Top Tips for Reviving your Home on a Budget

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Mend Doesn’t Mean Make Do:
White Knight’s Top Tips for Reviving your Home on a Budget

We may all have to tighten our belts over the coming year, but with spring in bloom it’s only natural that we want to breathe some fresh air into our homes. However with a little prudent planning you could give your whole house and furnishings a real lift for the same price as a single piece of furniture, says Nikki Cozens, general manager for White Knight Door2Door, the luxury laundry and dry cleaning service that operates across London, Home Countries, South East and the West Midlands.
Nikki knows how to get the best usage and long-life from clothes, linens and furnishings. Here are her expert tips for bringing your whole house back to life this spring – and all for a total cost of £300.

1. Get a new handle on your kitchen
“This might not be the year to invest in a new kitchen, but it’s surprising how changing a few details can give a sharp new look. Firstly just declutter your kitchen of everything that’s accumulated – whatever that’s cluttering your worktops, shelves and fridge doors. Once it’s been freshened up with a clean, step back and take a fresh look at your cupboards. While only the bravest should try the full repaint option, just try changing all the knobs and handles in the kitchen. It sounds like a small detail, but it can make all the difference to the style, especially if you’re replacing dowdy plastic with some more ornate metal designs. B&Q have really upped their game and offer a great range for not a lot of money.”
Guide Budget: £30

2. Don’t let your floors get downtrodden
“If there’s one thing you can be sure of, it’s that the last few months of putting your feet up in front of the fire will have placed an additional strain on your carpet and flooring – one which will become more apparent as the days get longer and lighter. Whether you’re enjoying laminate chic or have come back to carpet, good flooring is designed to last and look good. Bring it back to life with a good quality carpet cleaning machine, with a decent brand cleaning solution, and you’ll be astonished how much more you can lift your home than with a standard vacuum cleaner and regain that fresh, new look.”
“It’s straightforward to hire, too - Homebase offers a hire station service (www.homebase.hirestation.co.uk) with professional carpet and hard floor cleaners available for hire for 48 hours at £16.99 and £24.99 respectively.”
Guide Budget: £40

3. Don’t get soft on furnishings
“If there’s anything in your house that has to take the beating of everyday life, it’s your furnishings. From cushions and sofa covers to curtains, fabrics have to take on just about everything you – sometimes literally – throw at them, and no amount of dusting will get rid of the accumulation of dirt, stains, smells and eventually signs of wear
“But good upholstery will last if it’s properly looked after and a little regular care will reinvigorate your living space and remind you why you fell for it for the first place. Strip whatever covers, cushions and curtains you can and give them a good professional cleaning, which will really bring out their original vigour and detail. If there’s a little wear and tear on beloved upholstery don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater – a little expert repair work can work wonders.”
Guide Budget: £50-£60

4. Put a gloss on it
“Iit’s about the least glamorous job in the entire DIY pantheon and certainly the most wearing on the knees. But it remains as true as ever that a coat of fresh, crisp white gloss will on your borders and skirting can lift a whole colour scheme back to life.
“It’s tricky stuff to shift, so make sure you get good quality non-drip – Dulux remains the market leader for a reason – and cover over your beloved flooring first.”
Guide Budget: £20

5. Blitz that bathroom!
“Bathrooms can quickly lose their lustre – the majority of us can’t change the bathroom suite as easily as a paint scheme or wallpaper – but the best bathroom suites really should last a lifetime with a bit of TLC.
“One very effective way of reviving a bathroom is to revive tired grouting: a grout whitener is easy to apply and quickly brings tired tiling back to life. The telltale signs of mould also appear on rubber sealant, especially around shower and bath fittings, but it’s a surprisingly quick job to strip it out with a Stanley knife and reseal with a good quality sealant.
“As for the centrepiece bath and sink, these can quickly fade under the onslaught of soaps, limescale and harsh cleansers. If you have an acrylic bath, hard paint such as radiator enamel can paint out marks. Small chips can be repaired using car-repair filler, matched with a blending paint colour and sanded down accordingly, although we like Cramer Kitchen & Bath Repair Kit (£20) which comes in a variety of colours.
“Enamel baths can show limescale, so remove this with a brush and good limescale cleaner; while chips in enamel baths can lead to rusting, so use that same cleaner to shift rust stains before sanding the offending areas and repainting with blending enamel paint.”
Guide Budget: £20

6. Show your neighbours the door
“There’s no better way to lift your home’s exterior than by giving the front door an annual lick of paint – and no better way to express yourself than at the focal point for visitors. Royal Blue remains Britain’s favourite colour for a front door, but now there’s a full range of shades and colours to match your tastes. “We like International and Sandtex – a good range of colours but with proven, no-nonsense reputation that’ll hold up to the weather. So wash and sand down where necessary, and get painting. Don’t forget the interior of the door will need a coat, but not necessarily the same colour; and if you want to give things an extra lift, a gleaming new set of knobs and knockers will finish things off perfectly.”
Guide Budget: £20-45

7. Keep a clean sheet in the bedroom
“Bedroom linen has to go through a lot in its lifetime – and bearing in mind you spend a third of your life in the land of nod, this is one area that people probably don’t always spend enough time on cleaning and maintaining.
“First, it’s time to be brutal: some linens simply aren’t up to such constant use, so throw out those that are looking worn with a view to replacing them. It’s fair to say that cheap cottons tend to be a false economy: high quality linens, such as Peter Reed, will keep their colours and last for years.
“But if you’re looking for a quick lift, give the duvet and sheets a professional clean and replace the valance and undersheets. A good mattress, regularly turned, should last years; but no matter how delicious the duvet it will need regular deep-cleaning if it’s to truly clean out the dust mites and detritus that build up over the months.”
Guide Budget (Cleaning & New Linen): £50-£60

8. Pamper Those Pets
“The majority of us don’t just share our homes with humans. Indeed pride of place (whether we like it or not) go to our prized pets, for whom spring is time to shed the winter coat. That’s hardly handy when you’re trying to clean up, but it’s an opportunity to review all their eating and sleeping arrangements.
“Cages should undergo a thorough clean, with particular attention being paid to sanitising the cage base. As for cats and dogs, months of sleeping on their favourite rugs and beds mean that they could be home to all sorts of unsavoury nasties – so best given them a thorough cleaning if they’re to stay in the house. As for food areas, give them a thorough clean up, both under and around any mats: pets have a habit of jamming food and scraps into the most unlikely nooks and crannies.”
Costs (including obligatory treats): £20