A mum-of-two has shared how she managed to renovate her home on a budget – and the results are breath-taking.
Carrie Boyd knew she wanted to inject some personality into her Manchester home, and she did just that by transforming every single room into her perfect palace, documenting the journey on her Instagram account @theboydshahhome.
From stunning colour schemes to savvy money-saving techniques, Carrie and her husband have managed to take a boring lilac-heavy house and turn it into their dream home, which she refers to as a “little haven of eclectic maximalism”. And if you’re thinking you’d love to do the same but don’t have the funds, she revealed that she managed to complete everything on a budget, with some things costing just £1.
Carrie said her downstairs toilet is her “proudest achievement.” She said: “Previously, we had access here to the kitchen along with a side door to the driveway; however, as we already had a back door, we decided to close the side door and use this space to create a very much-needed downstairs toilet.
“We paid a friend to do the joinery work and create the stud wall, and I did the rest, including tiling, fitting door frames, dado rails, skirting boards, etc.
“I wanted a small room with a big personality, so I carried the decor through the hallway and made the bottom half black. For the top half, I hand-painted green stripes with the same green colour from the woodwork in the hallway onto the white walls and ceiling so that the same colour scheme followed into this little room.
“Again, we opted for lino, and I used tester pots for the stripes, so I only spent £6 on paint. I printed the print off Etsy and spent £5, including the frame, which I got in a charity shop for £1. We chose a toilet and sink combo for this room because it is so small, and we put on a folding door to increase floor space.”
The living room used to be painted lavender and was separate from the rest of the house. “We knocked the wall down to create access through to the kitchen, which made it feel instantly so much bigger,” Carrie explained. “Again, I used affordable paints here; I used butterscotch by Dunelm on the orange feature wall and the ceiling is painted in Egyptian cotton by Dulux.
“Our sofa was the most expensive item we’ve purchased in the house, and we got it on sale for £1000 for the sofa and footstool. This is a big purchase for us; we got it custom-made from a lovely family-run shop in Sale Manchester called Time for Bed.
“I wanted a full-length mirror; however, they were all pretty expensive, so I got three window-style mirrors from Asda for a tenner each on sale and put them all together to create a full wall-length mirror.
“The large white unit is from Ikea and has been with us through many house moves. I did want to get rid of it, but it holds so many toys, so I bought these wooden-style storage boxes from Amazon to give it a bit of a makeover.”
Carrie shared that they did have the kitchen extended because they wanted it to be the hub of the home, but she shared that “all of the interior [was done] on a budget, including the kitchen and appliances.” She even “got the chairs for free off Facebook marketplace,” which is a great platform to look at if you’re starting a house renovation.
Carrie said, “I made my own shelves beside the cooker hood from scaffold boards left over from our build. The paint on the green wall was colour-matched and mixed by Dulux. The original colour is green smoke by Farrow and Ball, and I saved £30 by having it mixed by Dulux instead.
“The large prints above the dining table were bought from Etsy as digital files for a couple of pounds, and then I ordered them to be printed as posters by an eBay seller. I think I paid about £16 each for the print. The images I chose were inspired by art I fell in love with online that was £390 for two!”
When it came to her master bedroom, Carrie said that she tried to renovate it a couple of times but was struggling for inspiration and wasn’t keen on what she’d created. On the third attempt, she had a colour paint mixed by Dulux again, so it cost just £30, and she “did the panelling with two panelling kits from B&Q for £16 each.”
She then explained that she got creative when it came to the wardrobes, sharing: “Our wardrobes were already built in from the previous owner.
I think they’re from the 1990s but they were such good quality that I didn’t want to get rid of them so I sanded, primed and painted them bright red in the same paint I used on the steel beam which was ketchup red by Lick. All the artwork was bought from Etsy as a digital download and printed by me.”
When it came to their son’s room, they “kept the original wardrobes as they were really good quality and just wrapped them in a black satin vinyl, which gave them an instant facelift.” She also opted to paint the ceiling in a bright red shade, using a Wilko own-brand paint in shade Tinsel Town, which was seriously effective with the black wardrobes.
“I hand painted the stripes on the wall and used tester pots for the black and yellow and spent £6,” she shared, to add a finishing touch to the room and to keep her son happy.
The final room in the house that was renovated was also the smallest room, and it was her daughter’s bedroom, which is the box room in the house.
Carrie explained: “It’s very tiny, so we chose an ottoman bed that lifts up, and that’s where we keep all of her toys. I bought her pink day and night blinds in the clearance section of Argos for £8. The paint is ceremonial ochre by Valspar, and I hand-painted the scalloped edge to give some texture. I handmade some of the artwork on her wall and bought a couple of bits from B&M.”
Speaking of the renovation she’d completed, Carrie said her home makes her feel “so happy”, saying that she absolutely “loves colour” and loves how she and her husband’s styles have “fused together” to make the perfect family home for them.