Money Supermarket’s ‘Room for Improvement’ Challenge.

I was recently asked if I wanted to take part in a special challenge/competition being run by the MoneySupermarket.com. Entitled the Money Supermarket Room for Improvement competition, the challenge was simple. Could you revamp a room in your house with a budget of just £50? What room would you choose, and what would you spend the money on?

I was really excited to take part in this competition, but must stress that a good many rooms in my house need sprucing up at present, due to some home improvements that have left new plaster that requires painting, and also due to a four-year-old who went through the usual toddler wrecking period when every wall seemed to be a blank canvas. However, I eventually opted for the bathroom of my house, as I felt this was a room that £50, if spent wisely, could actually make a big difference to this particular room.

I love my bathroom suite, with the stand alone, Victorian style bath, but this room was badly in need of some tender loving care. Bathroom towels had seen better days, face flannels now seem to be emblazoned with Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh, and then there were those oh- so-classy plastic soap bottles.  There was a lack of storage, so spaces like the bathroom unit and medicine cabinet had been used as extra surfaces to basically throw any old rubbish. The bathroom mirror had actually come off its stand, and had been taped back on, so no longer swiveled to magnify, and the tiles, although still in perfect condition, looked aged due to the discoloration of the grout.

And here is what I did.

Grout

Tiling the bathroom with a budget of £50 wasn’t an option, but B&Q now stock white grout pens which allow you to transform discoloured grout into shining white once again. These cost £7 each, and I purchased two, taking £14 out of the budget. The room isn’t completely finished yet, but the difference is already apparent.

Storage

The reality of the lack of bathroom storage was that lots of the old bottles and packets really needed to be thrown out, so once that job was done it was much easier to see what was needed in the form of storage. I love the nautical theme, so I chose a wooden storage tray and a tin anchor pot, both from Store 21, the cost being £4.99 and £1.99 respectively.

Sink Area

It was out with the plastic bottles and in with a stylish soap dispenser, found in Morrisons for a bargain price of £3. The Disney flannels disappeared to be replaced with contrasting blue face cloths for £1 each, again from Morrisons. The broken mirror was thrown away, a new one was also purchased from Morrisons for just £3, and to tie in with the nautical theme, a pretty wicker fish was tied to the window. This cost just £1 from Store 21, leaving the sink area transformed for £9.

New towels for old

To finish the nautical, beachy look, I purchased two new bath sheets from Debenhams at the cost of £9 each. The first had a deckchair motif, whilst the second was covered in a retro pier scene. These added a splash of colour and feel so soft and luxurious that they were definitely worth a bulk of the budget.

I spent a grand total of £47.98 on the revamp, and was really pleased with the overall results. The bathroom looked fresh and new, which is what I was hoping to achieve. I really enjoyed taking part in this project with Money Supermarket, which showed that a small budget can go a long way when it comes to revamping a room.

Whatever work you choose to do to improve your home, or whether your home is already perfect just as it is, make sure you don’t neglect your home security. Your home may be your castle, but these days you need more than a Knight in shining armour to protect it. SD Fire Alarms have a really good selection of home security systems that can match your needs. Visit http://www.sdfirealarms.co.uk/security/wired-intruder-alarms/intruder-alarm-kits.html to take a look at their range,so you don’t let all your hard work and home improvements be in vain.

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