Cheap but stylish renovation of a small apartment. How to make a budget renovation of an apartment Budget renovation of a small apartment

Before renting out an apartment, owners often neglect even cleaning, not to mention making repairs. This happens especially often when a person inherits an apartment, but he does not intend to spend time and money on bringing it into proper condition. But with proper budgetary repairs, you can quickly improve the condition of your home, which means you can rent it out for a lot of money, recouping the costs.

And today the editorial office “So Simple!” will tell you how to do it so that it is fast, economical, and most importantly - noticeable. After all, adequate tenants are unlikely to move into a dirty apartment where the toilet is leaking and the floor is cracked.

Budget apartment renovation

Even the most terrible apartment at first glance can be quickly put in order without huge costs, although, of course, you will have to work. And here's what you should pay attention to.

1. Cleaning
   It’s trite, but novice landlords sometimes don’t even bother to clean the apartment and throw away unnecessary things. Some even explain the presence of rubbish, saying that it might be useful to someone. Indeed, how will new residents manage without pickle jars, a leaky bucket, a broken iron or a set of candles...

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   When settling in a new place, a person tries to arrange the space for himself, and he will feel awkward throwing away other people’s trash. Therefore, it is better to leave only working equipment, dishes and furniture. A cluttered and untidy apartment is unlikely to be in demand.

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   Everyone understands that they need to scrub off stains and wash the windows. But sometimes it’s better to spend money on cleaning by professionals, since cleaning companies are not uncommon today. A high-quality cleaning will refresh even the most neglected home. By the way, we recently shared.

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2. Quick fix
   If you only plan to rent out the apartment in the coming years, then you shouldn’t invest serious money in renovations. However, some elements still need to be put in order. For example, replace broken light bulbs, buy new oilcloth for kitchen table or even purchase a miniature wardrobe to replace the massive and falling apart old one. Agree, it’s not that expensive, but it gives a completely different look.

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3. Plumbing
   The bathroom is a place that in almost any apartment that has not been renovated for a long time is in a deplorable state. It is the terrible state of the plumbing that makes potential tenants disgusted and forces them to look for better options.

   A dripping faucet, a broken watering can and a leaking toilet are clearly not attributes of a dream apartment, so solve these troubles yourself or call a professional. It will be worse for you if the tenants flood the neighbors. By the way, we have already told you if you are going to do repairs alone. It's not as difficult as it seems at first glance.

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4. Furniture
   There is no need to clutter the apartment with broken furniture; let only what remains is what will not fall apart in the first months of use. If replacing sofas and armchairs with new ones is expensive, you can give them a new life.

   Make a list of furniture and think about what you would keep. Sometimes repaired and repainted tables and chairs last for more than one year, and the owners are soon perplexed that they recently wanted to throw away all this beauty. The main thing is to use a little imagination or search on the Internet.

   

5. Tolerable floor
   The first thing you see when you first enter someone else's apartment is the floor. It is this part of the home that affects the first impression, so make sure that the coating is in adequate condition. The problem is that it is almost impossible to repair the floor quickly and cheaply, which means you need to find other options.

   

   Buying can be a real salvation bamboo mat or plain paths to cover unsightly areas. But it’s better to repair it conscientiously, since the building materials market offers a lot of budget opportunities for this. But if you use your imagination, you can

   Bogdan Stasiuk

   He dreams that people will treat nature more carefully. In the future, he plans to engage in the protection of wild animals, environmental protection and other useful activities that will improve the condition of the planet. Bogdan believes that such work makes more sense than any other! He wants to one day return to Finland, which amazed him with its crystal clear lakes and friendly people. I would also like to come to St. Petersburg for a long time to get to know the city better. Bogdan is an energetic and cheerful football player. Our editor's favorite book, after reading which he began writing articles, is “Martin Eden” by Jack London.

When changing your life for the better, you should start with yourself, your environment, goals, ideals, but it is also important to bring changes to your own home. Beautiful, comfortable, cozy home– deposit good mood, positive emotions, spiritual harmony. Therefore, you should not be afraid to start making changes in your apartment even if you lack financial resources. Repair is indeed a very expensive task, but if it is organized correctly, the result is always justified. The main thing is desire and hands.

How to renovate an apartment on a small budget?

Prices on the construction goods market lately bite, but with a competent approach to business, cost planning, you can avoid overpayment and purchase quality materials easily. Having planned renovation work in an apartment, you should first carefully consider the sequence of actions. Initially, you need to decide on the following nuances.

