How to make an apartment renovation with your own hands. How to cheaply make cosmetic repairs in the apartment. Make an unusual floor

Many people ask themselves: how to make repairs in an apartment with your own hands in order to save money. After all, inviting experienced finishers, you will have to pay a lot of money.

This article will tell you about the main stages of finishing apartments.

Repair types

First, let's figure out what types of repairs are:

Capital

During such a finish, the appearance of the apartment changes completely, that is, new doors and windows are installed, a different coating of walls and floors is applied, plumbing is reconstructed, and the location of sockets may change.

You can always use the services of INTEL DESING, the main direction is to create a unique interior design for your apartment

To reduce the cost and time for major repairs, you need to draw up a work plan.

Cosmetic

It involves carrying out work that will update the look of the apartment. This includes finishing walls and ceilings, changing flooring.

It will take less time and money than a major overhaul

Renovation

In the 90s. this concept meant expensive work according to European standards. Now it means a modern apartment renovation, the use of bold design solutions, the use of room zoning and much more.

The result is an exclusive room in which it will be comfortable to stay.

If you need to completely transform your home, then choose a renovation. But you need to remember that the price of such a transformation is high.

Before you start work, you need to create a housing project and come up with a design.

Main stages

First you need to draw up a phased plan for your repair. It will help calculate the costs and calculate how many materials will be needed.

The main stages of the repair will be the following

  • If major repairs are required, then first of all, partitions are installed, floors are leveled, walls are plastered and ceilings are mounted.
  • Then they do the flooring.
  • Install plumbing.
  • Install doors.

Before starting work, you need to clean the old finish. It is impossible to leave old wallpapers and glue new ones on them, as some do, as they can peel off along with the new ones. Then remove the remnants of glue, remove the cracks.

The most important process is the installation of wiring and pipes. For this, strobes are made, where pipes and cables are laid.

If construction work is carried out by specialists, then they should be asked to draw up a communication plan. This will help to avoid damage to pipes and cables in the future.

The next step is to install windows. When they are ready, you will have to cover them with oilcloth so that dirt does not get in.

Note!

After the windows, you can move on to the walls and ceiling. The surface is rubbed, puttied and primed. Wall primer is required to give strength. When it dries, you can start painting.

If you want to change the floor, it is better to use a self-leveling mortar. It will require less time than a screed on your own.

Now you can start wallpapering. Beautiful repairs in the apartment can be done with the help of cheap finishing materials.

The main thing is that everything looks harmonious. Be sure to combine the pattern on the wallpaper and align it so that they do not bubble.

Floor covering can be anything. If you lay tiles, then you need to do this after finishing the ceiling.

Note!

The ceiling can be whitewashed, painted or laid out with ceiling tiles. Many install suspended ceilings, which also looks great.

At the final stage, the doors are installed. Then you can start arranging furniture and adding decorative elements.

Numerous photos of repairs in apartments are on the Internet. If you can not decide on the design, then they will help you.

In order for the repairs to be done to bring joy, you need to adhere to certain rules and listen to the following tips:

In order not to disturb the noise from the corridor, there were no drafts, it is necessary to install doors with high sound insulation.

Before starting repairs, be sure to remove furniture from the home so that it is not damaged.

Note!

Do you have small children? So, choose washable wallpaper to easily wash off their patterns.

You can not save on wiring, as cheap cables can start to melt, which will lead to a fire.

If you do not want the pipes to be on the surface, then you need to purchase polypropylene, the joints of which are soldered. Metal-plastic ones are twisted, and they will sometimes have to be tightened.

If it is impossible to level the ceiling to the end, you need to install a stretch ceiling.

To prevent the plaster from pouring from the interfloor floor slabs, you need to properly close up the seams.

As you can see, it is not so difficult to make repairs in the apartment on your own. The main thing is not to deviate from the basic rules and everything will work out.

