DIY apartment renovation ideas

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

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

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

• The desired plan rooms. The position of communications - heating radiators, electrical outlets - depends on it. If you like, the space is divided into zones - recreation, active life.
• Old coatings are being removed from all surfaces - floor, walls, ceiling. If the windows and doors do not change, then they are also cleaned for the upcoming decoration. For work, you will need a perforator, dissolving liquids, spatulas - depending on the raw materials being dismantled. It is recommended to immediately impregnate the walls with antiseptics - mold is not uncommon in apartments, moreover, such an opportunity is not expected anymore.
• Laying a new concrete roughing screed on the floor - without it, it is impossible to arrange a smooth floor covering, partitions, and wallpaper the walls with high quality.
• Arrange communications - electrical wiring hidden in the walls, sockets and sockets are brought to the surface. They are installing plastic water and sewer pipes, changing the heating system. If the plan provides for - arrange frames for plasterboard partitions.

The room now looks like a rough finish. Solutions vary depending on the previous state of the apartment. It is important to keep in mind that for the duration of the renovation, residents must have the opportunity to have a "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 - it is environmentally friendly, inexpensive and beautiful, with appropriate processing. In wet rooms, tiles are indispensable - consider substandard or battle offered in stores. It's always inexpensive or even free.

For walls - traditional wallpaper or painting. The 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 - they are aged, decoupage, decorated with frosted or mosaic glass inserts. So the work begins:

The repair is over. It remains to give the room a finished look - to 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 one of them will come across worthy of repetition.

1. A good mine with a bad game.

Silk made from 100% polyester. Tiles “like stone”, linoleum “like parquet”, laminate “like onyx”, “Trekhgorka” like Ralph Lauren. Porcelain stoneware "python". There is something "artificially aged" ... It's embarrassing to even think about it. Alas, the number will not work. Flip through good interior magazines.There, everywhere, stone is stone, tiles are nothing more than tiles, and wood is just that tree. If you don't have the money for parquet, and plain laminate is beneath your dignity, look for a good engineered plank. The result is a floor that looks much more expensive than the money spent on it. Cement tiles are a good alternative to porcelain stoneware for kitchens, bathrooms and hallways. The result will look a hundredfold more expensive.

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 its height. Ceilings two-sixty high will not turn, even if they crack, into majestic vaults melting somewhere in the unthinkable heights. This cannot be, no matter what "decorator's tricks" promise you. Just accept it. Tall doorways can do much 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, by five to seven centimeters. By taking a non-standard approach, you will be pleasantly surprised by the result.

3. When choosing paint for walls, think about the movement of color around the house.

Adjacent spaces should contrast. If you have a bright living room, paint the hallway a deep, relatively dark color. The cost of the paint will be the same anyway, and the result can look really expensive.

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

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

5. If you do purchase ready-made cabinet furniture, let the veneering of the facades be dark and the panels of the doors simple (rectangular).

Remember, light wood always looks cheaper. Avoid yellowish and reddish veneers. And, saving on the furniture itself, spend on good handles!

6. If you don't have the money for a good carpet, look for a 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 little money, its edges are swept with braid.

7. Place the curtains on a thick lining.

Even an inexpensive curtain fabric will greatly benefit from this. Look for fabrics that are 3 meters wide. This provides 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 dock the canvases, a lot of scraps remain. The more rapport, the more waste. Do not use curtain tapes for curtains. Have the seamstress fold in the "hand" folds. It's not that expensive, and the lace-up pleats look very cheap.

8. Set-headset-kit. Identical things in the interior are permissible only in one case: if they are paired things that form a symmetrical composition. Leave chandeliers, table lamps and sconces from one set to those to whom God did not give imagination. For them - sets of upholstered furniture "sofa-two armchairs" and similar tender sadness. For details, see the next paragraph.

9. Ready-made solutions.

Bad news: none. At least for us. The shower room is erected in a building way because it is a room. If you don't run a student hostel or an underground striptease massage parlor, a shower cubicle (it's a sad structure of yellow acrylic and skewed doors) won't work for you. Don't splurge on designer plumbing. Let the appearance of the bathroom fittings (kitchen, bathroom) be dictated by the function. Buy washbasins and faucets with simple shapes, without inappropriate decor. The toilet should be invisible and do its job. Nobody will admire him, right?

10.Paintings, prints, prints, photographs and posters frame in simple but deep frames with glass and always in mat.

