Woman transforms drab storage space into a glamorous dressing room for £400 by upcycling the furniture and decorating with bargain buys from Aldi and Amazon
- Kim Heslip, 42, from Leeds, has transformed a spare room in her house for £414
- Nurse spent lockdown turning the space into a glamorous dressing room
- Purchased second-hand items from eBay and shopped around for bargains
A thrifty woman has revealed how she was able to transform a drab spare room into a glamorous dressing room to get ready for nights out.
Kim Heslip, 42, from Leeds, who is a nurse, dog walker and blogger, explained she wanted to overhaul her functional space with faded blue walls into a space that would lift her mood.
She told LatestDeals.co.uk how she could see the space’s potential, saying: ‘I wanted to create a dressing room that felt like a changing room in a glamorous clothing boutique.
‘I wanted it to be fun and positive and put me in a good mood when I get ready in the morning or before a night out.
Kim Heslip, 42, from Leeds, has impressed members of money saving community Latest Deals, after transforming her drab spare room into a glamorous dressing room (pictured)
The dressing room, pictured before the renovationg, already had fitted wardrobes which were good quality, but a ‘little drab’ for Kim’s liking
Kim said she decided to decorate the room because she wanted a project to focus on during lockdown, and neede to do most of the work herself on a budget
‘I decided to decorate this room on a whim when the lockdown was announced after Christmas.
‘I wanted a project to keep me going through lockdown and somewhere to escape to for a bit of headspace in between homeschooling and work. There wasn’t much of a budget and I largely reused and upcycled items we already had.
‘The dressing room already had fitted wardrobes and a dressing table which were good quality, just a little drab for my liking.
How much did Kim spend on her budget dressing room makeover?
Paint
Wallpaper
Worktop
Sticky plastic
Hello signs
Wall prints
Shelves
Faux plants
Plant basket
Zebra rug
Zebra hooks
£80
£65
£20
£12
£5
£5 – £25
£2.99 each
£20
£14
£79
£60
‘I could see the potential to give them a revamp and bring some fun and style into the room, so the design was really based around working with what we had and injecting my personality into the space.
`We already had plenty of storage in the room, but there was also an awkward wasted space over the steps between the dressing table and the wardrobe. I decided to build some extra storage there to make use of it.
‘I also wanted a seating area so I could have a friend join me for a chat and outfit advice whilst I’m getting ready. Plus I wanted somewhere to plan outfits, so I added the hooks on the wall to hang things up and see what works together.’
Kim began the project by purchasing low cost supplies when items were on sale as well as shopping second-hand from eBay.
‘All of my paint came from my local decorating store. I got Johnstone’s Matt Emulsion for the walls and Bradite One Can for the wardrobes. Both shades were colour-matched to the shade Middleton Pink by Farrow and Ball, and the total cost was £80,’ Kim said.
‘The wallpaper on the wall is called Bond Girls in black and white, and I got it from Wallpaper King for £45. The wallpaper used to upcycle the dressing table drawers is called Trio in pink and came from Made.com for £20 in the sale.’
Kim said she was able to extend the dressing table by adapting a second hand kitchen worktop bought from eBay for just £20 and covering it in marble-effect d-c-fix for £12 on Amazon.
Kim already had a dressing table and an oval mirror on the wall, bought from a charity shop, and decided to upcycle the furniture rather than buying new pieces
Kim purchased decorations for the walls for under £5 from Rosewire Designs and Home Bargains to add a personal feel, and revamped the dressing table by covering an old worktop in marble-effect sticky back plastic, and papering the drawers with wallpaper from Made.com
She continued: ‘We have had the full length mirror for about 10 years – it originally came from John Lewis. There is a plant hanger and jewellery hanger from Sass and Belle, and the oval mirror above the dressing table was a charity shop find.
