaced, except for heating radiators. Apartment 44 sq. m 2 bedroom Brezhnevka trailer layout.

My grandmother's apartment is 91 years old, after a stroke. A man of age wants to live in his apartment in which she lived for 45 years, moving is a big stress for her. At the family council, together with my grandmother, it was decided to make repairs in her apartment, since she does not want to live with us in our apartment.

The apartment was in a very paid condition, cold and very dark. The budget was very small, there was a lot of work. The task was to make a budget repair, a cozy, warm room for my grandmother with ventilation and simplify her care.

There were a lot of options, but we chose the best one for me and my grandmother. Make her room in the kitchen, move the kitchen to the living room. We chose this option because of the location of the bathroom and ventilation. Grandmother is semi-paralyzed. I wear it on myself in the bath, she lies in a diaper, but ventilation is needed.

They replaced everything, put good windows, insulated the kitchen and bathroom. We moved the kitchen without communications, I have been cooking for the last 4 years in multicookers and an electric oven. I wash the dishes in the bathroom in a basin, it’s convenient for me, I don’t feel any inconvenience.

And now a photo. I don’t pretend to design, the main task is more light and comfortable living for my grandmother.

I'll start with the hallway, it's small and narrow.

Let's go to grandma's room

My daughter wants to put up a Christmas tree

Our apartment turned out bright, and it is very pleasing. We moved a week ago.

Thank you all for your attention. Health to you and your loved ones.

thanks! each door with platbands and a box of 3 thousand? And how much did the entrance cost? ceiling 10000 - for all rooms (2 rooms, kitchen, hallway?)

what is the width of the bedroom (the passage between the bed and the wall)?

Armchair at the grandmother in the room do not do anything! Pull over with time. Here the people create such miracles with the like! You don't need a new one.

You are well done! Cheers to your grandmother!

And you don’t want to buy a stroller for her so that you don’t carry it on your hands before the bath?

What good fellows you are. Very light and cozy. And the decision to move the kitchen in this case is successful, and returning everything back is not a problem.

What is the distance between your kitchen cabinets? And is this location convenient?

health to you and your grandmother.

You would like a small dishwasher, which you can put on the washing machine and in general beauty

You are a big guy! Health to grandmother and children, and to you, of course - you are their hope and support

Marina, don't get carried away. Everything is fine with you, and if someone doesn’t like it or isn’t comfortable, it’s their cockroaches. Women have such a habit, from a lack of intelligence, to immediately talk about themselves to their beloved, although no one asked them if it was convenient for the guests or not.

You fulfilled all the requirements of your grandmother, it turned out conveniently for everyone.

Small “victims” in the form of washing dishes in a basin and the lack of a sink with a dishwasher do not count, because the convenience of a grandmother is a priority. You left her in your own apartment. and they settled their lives next to each other with comfort. And you and your children))) well, and granny too. And when everyone in the family is happy, this is happiness. Clean, nice, not vulgar, not collective farm, joyful and convenient turned out))) And then Khrushchev and Brezhnevka are so tiny that taking three steps to the side to the faucet in the bathroom is not straining. Everything is great with you. I have special respect for you personally precisely because of my concern for my grandmother. I also know that old people cannot be moved territorially. They no longer adapt to the new place. Your granny is also great, she understood everything, agreed to repair and move to a new room! You are all smart! Even from the photos and from the description, light and pleasant sensations remain.

In Khrushchev and Brezhnevka houses, even in the USSR, the sinks in the bathroom were often removed precisely because of the tightness, leaving only the bathtub. At the same time, washing machines were in the form of a round barrel)))) you can’t put it under the sink)))

Spring is a period of renewal. The mass exit of all living things from hibernation encourages action. I want to go somewhere, do something. Energy over the edge, but with the channel - so far there are problems. Where would you send her? Seasonal discounts in hardware stores suggest the thought: “But why not make repairs?”