Even a picture printed on a home inkjet printer (or a naive child's drawing) looks very significant in such a frame. Play with the dimensions of the mat. Small work in a very wide mat looks very "designer". And by the way, cardboard for a mat can be of 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 tightness. 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, Czechoslovakian crystal and an unreadable Dreiser in the polished Polish wall "Hanka". All the more comfort will not be added by the expensive devilry such as a round bed with music and a minibar, a bar counter with a built-in aquarium, etc. The same is true of such rich things as a lambrequin, a garland and a swag. Do not worry: in a good, thoughtful interior, comfort inevitably comes naturally. So…

12.… Goodbye, Sera the gypsy!

Duvet covers made of coarse calico in fine Nefertiti, towels in scarlet roses, "ripped-eyed" shades of pillow cases, nylon blankets with Shanghai leopards. All these are attributes of collective farm chic, forgive me for being straightforward. They will not add comfort. Coloring is often necessary for these items solely to hide their extremely lousy quality. Keep linens and bath towels just white (options: ivory, ecru). But from the finest Egyptian cotton.

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

Peach, beige, sand ... The average nuance is good for chain hotels. Because their stenciled interiors are bound to please everyone. You should like your interior. After all, he is a manifestation of your essence, right? Take in your hand the palette fan of any paint manufacturer. Do you feel a pleasant weight? These are your opportunities. Don't miss them!

Old furniture, boring colors, uncomfortable zoning, scattered things because there is nowhere to store them ... All this can really interfere with life. At some point, it becomes completely unbearable, and the person makes a volitional decision: changes are needed. We will help you! We will fill you with inspiration, put together a collection of ingenious solutions, impressive interior changes and photos of great ideas for apartment renovation.

Photos "before and after" clearly show how good, constructive ideas and a couple of interesting techniques can transform any room. Colors, materials, new flooring and functional furnishings will change the apartment in ways you don't recognize. Narrow spaces will appear wider, gloomy ones will become pleasant, and in the same square there is room for all things. Magic? Not at all! Only skilful room planning and the right furniture.

Design project from All Design

Do you want a minimalist apartment decoration? Great idea! Stylish, functional, nothing more. Minimalist white is a great choice for small rooms that need optical magnification.

After opting for minimalism and white, look for furniture with simple shapes and clean lines. To avoid the feeling that you are in the operating room, set accents with wood elements - parquet or laminate flooring, wooden furniture. Live plants will perfectly fit into the environment and add coziness.

In narrow rooms, light is of great importance. White walls and reflective surfaces keep the sun out of the way. Our tip: Avoid vertical placement of dark colors, and only place dark surfaces horizontally.

Design project Dziurdzia Projekt

The attic floor is often neglected, not used at all. But attic rooms have their own charm, their own individuality. From a technical point of view, waterproofing and window openings should be carefully considered if none are available.

Design project Superpozycja Architekci

Every housewife dreams of a large, beautiful kitchen with everything you need. When considering the design of your stylish new kitchen, consider the architectural features of the room and take into account the location of drainage and ventilation.

Design project Kliff design

The layout of the rooms in our apartments often leaves much to be desired. There is only one way out - imagination and creativity. Light pastel colors gave the room a fresh and relaxed mood. Our tip for narrow spaces: Avoid tall furniture like wall cabinets and bookcases as they visually take up too much floor space.

In the Scandinavian style, light is at the forefront. In no case should dark furniture be allowed to take away at least a piece of the available lighting. The dominant color is white. Several accents of gray and greenery of plants diversify the interior and make it cozy.

Minimalism is the perfect solution for the interior of a small room. The same color of walls and ceilings, painted white parquet and gray textiles create a single image. Tip: replace the handles on the cabinets with the push mechanism for opening the doors, as shown in the photo. The laconic facades have almost merged with the wall, making the room seem larger.

Most often, in the nursery, we need to find a place for the bed, for the table, and for the closet ... And it often happens that, having placed the bed, we can no longer find a place for everything else. Our advice: don't buy ready-made furniture. Order furniture made for a specific room.

When making custom-made furniture, you will proceed from the individual characteristics of the room and the needs of the person living in it. You will be able to make optimal use of every centimeter of space. In the photo above, you can see a built-in wardrobe and custom-made shelves at the head of the bed.

Design project Czysta Forma

At a certain moment in life, all children come to the stage when a person has his own view of what his room should be. The child has constant and serious hobbies, interesting topics for him. And in adolescence, when the time for wallpaper with bears passes, the child wants to participate in equipping his own room. A good solution for the decor of a teenager's room is functional furniture with a simple but practical design and color accents, set with the help of individual pieces of furniture and textiles.

In the design of a nursery, it makes sense to abandon themed wallpapers and furniture, which in a few years will cease to be interesting for the child. Our tip: bean bags and ottomans perfectly fulfill the role of multifunctional furniture, which will definitely please the little family members.