1. The whole apartment will be subject to change, or maybe a separate room?
2. On what scale should we re-glue the boring wallpaper, change the linoleum, or change the electrical wiring, heating, or make other global changes?
3. What to replace old furniture, is it possible to restore it on your own?
4. Where can you get ideas for updating your interior design, and ways to bring them to life with minimal financial costs?

Often, budget renovation implies a gradual transformation of each separate room. For the case when apartment owners live on one salary, this ideal option. Repairing even one room a year is already progress; you should not despair when there is no financial opportunity to carry out repairs quickly.

Basic rules for budget renovation. Where to start?

When undertaking such an important task as a budget renovation of an apartment with your own hands, it is worth very meticulously assessing the condition of the electrical wiring, water supply, sewerage, and heating. Having made sure that everything is fine with these communications, you can begin to evaluate the premises themselves. As a rule, the following elements of the apartment are subject to alteration.

The main stages of budget renovation

When starting work, be sure to consider the following: important steps that will need to be done.

Bathroom renovation

The bathroom requires a responsible approach; often, in the absence of good ventilation, this is where such hated mold appears. To prevent this from happening, you should definitely check the ventilation; if it is completely absent, you need to install it. The most popular material for lining bathroom walls and floors for many years is ceramic tiles and its derivatives. It costs differently, it is quite possible to find a budget option, in extreme cases, you can always take plastic (lining). It washes well, does not absorb moisture, is easy to install, but “ages” a little faster. If you plan everything carefully, it’s not at all difficult to carry out a budget apartment renovation with your own hands.

Decorating living rooms

Thanks to the accessibility of the Internet, you can find a lot of options for ideas for decorative transformation of your home. The main thing is not to miss something that can be given a second life. For example, decorating the doors of an old wardrobe with inexpensive full-length mirrors will definitely not be worse than modern “sliding wardrobes”. Apply to glass doors Soviet cabinets, sideboards, mosaic, decoupage, or paint them in bright, rich colors, paste them over self-adhesive tape. All this is quite accessible.

When there are many things or objects in the household that need to be kept away from prying eyes, you need to build the so-called wardrobe yourself, simply by attaching chipboard sheets, OSB boards in special corners, and hide numerous shelves behind fabric screens of interesting colors or prints. A very fashionable option today is to decorate a living room or bedroom with “wicker” curtains. They are easy to make; there are plenty of instructions on the Internet.

If you don’t have enough money to renovate your apartment, you can use budget option. It does not require a global refurbishment of housing - demolition or addition of walls, but will help transform the apartment by updating it.

What is needed for repair

Before starting work, you should make a shopping list and put down approximate prices. Then it will be clear what the funds are enough for.

If it is expected cosmetic repairs rooms, then an approximate list necessary materials and equipment could be like this:

1. Wallpaper. The number of rolls is easy to count. Usually one is 10 meters. First, measure the length and width of the room and multiply these values. The result will be a number equal to area surface to be pasted. When calculating, you must not forget about the additional centimeters for adjusting the pattern and remember that the whole canvas is glued together. The remainder will go to the space above the door, near the window.
2. Wallpaper glue. Usually one package is enough for a medium-sized room.
3. Primer.
4. Spatula.
5. Putty. If you are unlucky and the walls are not pleasing with their straightness, then you may need quite a lot of this building material. Cheaper is dry putty, which is diluted with water according to the instructions.
6. For the ceiling - panels made of polystyrene foam, PVC or water-based paint.
7. Adhesive for panels. It will be needed if they are chosen as ceiling decoration.
8. Brushes, oil paint for doors, windows.
9. Laminate or linoleum.

Main works

After the materials have been purchased, you need to remove the furniture from the room or move it to the center and cover it with film. Repair work begins from the ceiling.

Before application water-based paint Using water and a rag, wash off the old coating, but this is quite troublesome and time-consuming. The whitewash will drip down and stain the floor and furnishings. Therefore, it is better to choose the option with panels. There are very cheap, but nice samples. They stick well even to old, unprepared ceilings using panel glue. They start from the center of the room and reach its extreme sides.

The walls are freed from old wallpaper.

It is convenient to remove old wallpaper using warm water and a roller. This tool, dipped in water, coats the wallpaper and can be easily removed after 15 minutes.

If the walls are uneven, then putty is applied to them. It should dry within 24 hours. After this, you can apply a primer, and when it dries, glue the wallpaper. Then they paint window frames(if they are wooden) and doors.