Why not? But the thought of colossal time and money costs scares. However, you can update the interior without starting the "construction of the century." How? Read the Cleo review.

You are lucky if you are the owner of an apartment with perfectly smooth walls that have been processed for painting. There is no need to invent anything here. Choose a new color and repaint - 70% of the repair is completed. The house looks completely different, and the costs are minimal.

In other cases, designers offer the following solutions:

• Wallpaper. Use to decorate one or more walls, zoning the space.

• Acrylic paints. Make a painting on the existing coating, using templates or your own developments.

Again, it all depends on what is available. There are plenty of repair tips out there. But all of them are designed for situations where the current state of the floors does not suit the owners. What if everything is fine? If good-quality materials were initially chosen and the presentation is preserved, but you want to add some variety or just refresh the coating?

In the latter case, everything is simple when it comes to a tree. Polish or mastic will help restore shine. Before processing, you can also mask chips and cracks using special tools: putties, pencils or wax mixtures.

If you want something new, then there are only two options - to paint the floors in whole or in part.

Despite the abundance of various coloring compositions and examples of their use, experts do not recommend repainting a laminate, parquet or wooden canvas completely. In their opinion, such a coating will not stand the test of time. But a partial change in color is a more acceptable option. Moreover, drawings can be applied according to templates. This means that even a non-specialist will cope with the task.

However, we wrote about this method a few years ago. It is a pity that over the past years, manufacturers have not pleased us with new inventions.

In the process of repainting, you need to consider the following points:

• Use polyurethane or alkyd paints
• Before starting work, check the materials for compatibility (if the remnants of the floor covering are preserved somewhere in the pantry, this is the most suitable surface for pre-launch experiments)
• Clean the surface with sandpaper, and then wash the floors from dust
• Use an oil based primer
• Coloring in the direction of laying, in two layers (the second after the first has dried)
• Finish off with a protective coat such as a water-based lacquer

By the way, in addition to the floors themselves, there are also skirting boards. It seems to be a trifle, but it plays an important role. At the overhaul stage, few dare to spend money on expensive high skirting boards, preferring the usual size. Meanwhile, a non-standard decorative element can become an accent detail in the interior. No wonder it is regularly used by professional designers. So why don't amateurs try this technique in the process of redecorating? Moreover, manufacturers offer a huge selection of models from the latest composite materials.

Well, if it seems to someone that the price bites, there is an alternative. A little trick will achieve the same effect, but at minimal cost. You will need: a paint brush, paint, primer, liquid nails, ordinary baseboards and sealant. The idea is simple - you need to create the appearance of high skirting boards. To do this, just above the existing finishing elements, additional elements are glued to the liquid nails. The seams are treated with sealant, then the entire surface is painted in one color, including the area between the skirting boards. Voila - a fashionable design accent is ready!

With upholstered furniture, the easiest thing is to change the upholstery. If you are not sure that you can handle it yourself, then you can turn to specialists. Masters who are ready to help pull a sofa, armchair or chairs, apparently invisible. The prices for their services are quite reasonable. What can not be said about the materials. This is where the difference in cost comes into play. But if the family budget allows, you can go for a walk - the end result is worth it: expensive fabrics look better and last longer.

And what about cabinets, chests of drawers, bedside tables? They are undergoing a makeover! You can’t even imagine what a huge number of ways of alteration are offered by connoisseurs. Russian-language search engines alone show fifty million links to sites dedicated to this topic. Naturally, you cannot describe them in one article. But a short digression is possible.

Let's start with the popular. Which brand of furniture do you think is most often upgraded? Have you thought about the Swedish concern? Right! This is not surprising, given that in almost every apartment you can find items made at the factories of this foreign giant. Comfortable, yes, but boring. So consumers want diversity, so that it is not like everyone else.