‘The prints on the wall came from a number of small businesses: Dyl and the Gang, Modern Print Studio, Blossom and Bloom, Punkhaus, Staying in Studio, Iamfy, Signhive, and Worldly and Wild. They cost between £5 and £25 each, and several were won in giveaways.
‘The wire ‘hello’ on the wall came from Rosewire Designs for £5, and some of the wall shelves are from Home Bargains priced at £2.99 each.
‘There is no natural light in the room so the plants are all faux and came from Home Bargains and B&M stores for £20 in total.
‘The dressing table chair was originally from Ikea – we’ve owned it for about 15 years – and the black and white plant basket was an Aldi special buy for £14.
‘The zebra rug came from iRugs and cost £79 in the sale, while the bench was given to me by a friend so I upcycled it.
Kim said she was able to extend the dressing table by adapting the second hand kitchen worktop bought from eBay for just £20
‘The new shelves and drawer fronts were decorated with the wallpaper from Made.com
‘The zebra wall hooks were £60 and made for me by my friend Zoe from Morton Shaw Interiors. They used to be in my hallway and are made from an upcycled floorboard.’
After getting all of the supplies, Kim began the ambitious project by giving the space a new lease of life with paint.
Kim said: ‘I started off by painting the walls, wardrobes, dressing table and woodwork. Then the handles on the wardrobes and drawers were removed and re-sprayed gold.
‘The original dressing table top was removed and used, along with some leftover MDF from a previous project, to create some new shelves over the steps between the dressing table and wardrobes.
‘The new shelves and drawer fronts were decorated with the wallpaper from Made and the wall at the end of the room was decorated with the Bond Girls wallpaper.
‘The second hand kitchen worktop was cut to size and fitted, extending the dressing table all the way to the side of the wardrobes and over the new shelves. It was then wrapped with the marble effect d-c fix.
‘I added a bit of yellow paint to an old Ikea dining chair and recovered the seat pad with some black and white ‘cow print’ upholstery fabric, which was left over from another project, to create the dressing table chair.
‘An old cream bench that my friend had given to me was cleaned up and painted yellow. This was the first time I had tried painting upholstery, but with a bit of internet research and advice from my friend Zoe I found it was easy to do.
‘I gave the bench a good clean, then I sprayed each section with water before adding the paint in thin layers. It was then left to thoroughly dry and given a good sanding between coats.
‘I added wallpaper to the wall shelves from Home Bargains to give them a bit of wow factor before hanging them on the walls. I use them to display my vast collection of perfumes and vintage perfume bottles.
Kim said the makeover was ‘pretty straightforward’, as she explained how wall shelves (pictured) from Home Bargains were added for a wow factor
‘The wall hooks were moved here from our hallway and hung on the wall.
‘Then it was a case of faffing around with prints, faux plants, wall hangings and cushions to dress the space up. The prints are all fun, using positive typography to provide a feel-good atmosphere when I’m getting ready.
‘It was a pretty straight-forward makeover, although I had originally planned to paint the wardrobes and skirting boards an off-black shade. There was a mix up with the paint and I ended up being given full black paint. It was someone else’s order who had a similar name to mine!
The DIY enthusiast added a Zebra-print rug for a funky touch and also moved matching wall hooks from the hall into her new dressing room so that she could hang up pieces to see how outfits go together
‘The decorating centre realised their mistake and offered to replace my paint. At this point, having painted some of the wardrobes and skirting boards black and realising that it just didn’t work, I decided to opt for the same pink shade as the walls instead. As you can imagine, it took a fair few coats to get them pale pink after being painted black!
‘I am fairly confident when it comes to DIY and there was nothing too taxing involved in this project. My rule of thumb with home renovations is if I can do it, then I do it. That way I save money to spend on the jobs I cannot do such as electrics, plastering and building work.’
Tom Church who is the Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘Kim’s transformation is stunning – she clearly has a knack for interior design. She has proven that anyone can create a celebrity-worthy dressing room with some savvy sales shopping and creativity!’
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