Home stylist's Bunnings laundry renovation saves $4000

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.

"I just didn't want to spend that much money on a laundry, you know you don't have friends over and you don't spend time entertaining in there.

"It needs to look beautiful and be functional and still look nice, but I just didn't want to spend too much money on it."

Helping Thomas stay under budget was creating a mood board and wish list of items which helped her keep track of what she needed to buy.

"I think having a clear idea of how you want it to look, mood boards are such a simple way but they're so effective," she said.

"When you're taking on any project mood board everything."