I turned my tiny house into a dream home on a shoestring budget --[Reported by Umva mag]

Amanda Davies took a beige box in Glasgow and transformed it into a maximalist paradise, all thanks to a do-it-yourself attitude and a few YouTube videos.

Amanda bought the 1935, ex-council house during the great house-buying scramble of 2020 – AKA lockdown – and ensured she was the first person to view it.

Standing on the driveway after the viewing, she and her partner put in an offer, which was accepted – her first home purchase.

Having lived in rentals and finally able to decorate how she wanted, Amanda, 38, let her creativity flow on the two-bed property.

‘In the past I hadn’t been able to do much in the rentals, so this was the first place I could get my teeth into. So I went for it,’ she says. The house wasn’t inspiring when she got the keys but she had a vision for it straight away.

‘It was a beige box,’ adds Amanda. ‘Everything was beige – every surface, cupboard, floor was some variation of beige. I’m not exaggerating.

‘Maximalism is my inherent
style and as soon as the offer was in, I started to put Pinterest boards together.’

Being a first-time buyer, the budget was tight, but Amanda used several money-saving hacks to keep the costs down and managed to do most of the work for around £2,000 – although she did splash out on a log burner and a unique twist to get more space.

Instead of extending, the couple put a pod in the garden, which triples as an office, studio and entertaining space. This probably saved £40,000 alone, she says.

Amanda had helped her painter and decorator uncle when she was a teenager so felt she had some skills stored up that she could unleash.

The kitchen is a DIY masterstroke, costing about £300 for the entire redesign.

Amanda has used cost-saving DIY hacks, such as a chequered lino on the floor that looks as good as it is cost-effective, and she has brought fun and playfulness into spaces on the cheap.

In the kitchen, she painted around the doorway with squiggles (pistachio by Valspar), inspired by the picture frame on the front door of the Friends apartment. A lobster clock by Tatty Devine adds a surreal touch to what was once a dreary-looking doorway into the utility room.

The living room is also painted in Valspar, this time Cajun shrimp and twilight afterglow, with vintage leopard statuettes, a sofa from Snug and a leopard rug was from Courthouse Interiors. The blankets are mainly sourced from Sass and Belle.

All plant pots are secondhand and were online swaps for items Amanda had inherited in the house. Amanda did the chair rail herself, with the help of a friend and a local hardware store. The living room is Seventies-tastic.

‘The main inspiration for the living room was Seventies maximalism,’ she says. ‘It’s quite snuggly and has a really nice atmosphere. For inspiration, I love older movies, fashion shoots, things like that.’

Upstairs in the master bedroom, Amanda found a novel use for wallpaper – by putting it anywhere but the walls. ‘Wallpapering the ceiling was an intense day,’ she says. ‘Wallpapering a ceiling isn’t easy. I did have to get my uncle to help.’

Amanda says the trick to a colourful home is having a cohesive palette.

‘Your house reflects your personality, you are decorating for your taste and so nothing feels out of place. You have to go for it and don’t be afraid of colour – and remember you can always paint over paint. Experiment with the things that you can change.’

The main bathroom had dark brown tiles originally. Amanda has painted them white with tile paint and then painted the ceiling and walls lilac and the radiator pink. ‘I wanted it to be bold, loads of colour block. There were so many tiles I wanted it to be as colourful as possible.’

Another money-saving area was the staircase, which could have done with being replaced. It was full of nails and lead paint, so Amanda couldn’t sand it down. Instead of the costly process of ripping the staircase out and replacing it, Amanda hired a carpenter to build a new one on top of the old one.

The house is now full of colour
and has a positive affect on anyone who enters.

‘Even the tradespeople who 
came round said they loved the Barbie-pink hallway,’ she says. ‘My house is my style, and it makes me feel cosy and safe and happy. I feel like I can’t be unhappy in that house. It’s not possible.’

My £300 kitchen revamp

By getting stuck in and doing it herself, Amanda saved a fortune when it came to giving her kitchen a brand-new look.

‘We took the kitchen cupboards off ourselves and repainted everything,’ she says. ‘The kitchen had been put up in the Eighties and screwed onto the wall.

‘When we removed it, it just lifted out at the top. I have no idea how it was even staying on the wall. We only took the cabinets off at the top and got shelves cut from MDF, and put them up with brackets.

‘For the bottom cabinets, 
I took the doors off and repainted them in Johnstone’s cupboard paint. I couldn’t find the pastel colours, so I mixed dark blue to get the right pale blue that I wanted.

‘The kitchen walls were the same story. I bought lilac paint from Valspar, but it was too dark so I mixed it with white.
I then wrapped the countertop with vinyl wrap, a faux marble. It was fairly easy and looks great. The wrap is not difficult – just make sure surfaces are clean and dry.

‘The kitchen was so cheap to redo. I didn’t have any tradespeople in, just roped friends in. All of the paint and materials were under £300.’

For more information about Amanda’s renovation click here.

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