Mum gives home doll's house makeover for £100 by painting charity shop furniture

Mum Elaina Sanches, 48, reckons she’s saved £3,000 on redecorating her house by painting cheap charity shop furniture rather than buying new pieces.

Elaina began experimenting with DIY projects and crafting six years ago after giving up her job as a carer when her son Luke, 12, was diagnosed with autism.

Her biggest project has been turning her home into a ‘real-life doll’s house’ for just £100.

Elaina has already transformed the kitchen, bedroom and downstairs bathroom of her four-bedroom home in Maesteg, Wales, by buying charity shop furniture for as little as £4 a piece and doing it up in her preferred shabby chic style with a lick of paint.

Elaina, who is originally from Brazil but moved to the UK in 1996, said: ‘Five years ago I started crafting when I couldn’t work because I needed to look after my son, Luke.

‘I needed to find something to get on with while he was at school. I didn’t know how to paint or decorate anything so my boyfriend taught me how to.

‘I began looking in charity shops and bought bits of cheap furniture that looked a bit rubbish and painted them in my own style.

‘I decorated my kitchen five years ago – it was a plain and normal kitchen before, the house is 24 years old and I couldn’t afford to buy a new kitchen so that’s why I decided to do it myself.

‘I can now do it with my eyes closed and save thousands of pounds by upcycling the second hand furniture – the three room transformations probably cost me about £100 all together.

‘A lot of people like the design and style – people go crazy about the kitchen and say that it makes them happy when they see my pictures.

‘Some say it’s ‘too much’ but my style is not for everyone which is fine – people like different things.

‘The rooms do look similar to a doll’s house with fairytale girly themes. It reminds me of when I was a child because I played with lots of doll’s houses.’

For Elaina’s kitchen, she started by painting the walls with pink paint, then moved on to painting the cupboards with £20 chalk paint, which she  distressed and pasted flowery wallpaper onto give them a ‘Cath Kidston’ look.

The kitchen table, which was an old pub table, cost her just £7 and she also revamped a mini cupboard for £6 – both were painted and distressed with chalk paint.

Her most recent project was the downstairs bathroom, where she took the carpet out and painted the floor before adding other charity shop finds.

The lounge includes a revamped TV stand for £8, a corner table for £4 and two other tables costing £7 and £4.

In Elaina’s bedroom, she has revamped her bed stand, bedside table and drawers with the shabby chic effect, but with more neutral white paint.

She admitted her most ‘expensive’ charity shop revamp was a grandfather clock in her hallway – which cost just £25 and involved her painting it before decorating it with wallpaper and flowers.

Elaina said revamping a piece of large furniture can take her just one day to do, but the smaller things can take her a matter of hours.

She used to see lots of expensive shabby chic furniture in shop windows, which inspired her to put her own twist on it and create her own.

The mum shares her work online with more than 23,000 fans on Facebook and now offers up her home furniture makeover services to her close pals.

Next Elaina plans to revamp another bedroom in her home with more white shabby chic furniture.

She added: ‘I love crafting, it’s good for the mind and I can switch off while doing it every day.

‘I’m big on eco friendly stuff like recycling so I enjoy upcycling this furniture.

‘People ask where I get my ideas from and I guess it’s just from my country. because we craft lots in Brazil from things like cans and bottles.’

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