DIY apartment renovation photo

For a person in life, an apartment is the place where he goes after a hard day, where he raises children, lives with hope for the future and just relaxes, and each of us wants the apartment to be cozy and comfortable, like in a country house. The time comes when it is necessary to make repairs: it can be not only capital, but also budget inexpensive. In order not to hire a construction company, you can start repairing an apartment with your own hands. At the family council, decide on the design of the apartment (both in each of the rooms and in general with the style), invite your child for this. To do this, you can see photos of the apartment renovation on our website. Once the design is approved, it's a good idea to make a list of materials and tools needed. It is better to always take the material with a small margin. If you live in an apartment being renovated and the furniture cannot be completely removed from the apartment, then do it in parts, first making repairs in one room of the apartment, then in another. Starting to prepare the walls and ceiling, it is necessary to consider whether the wiring in the apartment will change. This stage is best entrusted to an experienced electrician. The correct operation of electrical appliances depends on the wiring.
Then we move on to the walls and ceiling: level, if necessary, apply a layer of putty and primer. The drying time of the plaster or putty depends on the applied layer, this should not be forgotten. After this stage, we go to the floors, open them, set them according to the level, if necessary - we change the old boards that have become unusable for new ones or we cover the floor with plywood. When renovating a bathroom, start renovating from the ceiling - just like in all rooms in your apartment. Facing, on the contrary, is carried out from the floor. With humidity in the bathroom, you can install a heater. Be sure to check the waterproofing: if it is old and cracked, it is better to replace it.
When repairing an apartment with your own hands, the main thing is to be calm and take your time, otherwise you can “break wood”. The walls in the kitchen can be covered with wallpaper, tiles or MDF panels can be installed. Near the gas stove and sink, it is desirable to tile the wall with tiles. It is all possible to do it on your own, as in the photographs in our articles. It is better to entrust the dismantling and installation of window blocks and double-glazed windows to a company specializing in this type of work. If the repair takes place in frosty weather, then the installation of the blocks is carried out within two hours, so the heating system will not be able to defrost.
As you understand, this is only a brief and superficial overview of do-it-yourself apartment renovation. Each stage of self-repair should be prepared very carefully and step by step, you will find more detailed tips with photos and videos in the feature articles on our website. The choice is yours, do the repair of the apartment with your own hands or hire a construction team.

The usual everyday business: the apartment clearly needs repair, but there is not enough money. How to make an inexpensive apartment renovation with your own hands? It seems to be the simplest, obvious way: surface cosmetic repairs. That is, plywood wallpaper, whitewashing the ceiling, painting, fixing the creaky floor; Possibly window replacement.

However, if you calculate the labor costs and consumption of materials, it turns out that by increasing labor costs by half, and spending money by a quarter, you can give the apartment a completely different look, and for a long time. How much you need to invest specifically depends on the prices in the region, but the general methods by which you can make an apartment cozy and elegant inexpensively are the same.

Saving money when repairing an apartment with your own hands is, like the Earth in ancient legends, on three whales and a slowly hurrying turtle under them:

  1. We are not afraid of work. Nothing comes from nothing. Either money or labor.
  2. Wherever possible, we do not change the capital, but the old one that has lost its appearance, but renew it.
  3. We attribute the maximum savings to where it will not affect the quality of work and will not be visible.
  4. We spread the costs of labor and money over time: having conceived repairs in the summer or autumn, we spend a year on preparation, and then we pile on and quickly do everything. To lay out 200-300 thousand rubles at once is a problem, but it is quite possible to break them up in parts for a year. In addition, there will be time to measure seven times - cut once.

Where it's hard to save

The only area where you have to invite a specialist is to remake and strengthen the electrical wiring if it is old and weak. Here, the only way to save money is to negotiate with the DEZ electrician. He will do the work in pieces, in his spare time, but the likelihood of hack work will be even less than that of “branded” specialists: after all, he will then serve all this.

It is better not to save on electrics and wiring, however, some points, such as installing sockets, can be done independently.

Tool

A good specialized tool makes the job much easier and cheaper. But it's hard to buy. Therefore, it is better to rent a tool as needed. In terms of costs, it will come out a little if you decide in advance on the design and draw up an approximate work plan for yourself.

