Katy Thomas and her husband renovated their laundry in about a week. Photo / Supplied
Katy Thomas and her husband renovated their laundry in about a week. Photo / Supplied
When Katy Thomas moved into her new Barwon Heads home she knew immediately that the existing laundry wouldn't work for her family.
"When we bought the house I think they had just left the laundry and never touched it basically," she told news.com.au.
"So you can see there's shelving everywhere, there's bit and pieces. It was awful, I hated being in that space."
The interior stylist and mum of three (@katythomasstudio) set about getting quotes to find out how much it would cost to get the laundry professionally renovated.
But Thomas was stunned when she was told it would cost between A$5000 ($5344) to A$6000 to makeover the "narrow" space.
"We did look at getting quotes as soon as we moved into the house to do the laundry and they were so outrageous that I thought oh my gosh, and we put it off," she said.
Instead Thomas, who is a Bunnings ambassador, decided to renovate the laundry herself, with the project coming in at a much more palatable A$1300 using products from the hardware store.
Thomas bought white flat pack cupboards which she updated with black round handles which cost just A$5 for the small size and A$8 for the large version.
The end result wowed her followers on Instagram. Photo / Supplied
She made her benchtop from a piece of timber which she and her husband sealed themselves.
She also managed to add an expensive detail she had originally wanted – wood panelled cupboards – for a fraction of the price.
"I had a tight budget that we were working towards so I had to be creative and come up with different ways of how I was going to get that end result," she said.
"I love panelled timber doors and when I originally went to get that quote it was just going to be too much of budget spent on doors, I wouldn't have had enough for the rest of the room … I've ended up putting that panelling in for our splashback instead of the doors, which I love."
Lastly, she added overhead shelving and gave the laundry a fresh coat of white paint.
She estimates it took the couple around a week to put the new laundry together in between homeschooling their children and their fulltime jobs.
The couple transformed their laundry with Bunnings supplies. Photo / Supplied
"It was in between a busy time – we had a lot of late nights putting flat packs together, but in saying that for the end result it's so worth it and we've saved so much money.
"I feel it's a great project and I'd do it a hundred times over."
She said renovations for rooms that weren't on display should be done on a budget as they weren't likely to be used by guests.
"For A$1300 for all the products was pretty amazing compared to what the original quotes [were] and getting custom made cabinets and bench tops made can cost a fortune.