Do you think the Scandinavians are offended? Do they somehow struggle with those who post instructions for updating and their typical furniture on the Web? And here it is not. As the saying goes: "If you can't win, lead." They have organized entire clubs dedicated to reworking their products. Search the web - very useful and interesting resources.

There, for example, you can find recommendations for turning an ordinary corridor bench into an original bench. And all you need is: fabric, cotton cord, foam rubber, a glue gun and a sewing machine.

There is a description of how to make a designer thing out of a banal coffee table. With a little talent, a permanent marker and polish works wonders.

And if you want something completely strange, then you can take the advice of designer Andrias Bend from Sweden and convert the chairs into ... a floor hanger. How? You just need to go beyond the usual, twisting the structural elements in a different order. What will happen? See photo example.

The rest of the modifications are as follows:

• Coloring. Moreover, there can be a lot of variations: in one color or several, with or without ornament, with the effects of aging, gradient and many others. With certain skills, any piece of furniture can be turned into a masterpiece.

• Decoupage. A technique well known among furniture restorers that is easily mastered by amateurs. Master classes are abundant on the Internet: videos, step-by-step instructions, secrets, descriptions of the features of materials.

• Mosaic. Decorators often resort to this technique, despite the laboriousness. The pieces are disassembled by color, adjusted to the desired shape and size with wire cutters, then laid out on tile adhesive with gaps, which are subsequently filled with special mixtures - seams. The output is a designer art object.

• Use of mirror inserts. The advantages of such modernization are speed, relative ease of execution of work, guaranteed impressive results.

If all of the above seems too difficult for you to implement, then you can simply replace the fittings. Believe me, sometimes it is enough to screw the original handles to an ordinary wardrobe or chest of drawers to change the whole style. Try it!

Rather, not even with the windows themselves, but with their framing. How about changing curtains and curtains? As in the case of wall painting, new fabrics in the interior can work wonders, completely changing the familiar look of a home. Pick up something radically different from the previous version in color and style. Play with new shades, supporting them with new pillowcases for sofa cushions, bedspreads, rugs.

Owners of golden hands and sewing machines can easily save tens of thousands of rubles by sewing curtains on their own. The rest will have to be smart. You can reduce costs by:

• By reducing the length of the cornices. Often, if a workshop is engaged in sewing curtains, the maximum size from wall to wall is taken as the basis. But you can limit yourself to a minimum by calculating the length of the window (plus 20 centimeters on each side). The consumption of fabric will decrease - that's the savings!
• Using decorative curtains. You can protect yourself from light by installing blinds or rolls. In this case, there will be no need for sewing full-size curtains. Make them narrow and drape. Yes, you will have to fork out for the curtain. But that's a completely different expense.
• Carefully choosing a manufacturer. Of course, when it comes to dense materials for curtains, the difference in quality is visible to the naked eye. What about thin veils? Can you distinguish Italian tulle from Turkish tulle by eye? That's it. So why overpay?

By the way, curtains can be used not only for decorating windows. You can add variety to the interior in another way. But it is suitable only for those whose apartments have open shelving. In recent years, designers have increasingly resorted to this technique, using curtains instead of blind doors. Original and quite comfortable.

In addition, in a similar way, you can zone the space, fencing off, for example, the kitchen from the living quarters. In fact, the layout is changing, but instead of expensive work on the construction of additional partitions, only the installation of guides is carried out. Budget? Undoubtedly!

For some reason, when carrying out cosmetic repairs, the issue of lighting is omitted. The maximum that fantasy is enough is to replace all the burnt out light bulbs and change the warm light to cold or vice versa. Meanwhile, the replacement of shades and lampshades alone can significantly change the overall style. And you don't have to buy something new. You can also modify existing structural elements. Lots of examples! For example, using ordinary twine, you can turn a banal table lamp into an eco-style art object.

Inexpensive, but how effective. Or another option that does not require large expenses - decorating a lampshade ... with buttons!

How much easier.And the result looks amazing, attracting the attention of others. Well, why not a budget way to update the interior?