Season

Plumbing

A sore point with independent cheap repairs is the replacement of plumbing. If it is still “alive”, only filthy, then it can be cleaned and painted. How to do this will be described below. But if there are chips and cracks, then, if you like it or not, you need to change it.

For such a case, here is some information for you: new settlers, especially in houses above the budget category, often start a major overhaul immediately upon entering, and excellent, completely new faience and cast-iron plumbing equipment ends up in a landfill. Landfill operators (simply - landfill scavengers) have long turned this circumstance into a profitable business.

They do not make direct contact by office phone with strangers, but it is quite possible to get through to them using word of mouth methods. The rate is from a third to a half of the factory price for a household item. And do not think that they will take you to the dump and show you where it lies. In the back room you will be offered a choice of clean, carefully washed products, which you can sit down on at least immediately.

Construction garbage

The next sore point is the removal of construction waste. The operation is not cheap, and requires paperwork. Exit: basement, barn, cottage or closet and a few bags of used plastic sackcloth, bought for a penny. Construction debris does not sour and does not rot, it can then be poured into a container in a garbage dump in a bucket. There is nothing illegal in this.

Laths, boards, timber and plywood

For various ancillary work and sewing up large surfaces, you will need wooden slats and plywood. You can buy slats not planed, but slabs - waste from sawing industrial wood. The slab goes on sale raw, but if it is purchased in advance, in March-April, and kept in a dry room until autumn, it will not yield to edged lumber in terms of wood quality.

As for plywood, waste packaging plywood from dismantled used containers can be turned into waterproof in the following way:

  • We buy a 10 l canister or two PVA putties; it looks like very liquid PVA glue and is cheap.
  • We cover the floor in the country house, in the barn, in the attic or in some other non-residential premises with plastic film. The air temperature is not lower than +13 degrees.
  • We lay a sheet of plywood on the floor, pour a puddle of putty on its center and disperse it with a brush.
  • We cover the plywood with plastic, lay the next sheet, putty in the same way, etc.
  • We put heavier oppression on the PVA-impregnated foot of plywood; better - dispersed over the area: bricks, pieces of metal, concrete, an old TV, etc.
  • After a week, repeat the procedure, turning each sheet over.
  • After another two weeks, even waterproof plywood is ready for use. Additional exposure under oppression will improve its quality.

Boards and large pieces of thick timber can also be obtained from used containers - pallets for cargo. Advertisements for their sale are not uncommon.

materials

A very economical repair option - and; for economical owners richer - MDF. When sheathing on a wooden crate made of slabs, in 80% of cases it is not necessary to level the walls and ceiling, which already eliminates the high costs of labor and money.

You can save even more by sheathing the walls to the waist or to the chest, and pasting up to the ceiling with non-woven wallpaper. The work is simplified and cheaper, and the bottom of the walls, which beats and gets dirty the most, will be reliably protected by resistant material.

The most economical option for flooring -. Floor preparation for it is not required in 90% of cases. But marmoleum is not suitable for the bathroom and toilet; here you have to fork out for a tile, especially since it will take a little.

If you want to have a floor in the rooms that looks like a plank, it will not be much more expensive, but you may have to level the floor.

The walls in the bathroom can be covered with laminated hardboard instead of tiles - it is hygroscopic and does not require surface preparation.

Balcony

If it is supposed to glaze and insulate the balcony, then it is better to do it separately from everything else and in advance: from the end of March to the beginning of May. Outside, but inside it can, instead, be sewn up with plywood, pasting it with a self-adhesive film.

Windows and doors

When deciding how to repair an apartment economically, you need to pay special attention to windows and doors: they account for a significant share of the costs. As for windows, here is the most economical option:. It is more expedient to buy them in March-April, when prices for industrial wood fall, and to put them in late spring - early summer, when the tree dries out properly and shrinks. The technology for installing wooden windows in openings is quite accessible to a mediocre home master.

Doors would be better to update. Remember the self-made waterproof plywood? So both fronts of the door are sheathed with it, on mounting glue, laying the door removed from the hinges on a plastic litter and under oppression. At the same time, you can cover the window in the interior door at the same time, if it is not needed.

