Home makeover: 'I went over to the dark side'

With an eye for a bargain and a love of dark colours, Alex Richards transformed her home on the tiniest of budgets.

Here, she shares her home makeover story...

My story

After my separation, I had to find a home for myself and my son, William, that was within our budget. As soon as I walked into this house, I could instantly imagine us being really happy here.

I didn’t do much to start with, as I wanted to get to know the house, though I did buy lots of second-hand furniture that I upcycled and painted black.

After a year, my friend persuaded me to really go for it with the dark décor. I was nervous as I didn’t have much confidence with interior design, but I decided to try it and painted the kitchen dark grey, which I loved.

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It made everything look so cosy and I really got the bug.

I painted the stairs next and then did my bedroom, which was really dramatic as I went dark in the whole room. Every time I did a new project, I got a little bit more ambitious, eventually painting the living room ceiling black.

Then I moved onto the bathroom. I got professionals in to help thankfully, as when they removed the tiles all the plaster came off, so they had to take it back to the original brick.

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This worked in my favour though, as I wouldn’t have thought to have bare brick in there, but now I love the look in the space. This isn’t necessarily my forever home, but I’ve learned so much doing this house and I feel confident that I could do something really amazing with my next home.

Kitchen

‘The original kitchen cabinets were all white, so after painting the walls, I decided to go for a dark colour, just on the low cabinets, to add interest. I had to self-isolate for two weeks due to Coronavirus, so I decided to make the most of the time and retile the kitchen.

‘I’d dabbled with stencils, but the paint was starting to peel off, then a friend suggested tile stickers. These metro-style stickers came in big sheets, so it only took me a couple of hours to do, and they were cheap at £100 for the lot.

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‘I changed the sockets myself as the existing ones were buried in about thirty layers of paint.’

Living room

‘There wasn’t much in here in terms of original features, so I added the cornicing first, though it was a nightmare to attach as all the walls are wonky. I really wanted a dark living room and had been toying with it for a while, but I had a lot of dark furniture so didn’t think I could go black on the walls.

‘Then I came up with the idea of painting the ceiling – after all, it’s our biggest unused surface so it should still be something we consider when decorating. I had already painted the bathroom ceiling as it slopes and blends into the wall, though that was just a small area. But it gave me the confidence to try it in here and I think it looks great.’

Master bedroom

‘The inspiration here came from a stay in a hotel my boyfriend booked for us. The room was decorated with dark paint and panelling, and I loved the look so decided to replicate it in here.

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‘I had seen panelling done on TV and realised it was just gluing pieces of wood on the wall, so I took lots of photos in preparation.

‘I researched how to do the work, making drawings and taking measurements, so when I was ready everything was in place.

‘I went to a builders’ merchant and cheekily asked them if they would cut the wood to the exact size and then I simply glued them onto the wall, though in a Victorian house nothing is straight so a spirit level was my friend. I finished the look by painting the whole room in Downpipe by Farrow & Ball.’

Bathroom

‘I initially replaced the taps and painted the bath panel and floor, but the wall tiles were cracked with mouldy grout and seals, and there was no storage. Thankfully, I decided to pay a professional to do the work, because the day they started I got a phone call to say there was a problem.

‘The tiles had come off and there was no adhesion to the plaster underneath, so the builders had no choice but to take all the plaster off and go back to the brick.

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‘I came home and could see my garden through the wall, but I also saw the sun shining in the bathroom and the bricks glowing and it looked beautiful, so I decided to keep and restore them. The vanity unit is an old record cabinet that I converted to give me some extra storage.’

William's room

‘I was really lucky that the previous owners had a little boy and the room was freshly painted, which meant William could move straight in. I liked the idea of colour blocking and showed William some pictures and he spotted an image of mountains that he loved, though he did insist on the snowy caps.

‘I used leftover paint and tester pots, so the whole project only cost me about £4. It was a bit tricky using masking tape to get the mountains to overlap – and at one point I was drying the paint sections with a hairdryer – but William loves it, so it was worth the effort.’

This is a digital version of a feature that originally appeared in Your Home magazine. For more inspirational home ideas, why not subscribe today?