Mother-of-one transforms her downstairs loo into a chic space for just £250

A savvy mother-of-one has revealed how she carried out a total bathroom revamp for just £250 during lockdown – using budget materials.

Becky Sack, 27, a self-employed nail technician from Kettering, pulled off her affordable loo transformation after deciding that the small room didn’t fit with the rest of the house.   

Using budget materials from eBay and B&M, Becky managed to entirely transform the look of the room into a ‘bold’ black and grey-themed space, complete with a ‘blackjack’ feature wall and a decorative shelf fashioned from a scaffolding board.

Becky, her partner Craig, a field engineer, and six-year-old daughter Charlotte, had already created a unique time-capsule staircase during lockdown when they decided to take on another challenge.

‘We wanted to change the look of the cloakroom to suit the rest of the house,’ she said, speaking to money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk. ‘We have gone for a theme throughout, using black, grey, white and natural woods with dark and light stains. 

‘We came up with the idea from looking at photos online, using materials we already had and sourcing help from friends and family around us to get materials like plaster when there were shortages.

‘To that, we are forever grateful to them for sourcing, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to get on with lockdown projects around the house!’

Firstly, the couple removed the old suite and took the wooden edges off, plastered and painted it pure white. 

‘I wanted the room to look bold as it is quite small, so added a ‘blackjack’ feature wall and asked a friend to draw some sketches of my favourite animals and flowers to frame and offset,’ she said.

‘We then went from there and added old features to give the room the final look we so wanted!

‘We used Frenchic paint, and they generally cost £17.95 per tin and it goes really, really far. We managed to paint our entire kitchen with just one tin!

‘My tip would be, take your time, don’t rush and look for inspiration – I do wherever I go! I screenshot ideas I like and I get creative. We made the decorative shelf ourselves.’

Becky went on to explain the downstairs toilet cost around £250 in total, including the toilet and basin set from B&Q for £150, £10 for a 10-foot scaffold board, £40 for a pack of skirting board and £20 on decorative items including forest animals on eBay or The Range.

‘We also got a handmade shelf with faux hanging plant and real tree plant from our local garden centre, Bosworths,’ she continued. ‘We added our own black fountain tap bought from eBay and a soap dispenser from our local B&M. 

‘If anything can be done on a budget and look this good, I’m interested!’

Becky loved the challenge of transforming her home during the lockdown, and found the project to be a great distraction for her family.

‘Showing people my downstairs toilet wasn’t ever something I was proud of, but now I just want everyone to see it,’ she adds.

‘It has been a delightful journey seeing it change and bringing it into the year 2020! 

‘We were glad to have moved into a home that needed work because it gave us something positive to do during lockdown. 

‘We can see how far we’ve come and we absolutely love the fact we’ve done it ourselves!’

Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, commented: ‘The lockdown has had lots of negative impacts but one of the positives that came out of it is that lots of us finally got into DIY with all the extra time at home!

‘Becky’s bathroom looks fabulous and unrecognisable – and it only cost £250. ‘It just shows that if you shop smartly at affordable brands, you really can do DIY on a budget.’