This will make the door thicker. There are two options here:

  1. Reinstalling hinges is not the best way for the "lazy".
  2. Remove the old lining from the door; it is most often made of building cardboard or thin fiberboard, and put on a new frame, plywood. In this case, the broken corners immediately “leave”.

In both cases, the new door is pasted over with self-adhesive wood-like or with a different texture and varnished. And you will be surprised (pleasantly, of course) by her new look. And rigid plywood cheeks will provide doors durability. The slopes of the doorway are better from the same plywood: it will come out cheaper and more beautiful than re-plastering.

bathroom

Toilet bowl and washbasin

Dirty plumbing, if it is intact, needs to be cleaned. The rather expensive active detergents recommended for this can be replaced with much cheaper table vinegar - after all, it is also a weak acid - followed by washing the sagging stains with the most common washing powder. Just do not use detergents with abrasives - they will scratch the icing, and objects, especially the toilet, will get dirty very quickly.

For cleaning with vinegar, they make kvass - a knob of a rag on a stick. Vinegar is poured where it will not leak, or sour milk is dipped into it, and the streaks are cleaned with circular movements with pressure. Particularly "stubborn" spots in the recesses are removed with a small kvass and technical hydrochloric acid. All this, of course, is done in latex household gloves, a plastic apron and with open doors and windows. It is also advisable to wear a respirator, at least a cheap "petal".

Tiles on walls and floors

Tiles that are not chipped or cracked can be restored using a method well known to motorists; they thus update the worn plastic spoilers and bumpers:

  • The entire lined surface is washed with pemolux; do not use active detergents on acid!. 1 liter is enough for a bathroom in Khrushchev; for a larger one, respectively, more.
  • After pemolux, we wipe it with a rag, abundantly moistened with the same table vinegar: pemolux is alkaline, and the vinegar neutralizes its residues.
  • We wipe several times with a wet rag "until a clean rag"; now we have got rid of the contaminants that have eaten into the surface.
  • We paste over the edges of the tiles with masking tape (“paper tape”), except for the seams.
  • We paint the seams from a spray gun with nitro paint in two layers; the second - after the complete drying of the first.
  • We remove the tape, splashes and streaks of paint on the tiles are removed with a cotton swab moistened with solvent 646 or 647.
  • We buy a can of liquid silicone grease at the car market or in a car shop, and properly spray the tiles with seams.
  • If the grease is absorbed immediately, you will have to spray again.
  • If after 2-3 days silicone is still “taken” on the tile, wipe the surface with a cloth moistened with vinegar.

The meaning of this treatment is that silicone tightens microcracks and pores in which dirt accumulates. Processing is enough for 3-5 years, and then it can be repeated.

Bath

The cast-iron capital bath can be restored,. Complaints about its fragility arise from a violation of the technology for preparing the coloring composition and its application. With strict observance of the technology, the restored bathtub serves for another 10-15 years.

Towel dryer

It is not at all necessary to change it to an expensive one made of stainless steel or brass and make a bypass (bypass) for it. The heated towel rail is cleaned to metal after cleaning the bath for painting with the same cord brush in the drill chuck. If no fistulas are found, it is painted with the remains of the compound from painting the bath. The look will turn out no worse than modern branded ones, and the durability is like that of a bath.

Video: economical bathroom renovation

fasteners

You can save up to 1000 rubles on fasteners during repairs by using not galvanized or cadmium (shiny), but phosphated (black). The heads of self-tapping screws and dowel-nails will still have to be sealed, and there is no rain and frost in the apartment.

Design

In order to make repairs cheaply, you must first of all know what and how to do, how the apartment should look after repair. Do not be too lazy to consult with the whole family several times, see more pictures of ready-made apartments. Design is not something incomprehensibly sublime; Most people are endowed with artistic taste. The professionalism of a designer in most cases comes down to understanding the taste of the client and guessing what he wants. And you, since you are doing for yourself, you need to understand what you want. Up to 50% of the cost of do-it-yourself repairs arise from the fact that they start at random and then correct and redo them along the way.