With the help of accents in the design of the nursery, you can play up the child's hobbies. At the same time, it is necessary to think over how these accents can be changed in the event of a change in the interests of the owner of the room.

Design project Tutaj Concept

This toilet used to be a pitiful sight - small, narrow and dirty. The designers extended the room and managed to find a stylish combination of all kinds of techniques: gray-blue colors, the floor is decorated with ornamented tiles, one wall is painted in a calm gray tone, the other two are covered with photo wallpapers that create a feeling of endless perspective.

A narrow bathroom with an awkward layout and a protruding water pipe is not the most attractive sight. Randomly scattered things do not add beauty to her. Our tip: combine two matching colors.

In this project, the designers combined white and wood, placing them on all surfaces.Glossy options were chosen for white tiles and furniture. Together with the mirror, reflecting light, they make the room brighter and visually enlarge it.

Design project Bluecat studio

A design project designed to renovate a small bathroom on a limited budget. The blue and white interior looks fresh and modern, and the bathroom is cozy and beautiful.

Design project Studio monocco

The idea of ​​indirect lighting is very popular and works wonders, especially in small spaces. Create glowing "ribbons" on long bathroom elements - on the bathtub itself, washbasin or cabinet. Glossy surfaces enhance the aesthetics of the effect by reflecting soft light.

A safe bet is the bathroom interior in black and white. This design project is interesting for its extravagant black floor and brick-like wall texture, unusual for a bathroom.

Design project Dziurdzia Projekt

You have a very small bathroom, but you wouldn't want to give up a bathtub. A small bathtub designed for seating can be a way out. Our advice: choose narrow furniture and light colors.

Even the smallest bathroom needs storage space. A stone stand for small items and compact built-in cabinets with glass facades will come in handy and will present a narrow room from the advantageous side.

Of course, if a washing machine also needs to be placed in a small bathroom, the room will become even smaller. In this case, you need to find a very clever solution. Designers fit the washing machine into a series of built-in wardrobes, combining the entire lower level under one worktop. A wall cabinet with mirrored facades was placed at the top. The entire interior is designed in gray and white colors, which could have looked rather boring if it were not for the bright green accents, placed with the help of textiles and trifles.

Good evening, dear! I decided to share a budget option for updating the interior. These doors lay for many years, one canvas was completely useless anywhere, and the second turned out to be completely unnecessary.

Hello everyone! Today is a post about rework. We needed a small locker on my husband's balcony, where he had, like, an office) We know what most men in their home offices do: go to tanks.

Hello dear swimmers! I haven't posted anything for a long time, although I always have several projects in my work) Today is a post about crafts) Our girls have grown up, they are already 4. It's a pity, the time has come.

My mother and I drove from the village on a clear summer day. And suddenly there are two "girls" at the bus stop. They shouted to us, they say, take us away! Shabby upholstery waving! Eh, we could not pass by.

Many thanks to RomeoVen for the planning tip (moving the door, enlarging the kitchen, shrinking the bedroom). This was the perfect option for us. There was a lot of phi in the comments about not.

We faced a difficult task - to divide the already small space with the help of a partition. The goal is to divide the room into two zones. A child's room and a parent's bedroom. On the.

Good time to all) Once three years ago, during the renovation, I needed to cut a sloppy seam with sealant between the tabletop and the apron. They didn't do it right away.

Hello friends. For many years, while decorating apartments and houses, we are faced with the fact that when creating a unique interior, customers pay a lot of money for a brand, style, etc. We tried it.

There are two ways to make a pallet bed: 1. Complex (which we went for). This is to buy ready-made pallets, and then prepare them for assembly. 2. Simple (according to which we will do our next.

Haven't written in a hundred years since most of my blog was deleted due to site issues. But, I decided to remember how I live in the apartment. So - His Majesty Gigantomania! Little table.

Hello again! As promised, I'm posting one more alteration.A bookcase made from the same 5-section wall. In the wall they were exactly the same, only as I already wrote they were at the sideboard.

Good day, dear participants of Vdolevka! I present to your attention just such an alteration - a sideboard. Alterations and handmade (as a joke to myself I call the USSR-Made It Yourself)) I love.

The corner of the corridor is covered by a radius convex partition. It turns out a comfortable dressing room. The body of the dressing room is not connected in any way with the partition due to the fact that the ceiling is concrete. Upper.

Here is one of the most effective methods for reducing bathroom noise. This, first of all, will be of interest to the owners of steel bathtubs. They, like no one else, know what sounds.

Hello everyone, I share my experience of using Fine Floor quartz vinyl tiles for the bathroom. A non-standard, but justified decision to make installation both on the floor and on the walls. I took the lock tile.

