Woman spends just £3,000 renovating her whole house - using budget buys from B&M and Primark

A woman has transformed her run-down rented house into a sleek and sophisticated home for just £3,000 using bargains from beloved budget brands Primark and B&M.

Celene Francis, aged 25, kept her home revamp to a low budget by doing all the decorating work herself - saving an estimated £10,000. Mum-of-one Francis started renting her council house in April 2020 and has now renovated the property to make it more of a home for herself and her three-year-old daughter Indie.

When she moved in, she said the house was in a "dire condition", with plaster all over the floor, yellow ceilings and wallpaper peeling off the wall. She was determined to make it a more welcoming place to be and began her whole-house renovation. She started with the living room and main bedrooms, laying new flooring, plastering the ceilings and painting the walls white.

Francis, a student midwife and mental health support worker, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said: "When we moved in the house was in a terrible state. It was just full of wallpaper, the doors were purple, and the flooring was terrible. The person who previously lived here was a smoker, so all the ceiling and woodwork was yellow, and the garden was overgrown. It was a mess really. I am still doing bits now as I have been renovating the house bit by bit.”

When it came to deciding how she was going to decorate her home, bargain lover Francis knew exactly which stores she was heading to - her favourite budget stores B&M and Primark. She said: “The hardest bits for me were the cost, I didn't have loads of money to throw at it. That's why I have been doing it gradually since I moved in, and I still have some bits left now.

"I have saved loads of money. I absolutely love B&M Bargains and Primark home section. I think I spent around £150 completely changing my kitchen. I love the H&M home section, but you walk into B&M Bargains and can get the same stuff for a fraction of the price."

Francis said that the house, which she has now lived in for three years, was in an ‘absolute state’ and desperately needed some care when she first got the keys - but it now looks completely different.

"Once we moved in, I just had to gut everything. We got everything out, that's why I went for all-white walls as it was easy and clean. I started off doing up the main rooms, the bedrooms and the living room.

"I painted the whole house white. I've put new flooring in, changed the kitchen completely by painting the cupboards and adding a new worktop. I have done panelling and slat walls throughout the house. I have tried to keep it all running in the same theme."

Francis says her top tip for anyone else who is about to start a renovation project is to have a vision of how you want the whole property to look. She said: "You need to have a plan of how you want the house to look before you start. 

Have an idea about how you want your home to feel, you don't want all the rooms to be different colours. You want them to flow so every room ties in so keep colours the same throughout. I think people should also think outside the box, get panelling or a slat wall, something unique to your home."