Sequence of work

And, finally, carrying out the work in the correct sequence makes its share in the savings on repairs: we start from afar from the front door, and in the course of work we gradually approach it. Living room, bedroom and can be renovated in any order. Then comes the turn of the kitchen. We make the entrance hall the penultimate one, and we complete the repair with a bathroom. Savings are obtained on the amount of construction waste (and half of it is the waste of materials for which you paid) and on the alteration of soiled and beaten with an unreasonable organization of work.

Based on the foregoing, you can make a comprehensive renovation of an apartment with an original design, spending a little more money than cosmetic repairs.

Video: reflections on the quality and cost of repairs

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Discussion:

    Xenia said:

    In the last year, the repair of a room in a communal apartment cost me a maximum of three and a half thousand. Of these, wallpaper and glue are about three thousand. A friend gave me putty for free three kg, patched up small irregularities, bought a spatula. I bought a can of paint and a brush. In general, with the world on a string, but the view has become completely different. Ask your friends for materials more often, many also have left after the repair, but it’s a pity to throw it away.

    Olga said:

    We were able to save a lot on wall decoration, but unfortunately, we did not immediately figure out how to do it, so one bedroom cost us as a corridor and an entrance hall or a hall with a kitchen.
    The bedroom was wallpapered at a discount (themselves) - 4000 rubles, and the rest was plastered by the husband.
    Putty (the most common) was diluted with an acrylic primer and color (on YouTube they found videos with decorative plaster).
    He did it for the first time, but it turned out very worthy.

    Alexei said:

    When you do the repair yourself, this is savings in itself. The hired team will do everything to eventually overcharge and not the fact that the work will be done efficiently. You yourself will always do what you need and with savings. You can definitely save money on the tool, for example, ask a neighbor =). I have all the tools that are needed for repairs, so everyone I know saves on me by taking it for a while. The most important thing is to do everything without haste. It is necessary to start with small rooms or with a toilet, a bathroom and slowly do the calculation of the means and design of the repair.

    Vladimir said:

    I have never been particularly involved in repairs in apartments, because, due to my military profession, they were all temporary. So on trifles: glue the wallpaper, tint somewhere, tweak and nothing more. It all started with getting permanent housing in 1994. Then I had to work hard and learn a lot. I literally tortured the sellers in the stores and skilled neighbors with questions. Nevertheless, without hiring anyone, slowly but surely, I learned with my own hands how to properly glue wallpaper, lay and adjust linoleum, scrape parquet, move doors, sockets and switches, change plumbing, lay brick walls and plaster them, and much more. Design solutions began to come. For example, to the general indignation of my parents, I destroyed the pantry (“mother-in-law’s room”), resulting in an almost full-fledged 3rd room. Yes, it was a real school, which later came in handy for me many times! Therefore, it is not in vain that they say: "The eyes are afraid, the hands are doing." There is no need to talk about significant cost savings at all.

Do you associate repair with a difficult, costly and long process? Our site "Remontik" will prove you the opposite! You don’t believe it yet, but the repair process can be a real pleasure if you turn a rather boring and difficult task into a simple and exciting process.

If you are thinking about how to make repairs in the apartment with your own hands, then the first thing to follow is the sequence of all actions, and all stages should be completed one after the other, according to a pre-prepared plan.

So, if you are in the mood and seriously thinking about doing repairs in the apartment with your own hands, then you should adhere to the following steps:


 Global preparation.

Replacement of double-glazed windows.

Plastering works.

Wiring electrical communications, plumbing work.

Floor preparation.

Finishing.

Indeed, you can make an apartment renovation with your own hands, without resorting to the help of professionals, if you follow a clear scheme and carefully study each of the stages, which we will discuss in more detail below.

