A single mum who couldn’t afford to redecorate her bedroom has created her own stunning panelling for under £6.
Joanne Mccabe, 45, a mum-of-three from Swansea, managed to take on the DIY job herself after she was given a load of wood for free by a neighbour.
The money-saver already had paint, a sander, wood filler and a hand saw sitting in her shed.
This meant the only money Joanne had to fork out was £5.98 on two tubes of No NailsGlue.
Joanne says she has always loved the look of panelling but never had money to spare to afford to buy the wood.
Speaking to LatestDeals.co.uk she said: "I came up with the idea because as a single parent, money can be tight.
“Then last year a neighbour across the road gave me some wood he was going to take to the tip and asked if I wanted it.
“It sat in my garden for months then I thought why not give it a go? If it doesn't work I've wasted no money.
“All I had was a sander, wood filler and a hand saw, and the paint was a mixture of paint from my shed, so literally all I had to buy were two tubes of No NailsGlue totalling £5.98.”
Joanne says she didn't have a specific design in mind, so worked the panelling around the socket on her wall.
Have you managed to save money by taking on a DIY project yourself? Let us know: mirror.money.saving@mirror.co.uk
The first thing she did was measure the middle of the wall and start by and propped a length of wood against it.
“Then I got more wood and started to lean them up against the wall,” explained Joanne.
“This meant I could work out my design before making any cuts so once I worked out where I wanted the wood to go, I stuck the wood to the wall.
"I did the bottom first, then the sides, then the top so it looked like one giant square.
“Then I glued my long middle sections to the wall and from there that's where I worked out how big I wanted my squares.
“In the in-between sections I went for two smaller squares and one larger square just to be a bit different as in most panelling I have seen, all the squares are the same size.
"I attached all the wood to the wall using the No Nails glue, then used wood filler for the joints, then sanded them back.”
Joanne then painted the wood with dark navy paint that she already had in her shed mixed with a white emulsion to give a lighter colour.
It only took two coats to cover the wood and the wall.
"I figured out what to do as just by looking at panelling you can get the gist of what you need to do,” said Joanne.
“My attitude was 'if it doesn't work then I haven't wasted any money', that's why I didn't mind giving such a big project a go.
“After doing the panelling, I tackled the flooring.
"I didn't have money for a carpet so I hand-sanded the floor and bought two tins of white chalk paint and a tub of wax - so my flooring cost £28.
"I'm really proud of myself for taking on such a big project and achieving the look I was going for.
“Something like this would typically have cost hundreds, which is way out of my budget.”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: “Joanne’s panelling looks like it cost hundreds - certainly not a mere £6.
“While not all of us have such generous neighbours, that’s not to say you can’t find free materials if you want to transform your home.
“Download FreeCycle and Olio to find locals giving away free things they don’t need, from musical instruments to furniture - and you should also regularly browse Facebook Marketplace too.
“From pallets to paint, there’s a world of freebies waiting to help you turn your home into a Pinterest-worthy space on a shoestring budget.”
