Renovating Your Flat: A Complete Novice’s Guide!

Anyone who follows my Instagram will know that 2018 has been a big one for me, not least because I renovated my flat and have got myself a completely new kitchen and bathroom!

I KNOW! I’m SO grown up!

I feel inordinately proud of myself and my achievements, as it’s the result of not only a good year of modelling but, as a single lady, it feels quite momentous, too. I realise I’m not the only single person to choose new bathroom tiles but, I dunno, it’s not something I had much confidence in – especially after dating an architect for 6 years who knew his stuff – I didn’t think I had any skills in the area! I know I can put together a decent outfit, but interiors are a WHOLE other ballgame as you have to picture a tiny worktop sample when it’s going to be ROOM SIZED, and cost A LOT, and be there for A VERY LONG TIME.

Now, I came into this utterly clueless, and was extremely lucky to have my supportive parents who held my hands (sometimes literally) the whole way through the process. So for anyone else out there who might be thinking of doing some home decor, I thought I’d write a guide for those who really haven’t got a clue where to even start.

How to find a builder

I put it out there at the start of the year that I wanted to get a new kitchen. My motivated parents got to looking on their local ‘nextdoor.co.uk’ site immediately and found a company, New Decor, and their founder came round to visit my parents the very next day and suggested a month’s time to start work.

Aaaah!

I felt really nervous because this was a big decision and I needed time to prepare myself, so we decided to hold off on it. I’m not sure why I felt so nervous, I think I just needed time for the idea to filter through my brain, but I’m really glad I did as it gave me time to plan more.

However, I really recommend forums like nextdoor.co.uk as people put up very honest reviews of local tradesmen. In fact, the internet being what it is, most people are more likely to moan than rave, so if you find a company with lots of great reviews they’re a fair bet.

How to decide what you want

I was genuinely clueless and, what’s worse, I found everything I saw to be quite boring, uninspiring and difficult to picture.

Fortunately, I was following The Frugality. Alex is a stylist who I’ve worked with (and went to school with!) who has incredible taste but not so ‘out-there’ and fancypants that I can’t relate to it. I could see some of her choices were ones I could also picture myself having and she was getting lots of bits from places like Topps Tiles and making them look like boutique hotels!

I visited one of the showrooms of the places she had got something from and, while the very kind lady didn’t laugh when I told her my budget, she did very gently let me down. She gave me the BEST suggestion though: that I look on the app Houzz.

Ah man. What an addiction: I had to delete it from my phone! But it REALLY helped me. And I went through so many style phases whilst browsing, that by the time I made my choices I knew I was settled into them.

I started out knowing I love marble, so I’d put ‘marble’ into searches, choose whether I wanted to see marble in a bathroom or kitchen, etc, and there would be endless pictures of people’s houses and hotels with marble features. I saved my favourites and built up an idea of what I wanted.

I was also veering towards metro tiles, but didn’t want to look like a public bathroom, so I had a look at how people did that.

I even went through an ‘industrial’ phase where I saw myself having cement tiles and copper pipes.

It’s just a brilliant way to see how different materials are used, often in rooms like mine (ie no natural light, or very small) and, of course, to perv on posh people’s houses.

Once you have a direction, head to showrooms

Next up you need to go into shops and showrooms to see what these things look like in the flesh. Local places, huge mainstream shops like Homebase, kitchen places like Wren: get a real idea for storage solutions and how things look in artificial and natural light.

For example, I’ll always love slate and cement, but picturing them in my flat was impossible once I touched them and felt how cold they were: I’d be fashionable but miserable!

Booking the work

I should really have had other builders round to visit my flat and make an offer, but we knew we wanted to go with New Decor as friends of the family had used them and raved about them. So the next step is to have the builder come round and visit the flat.

I was a bit scared about it, but I had a cupboard and a wall that I thought I could lose to make the kitchen bigger and the flat more open. I hate washing up while guests are in the lounge, but I REALLY hated it when they’d come in and talk to me and crowd me and even worse…offer to clear up and do it wrong. Everyone had always said I should lose these walls (apart from my Mum), but it sounded like a big deal and I was quite attached to having that cupboard.