List of tools needed for do-it-yourself apartment renovation

  1. Ladder. It may seem to someone that it is not the most necessary tool on the list, but it is not.
  2. Special marking tools:
  • tape measure 10 or 2-3 meters;
  • square;
  • metal ruler for one meter;
  • carpenter's hydraulic level - use for more accurate marking of horizontal surfaces;
  • cord - beacons are installed along a stretched cord for alignment;
  • plumb - ensures the evenness of the walls during plastering - the surface is hung.
  1. Hand tools (you can buy them in whole sets or separately):
  • a hammer;
  • ax - pay special attention to the sharpening of the blade (for the left or right hand) and the ax itself, which should sit as tightly as possible on the butt;
  • hacksaw - blade thickness from 1 mm with a well-polished plane;
  • chisel - up to 10 mm (needed in woodworking);
  • log cabin;
  • chisel 20 mm wide (used for woodworking);
  • metal scissors;
  • cutters.
  1. Power tools:
  • an electric drill with a hammer drill (necessary both during repair and after its completion);
  • angle grinder, can be used when grinding surfaces and corners, as well as when cutting stone and metal;
  • screw cutter (for this you can use a drill at low speeds);
  • electric jigsaw.
  1. Tools for other jobs:
  • paint bath (capacity for paint, glue, primer, etc.);
  • scrapers, spatulas (for applying plaster, putty, putty and removing old wallpaper and paint);
  • rollers (large furry, small foam rubber) and a “rod” for them;
  • brushes (round and flat);
  • skin (of different grain sizes) - designed to smooth surfaces;
  • a syringe gun (for squeezing out various adhesive mixtures) plus a gun cleaner;
  • masking tape (used for neat painting).

This is the minimum list of necessary tools for those who plan to renovate an apartment on their own.

Preparation for apartment renovation: video, photo

Each repair, whether major or cosmetic, begins with a global preparation. First of all, you will need to perform all dismantling work: removing plaster, whitewashing, wallpaper, door blocks, flooring and, if necessary, you will need to dismantle the partitions, as well as rearrange them.

Situations often arise when, upon completion of repairs and finishing, you will find that you forgot to dismantle something. In this case, you have to redo a considerable part of the work, and do it carefully, slowly, in order to minimize new damage.

For this reason, having completed the dismantling of everything old, unnecessary and not subject to replacement, carefully examine and analyze the results of your work. Think about whether you did everything right.

Replacement of double-glazed windows in the apartment

This is quite a dirty job, especially its first part, when you have to dismantle the old window blocks. Upon completion of the installation of the window and window sill, cover them with plastic wrap so as not to smear or scratch during further work.

Plaster work in the apartment: video, photo

When performing plastering work, it is necessary to follow the following sequence of actions: marking for beacon profiles, priming walls, installation of beacon profile, plastering walls, slopes. Moreover, plasterboard walls are not subject to plastering. Ceiling plastering, installation and installation of suspended and tension structures should be done after you complete the wiring on the ceiling of electrical cables, ventilation and other communications.

Electrical wiring and plumbing work

All activities at this stage come down to one - responsible action: installation or replacement of heating radiators, laying and wiring of electrical cables, low-current profiles (grounding cables, telephone, Internet, alarm, TV).

Before you start laying cables, mark the output of switches and sockets on the walls. Then proceed to grooving grooves and holes for cables, junction boxes, socket boxes, take care of installing the built-in electrical unit.

Be sure to draw a diagram of the electrical wiring: you will need it in order to prevent in the future from getting into the places where the wire is laid, where you will drill a hole, and also hammer in nails. It is important in the toilet, kitchen, bathroom, before laying the electrical wiring, to lay out the pipes, as well as all the work that is associated with them.

Preparing the floor in the apartment: photo, video

Underfloor heating, screed and leveling. Once the screed is laid, leveled, you need to wait until it is completely dry. Different materials offer different drying times, which means you should carefully read the description on the packaging or instructions.

Finishing work

Once the floor is prepared, you can install the doors and then proceed with the finishing. Moreover, the sequence of all finishing works directly depends on the materials used and the choice of technologies. So, painting and whitewashing the ceiling is done first, and the suspended ceiling is best mounted when the walls are finished. Laying the flooring, whether it be tiles, linoleum or parquet, is done when both the ceiling and the walls are ready.