Laminate and linoleum – inexpensive options floor covering. In addition, they are easy to lay and lay. These materials can be used to make floors not only in rooms, but also in the kitchen and hallway. Wallpaper, ceiling tiles in these rooms they are glued in the same way as in rooms. The result is a clean, updated apartment and a minimum of money spent on it.

A common everyday thing: the apartment clearly requires renovation, and there is little money. How to make inexpensive apartment renovations with your own hands? It seems to be the simplest, most obvious way: superficial cosmetic repairs. That is, wallpapering, whitewashing the ceiling, painting, fixing the creaky floor; Possibly replacing windows.

However, if you calculate the labor costs and consumption of materials, it turns out that by increasing the labor costs by half and the money spent by a quarter, you can give the apartment a completely different look, and for a long time. How much you need to invest specifically depends on prices in the region, but general methods, which can be used to make an apartment cozy and elegant inexpensively, are the same.

Saving cash when renovating an apartment with your own hands, like the Earth in ancient legends, it stands on three whales and a slowly hurrying turtle under them:

1. We are not afraid of work. Nothing comes from nothing. Either money or labor.
2. Wherever possible, we don’t change old things that are capital but have lost their appearance, but renew them.
3. We place maximum savings where it will not affect the quality of work and will not be visible.
4. We spread the costs of labor and money over time: having planned a renovation in the summer or fall, we spend a year preparing, and then we rush in and do everything quickly. Spending 200-300 thousand rubles at once is a problem, but breaking it up in parts over a year is quite possible. In addition, there will be time for measure seven times and cut once.

Where is it difficult to save money?

The only area where you will have to invite a specialist is to redo and strengthen the electrical wiring, if it is old and weak. Here the only way savings - negotiate with the DEZ electrician. He will do the work in pieces, in free time, but the likelihood of hack work will be even less than that of “branded” specialists: after all, he will then have to service all this.

It’s better not to skimp on electricity and wiring, but you can do some things, like installing sockets, yourself.

Tool

Good specialized tool makes the work much easier and cheaper. But buying it is expensive. Therefore, it is better to rent a tool as needed. In terms of costs, it will not cost much if you decide on the design in advance and draw up an approximate work plan for yourself.

Time of year

Plumbing

A sore point when doing cheap DIY repairs is replacing plumbing fixtures. If it is still “alive”, just dirty, then you can clean and paint it. How to do this will be described below. But if there are chips and cracks, then whether you like it or not, you need to replace it.

For such a case, here’s some information for you: new residents, especially in houses above the budget category, often immediately start planning major renovation, and excellent, brand new earthenware and cast iron plumbing ends up in a landfill. Landfill operators (simply landfill workers) have long since turned this circumstance into a profitable business.

They do not make direct contact with strangers via their office phone, but use methods word of mouth It is quite possible to reach them. The rate is from a third to half of the factory price for a household item. And don’t think that they will take you to the landfill and show you where it lies. In the back room you will be offered a choice of clean, thoroughly washed products, which you can immediately sit on.

Construction waste

The next sore point is export construction waste. The operation is not cheap and requires paperwork. Exit: basement, barn, cottage or closet and several used bags made of plastic sackcloth, bought for pennies. Construction waste does not sour or rot; it can then be poured into a container at the house dump, bucket by bucket. There is nothing illegal about this.

Slats, boards, timber and plywood

For various utility work and sewing large surfaces, you will need wooden slats and plywood. You can buy slats not planed, but slabs - waste from sawing industrial wood. Croaker is sold raw, but if it is purchased in advance, in March-April, and kept in a dry room until autumn, it will not be inferior in quality to edged lumber.

As for plywood, waste packaging plywood from disassembled used containers can be turned into waterproof in the following way:

• We buy a 10 liter canister or two PVA putties; it is similar to very thin PVA glue and is cheap.
• We cover the floor in the country house, barn, attic or some other non-residential premises plastic film. The air temperature is not lower than +13 degrees.
• We lay a sheet of plywood on the floor, pour a puddle of putty into the center of it and disperse it with a brush.
• We cover the plywood with plastic, lay down the next sheet, putty in the same way, etc.
• We place heavier pressure on a foot of plywood soaked in PVA; better - dispersed over the area: bricks, pieces of metal, concrete, old TV etc.
• After a week, we repeat the procedure, turning over each sheet.
• After another two weeks, the smooth waterproof plywood is ready for use. Additional exposure under pressure will improve its quality.