Oh, and don't forget the switches. Usually they are hardly noticeable. But why not fix it? Again, back to the question of low cost and minimal effort. Do you know how you can make a quick upgrade to switches? With regular nail polish! You just need to twist the existing lids and lower them into a bowl of warm water, into which varnishes of different colors were previously poured. You just need to do everything very quickly!

The output will be catchy and unusual lighting elements. And each drawing will be unique. How much do you think such switches could cost if some well-known design company produced them? That's it. And you will spend pennies.

So let's recap. The common belief that there is no repair without big expenses is wrong. People's ingenuity and numerous tips from practitioners allow you to change the situation with a minimal budget. Good luck with your interior renovation!

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Dear readers, for a long time we have not had such extensive posts-allowances for apartment renovation. I am pleased to offer one of the reading aids

This summer we did a phased finishing of a two-room apartment. First, all the furniture and things were dragged into one room, locked and sealed. After the repair of the adjacent room and the kitchen, everything was moved to the finished premises and the remaining room, corridor, bath and toilet were completed. In general, not the most convenient repair option. Task: to make a solid inexpensive repair from budget materials. Dates: June 10-July 24 - the first stage, August 4-September 10 - the second stage. Estimate: 295800r (only work + stretch ceilings) All work, except for the installation of interior doors and the installation of two of the three windows, was done on our own. There are a lot of photos, so I will upload as much as I can and have free time. So, this is the form in which the “object” appeared before us

the parquet fell off by itself, the dismantling consisted in collecting it from the floor and folding it into bags.

This pipe leads to the serpentine in the bathroom.

Here is such a horror object, we dismantle everything that is possible

First of all, windows are installed, this window was installed by another company with which the customer agreed earlier

a cold cabinet can be seen under the window, and a radiator hangs behind the door leaning against the wall. The logical decision was to insulate the cabinet and install a new radiator in its place.

on Perlfix mounting glue we glue extruded polystyrene foam, then GKL on the same glue

Getting Started with Plastering

first of all, we put our branded beacons

in some places we use a combined wall leveling technology, on top the gypsum board is glued to Perlfix, and on the bottom a smaller layer is plastered

drywall waste can be embedded in a thick layer of plaster

we change the hot water and cold water pipes, the piping to the coil, we fill the strobes with plaster

When plastering corners, do not forget about 90 degrees, and of course, verticality

the entrance opening is formed using a plank box

Installing window sills and slopes

We bought a special grinder for sanding the walls, it connects to a vacuum cleaner, a great thing

before leveling the floors, we fill in all major defects in the floor of the DSP

We level large differences without beacons with a semi-dry screed

In the corridor, we break part of the old screed with a large crusher

vacuuming, priming, doing rough leveling, vacuuming and priming.

we divide the corridor into parts using improvised materials.

slippers for “walking on water” are made of OSB, self-tapping screws and a glamorous strap with rhinestones

Force majeure occurred during the installation of the stretch ceiling, the baguette was pulled out of the wall

And this happened due to the fact that a thick layer of soft sealant was laid between the plaster wall and the ceiling.

the cracks were sealed with perlfix, puttied and the ceiling was stretched. That is why it is better to stretch the ceilings before pasting the wallpaper.Another reason why you should stretch the ceilings before finishing the walls is the possibility of getting into the electrical wiring during the installation of the baguette (for example, as in this video) And finally, even with the most careful installation of the ceiling, there is a risk of damage to the wallpaper, therefore, we glue the wallpaper only after the stretch ceiling, and we also lay floor coverings after them.
This miracle of technology is called construction stilts, with their help, all work at height, including stretch ceilings, is done many times faster. In Russia, these are practically not sold, and if they are sold, they are expensive. Bought through e-bay. We want to buy something else later, but more on that later.

a mandatory attribute for finishing is a vacuum cleaner. As they say, cleanliness is the key to quality.