Attention! If possible, it is better to repair the entire apartment at once. Similar stages of work are, first of all, relevant for “dirty” ones, which include the removal of old whitewash, the installation of windows, not to mention the dismantling and rearrangement of partitions, if it makes sense to perform in different rooms at the same time in order to prevent this when in the same room a carpet has been laid, and in the neighboring one you have just begun to remove the old whitewash from the ceiling.

If you are unable to repair the entire apartment as a whole, you can start it from the farthest room and gradually approach the exit. Repair of the corridor and hallway is carried out last. This is a fairly obvious rule: it is clear that carrying bags of construction waste and buckets of mortar around newly renovated rooms is not the best solution. But be that as it may, in practice this rule is violated very often.

It is also worth moving from the room farthest from the hallway when repairing the entire apartment. First of all, this concerns the last stage of do-it-yourself apartment renovation - finishing.

We have provided instructions for repairing an apartment on our own. Those who prefer watching videos, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the videos presented above, where all the processes are clearly considered.

How can you save money on home renovations?

If you want to make repairs to your home, but do not spend a lot of money, then do not think that you can save only on materials and services of specialists. In fact, there are not so many secrets of budget repairs.

  • Start renovations in winter. You will be able to hire experienced workers at a lower cost, since they don't have much work during the off season. Sometimes discounts can reach up to 40%. But at the same time, do not forget that winter climatic conditions are unfavorable for repair and construction work, and most people decide to repair in the summer.
  • You can also save on the materials used by replacing expensive imported ones with cheaper domestic counterparts. Imported materials do not always live up to expectations, but are much more expensive than domestically produced materials.
  • Most of the costs are for materials. If you replace vinyl wallpaper with paper wallpaper, which today can be no less beautiful, you will save two or three times on wall decoration. Well, instead of a suspended or plasterboard ceiling, you can use paint, which will cost you much less. Of course, in cases where it is necessary to level the ceiling, it is not worth saving and it is better to do it from drywall.
  • Sometimes the services of specialists are more expensive than the materials they work with. For this reason, before choosing a construction team, look at a few offers and do not rush to contact the first specialists that come across.
  • For a cheap kitchen renovation, use vinyl wallpaper or fiberglass wallpaper. They need to be glued to the very ceiling and finish the kitchen apron area with ceramic tiles. If you want to save even more, replace ceramic tiles with plastic panels imitating tiles, and cover the kitchen work area with self-adhesive film.
  • If there is not enough money for expensive bathroom tiles, then the walls in this room can be pasted over with washable vinyl wallpaper or acrylic paint. PVC wall panels for the bathroom also look very nice, the cost of which will pleasantly surprise you.
  • When planning an inexpensive do-it-yourself apartment renovation, you can’t afford to buy expensive plumbing. Therefore, if old plumbing fixtures look bad, then you can clean or paint them. However, if the plumbing has cracked, then only their replacement remains. You can also save on the removal of construction waste if you organize it on your own.

What is not worth saving by doing repairs on your own?

In no case do not skimp on the laying of pipes or electrical wiring. Engineering communications must be of high quality and must be installed by specialists. When it comes to finishing, even the most expensive decorative finish will look bad if you lay it out with gaps or ugly.

The only stage of the repair, which will be difficult to handle on your own, is the alteration of the electrical wiring. For those who plan to save money, a way out is also offered here - arrange with an electrician who services your home. Such a master will be interested in the high quality of his work, as he will have to serve your house further. It is not worth saving on the wiring itself, since the safety of your family directly depends on its quality. Well, you can easily install the sockets yourself, saving money.

If you do not have repair tools, you will have to buy or rent them. However, a more economical option is to ask friends or neighbors. We recommend that you make a list of all the necessary tools in advance so that you do not remain without improvised means during the repair process.

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, a stone is a stone, and a tree is exactly what a tree 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.


Neighboring . 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 veneer of the facades 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. and leave a sconce from one set to 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 being 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 opportunities. Don't miss them!

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