Good day to all. Those who have done major repairs know how many floor options, types of wallpaper, building mixtures and everything. And even if you have a new building, there are no less things to do, like.

Good afternoon to all residents of Vdolevka! For more than a year now, I have been visiting the community every day and watching your progress in renovation and personal experience. I especially admire those who are not afraid and do.

Good afternoon, my beloved reader. It has been a long time since I made you happy with my stories. Why did this happen? Yes, there was simply nothing to write about. Now I spend most of my time at work. Themselves.

Hello everyone! I want to show you a crib in the form of a castle, which I made for my four-year-old daughter-princess 🙂 We did it together with my father, did it for a long time, did a lot of redoing, because we were wrong.

I welcome everyone! I'll tell you about the nightstand today. I made it from the materials already available, something could probably have been done differently, but from what it was from that and sculpted. It started with a pull-out.

When starting repair work, many people think about improving heat, hydro and noise insulation in a residential area. We propose to consider one of the options for solving the listed properties by.

Hello friends! Today I want to show you what a supply duct installation is for the whole apartment! And I really want to tell my personal point of view, tk. I come across such systems everyone.

Good day, dear members of the forum and guests of the site! Today I want to talk directly about editing a level transition with backlight, as I do, moments, nuances. There is a room in.

Hello everyone! I haven't written here for a long time, since there were no special renovations in our apartment. But! Now we are actively engaged in our garage and the area around it. For.

Sometimes joining the skirting board and the door trim becomes a difficult task for people doing repairs on their own. The thickness of these decors is rarely the same and very often, especially at doors.

The trend of recent years in new buildings is cold facade glazing. About finishing standard balconies and loggias, I have a blog written several years ago, in which it is detailed and clear.

Hello! In the beginning, I want to express my deepest gratitude to Natashef! It was your post that helped to make the final decision and put an end to matters of a sleeping place for your son. And also mine.

Good day, dear members of the forum and guests of the site! What to do if you accidentally tore a stretch ceiling? There is an exit! But here I will make a reservation: there are no cuts and tears on the fabric ceiling.

Hello everyone! Today I will tell you about one more “homemade product” - a cat's house. This topic is poorly covered on the forum, and there are not so few cat lovers! In order for your pet to be happy, it is necessary.

Hello! In this blog I will write about the blue shelving unit.

Friends! Some time ago I told you about how we built a cottage in.

I am forced to take a break in the cycle about repairing treshki (exemplary, etc.), because.

The apartment is located in the residential complex Elagin Apart, located in the immediate vicinity of the village.

And now I'll honestly tell you about my experiment, namely how to make an apartment of 44 m2 with.

Hello everyone! Autumn has come and many are in a sad mood. I'll try to pick it up for you.

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

This summer we did a phased decoration of a two-room apartment. First, all the furniture and things were dragged into one room, locked and sealed. After the renovation of the adjacent room and kitchen, everything was moved to the finished premises and the remaining room, corridor, bathroom and toilet were completed. In general, it is not the most convenient repair option. Task: to make good-quality inexpensive repairs from budget materials. Terms: 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 post as much as I can and free time appears. So, this is how the “object” appeared before us

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

This pipe leads to the coil in the bathroom.

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

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

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

on the Perlfix assembly glue we glue the extruded polystyrene foam, then the gypsum board on the same glue

Getting started plastering

first of all, we put our branded beacons

in some places we use the combined technology of leveling the walls, from above the gypsum board is glued to Perlfix, and from below the layer is plastered to a lesser extent

Waste plasterboard can be embedded in a thick layer of plaster

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

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

we form the entrance opening using a plank box

We install the window sill 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 large defects of the DSP floor

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, making a rough leveling, vacuuming priming.

we divide the corridor into parts using scrap materials.

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

During the installation of the stretch ceiling, a force majeure arose, the baguette was torn from the wall

And this happened due to the fact that a thick layer of soft seal was laid between the gypsum wall and the ceiling

the cracks were repaired with pearlfix, putty and the ceiling was put on. That is why it is better to stretch ceilings before wallpapering. Another reason why you should stretch the ceilings before finishing the walls is a possible hit during the installation of the baguette into the electrical wiring (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 lay the floor coverings after them too.
This miracle of technology is called construction stilts, with their help, all work at a height, including stretch ceilings, is done many times faster. In Russia, these are practically not sold, and if they are sold, they are expensive. We bought it via e-bay. We want to buy something else later, but more on that later.

a mandatory attribute for finishing, this is a vacuum cleaner. As they say, cleanliness is a guarantee of quality