However Robert thought it was a good idea and I just thought why not!

Now the wall is down, I can still talk to people whilst washing up but keep them far away behind the breakfast bar, where they can’t wipe surfaces with the wrong cloth.

This is what it looked like before by the way:

And this was a day into the building work!

Lastly, we went with a fixed price. I ended up going over, which is apparently very typical, but I’d recommend this way that because you can plan finances properly.

Builders usually get discounts in places

I still didn’t have a very clear idea of what I wanted in my head beyond some metro tiles, somewhere, and a breakfast bar. I know, not very prepared.

As soon as we agreed to go with Robert, he took us to Howden’s, where he gets a discount, so I stopped looking anywhere else. I really struggled! You know me, I like a graphic aesethetic in my clothes: bold colours and shapes, and everything I saw was BEEEEEIGE and GREEEEEEIGE and SAAAAAAAGE.

Then, in the showroom, I saw this lovely dark blue cabinet and that was decision made, because it was the only thing I liked!

Tiles are fun

Choosing tiles was probably my most favourite thing. I wish I could have got some bottle green Victorian ones somewhere, but my flat is too dark. Everything I got was from Topps, and most builders will get a decent discount from there.

Look at my lovely bathroom…

I’m also a huge fan of ‘Attingham Grey’ from Topps, which is in my kitchen:

The type of grout you choose is really important. White will probably discolour quickly, and black can look very graphic, which you may or may not love. I’m a fan of grey, a happy medium.

I don’t know if this is how it’s meant to be done, but I just chose everything last minute

I just went with Robert to the shops on the day that decisions had to be made, so I essentially made a lot of on-the-spot choices.

I was very particular about things like tiles…But fittings were less vital to me. I just chose the plainest taps, bath and basin really, and went for ones on sale.

In fact my original intention had been to carry the floor in the lounge, which looks wooden, into the kitchen, but sadly the range had been discontinued. So I went with the marble floor that had 30% off that day, and luckily looks beautiful! Flash decisions made up a lot of these rooms, but I think it’s thanks to Houzz app that I had an idea of what would work.

The cupboard in the bathroom was just the least offensive one to me in the least offensive colour but thankfully I think it looks great and I now love it!

My final thoughts

I feel so happy with the way my flat looks, and it’s even changed the way I move through my flat and behave. I’m cleaner and tidier and want to be neater in life and, more locally, in my other rooms! I’ve sorted through a huge bookshelf that had been heaving with unopened envelopes and never-to-be-read Stylists and ES mags and now, when I walk in, it’s far more orderly. I’ve rid myself of clothes, make up, products and books that I don’t use. It’s forced me to be more ‘grown up’ and I feel so much more happier.

This is a huge decision and a huge, huge financial commitment. Budgets and time constraints will inevitably run over and it helps to have a support system – for example I was so fortunate to be able to live with my parents while work was done.

I reckon if I did it again…

– I’d look at cheaper alternatives because I did run over budget and hadn’t expected this with a fixed price. I can’t imagine any other choice now BUT if I did it again I would be more budget aware and have cheaper options on standby.

Actually, apart from that, I wouldn’t do anything differently! I love how it looks and New Decor did it to the highest spec imaginable, as well as doing so many other jobs such as providing me with Nest (attaches to your boiler and means you can operate heating remotely), gorgeous lighting and a new ventilation system. I was beyond lucky to have my knowledgeable and supportive parents on hand and to stay at their house.

Making last minute decisions worked for me on the whole, cos I got certain things on sale and I wasn’t too precious when other options fell through.

I can’t quite believe that this is my flat. I’m not sure I’ll ever really get over it.

I hope this helps anyone setting out to make some interiors changes! I’m going to put the links to some of the places I got stuff, below:

Kitchen units, worktops etc: www.howdens.com
Tiles: www.toppstiles.co.uk
Bathroom fittings: www.bathstore.com
New Decor: www.bidvine.com/pro/new-decor-of-wimbledon They don’t seem to have a dedicated site, but you can request a bid at this address. And email me and I’ll pass on a number!
Nest app: nest.com/uk/

Rebecca x