Boards and large pieces of thick timber can also be obtained from used containers - pallets for cargo. Advertisements for their sale are common.

Materials

Very economical option repair – and; for thrifty, richer owners - MDF. When sheathing according wooden sheathing from slab in 80% of cases there is no need to level the walls and ceiling, which already eliminates high costs labor and money.

You can save even more by covering the walls up to your waist or chest, and covering them with non-woven wallpaper up to the ceiling. The work is simplified and cheaper, and the bottom of the walls, which gets damaged and dirty the most, will be reliably protected by resistant material.

The most economical option for flooring is. Preparing the floor for it is not required in 90% of cases. But marmoleum is not suitable for the bathroom and toilet; here you will have to fork out money for tiles, especially since you will need only a little of it.

If you want to have a plank-like floor in your rooms, it will not be much more expensive, but the floor may have to be leveled.

The walls in the bathroom can be covered with laminated hardboard instead of tiles - it is hygroscopic and does not require surface preparation.

Balcony

If you plan to glaze and insulate the balcony, then it is better to do it separately from everything else and in advance: from the end of March to the beginning of May. Outside, but inside it can, instead, be sewn up with plywood, pasting it with self-adhesive film.

Windows and doors

When deciding how to renovate an apartment economically, you need special attention pay attention to windows and doors: they account for a significant share of costs. As for windows, here is the most economical option: . It is more advisable to purchase them in March-April, when prices for industrial wood fall, and to install them in late spring - early summer, when the wood dries out properly and shrinks. Installation technology wooden windows quite accessible through openings home handyman average.

It would be better to update the doors. Remember about making your own waterproof plywood? So both sides of the door are sheathed with it, using assembly glue, placing the door removed from its hinges on a plastic mat and under pressure. At the same time, you can close the window in the interior door if it is not needed.

The door will become thicker. There are two options here:

1. Reinstalling hinges - no best way"for the lazy."
2. Remove the previous lining from the door; it is most often made from construction cardboard or thin fiberboard, and put a new plywood frame on it. In this case, the chipped corners “go away” immediately.

In both cases new door pasted over with self-adhesive wood-like or other textured material and varnished. And you will be surprised (pleasantly, of course) by its new appearance. And hard plywood cheeks will ensure durability of the door. The doorway slopes are better made from the same plywood: it will be cheaper and more beautiful than replastering.

Bathroom

Toilet and washbasin

Dirty plumbing fixtures, if they are intact, need to be cleaned. The recommended active ones for this are quite expensive. detergents can be replaced with much cheaper table vinegar - that too weak acid– followed by washing the soggy deposits with the most ordinary washing powder. Just don’t use abrasive detergents - they will scratch the glaze, and objects, especially the toilet, will get dirty very quickly.

For cleaning with vinegar, they make kvasha - a knob made of a rag on a stick. Vinegar is added to areas where it will not leak, or kvass is dipped into it, and streaks are removed using circular movements and pressure. Particularly “stubborn” spots in the recesses are removed with small kvass and technical hydrochloric acid. All this, of course, is done with latex household gloves, a plastic apron and open doors and windows. It is also advisable to wear a respirator, at least a cheap “petal”.

Tiles on walls and floors

Tiles that are not chipped or cracked can be restored using a method well known to motorists; This is how they update the frayed plastic spoilers and bumpers:

• The entire surface is coated with my Pemolux; Do not use active detergents containing acid! For a bathroom in a Khrushchev building, 1 liter is enough; for a larger one - correspondingly more.
• After Pemolux, wipe with a rag generously moistened with the same table vinegar: Pemolux is alkaline based, and vinegar neutralizes its residues.
• Wipe several times with a wet rag until a clean rag is obtained; Now we have gotten rid of the dirt that has ingrained itself into the surface.
• We cover the edges of the tiles with masking tape (“paper tape”), except for the seams.
• We paint the seams using a spray bottle with nitro paint in two layers; the second - after the first has completely dried.
• Remove the tape, remove splashes and drips of paint on the tiles with a cotton swab soaked in solvent 646 or 647.
• We buy a can of liquid silicone lubricant at a car market or auto store, and properly spray the tiles with the seams.
• If the lubricant is absorbed immediately, you will have to spray again.
• If after 2-3 days there is still silicone on the tile, wipe the surface with a rag soaked in vinegar.

The point of this treatment is that silicone tightens microcracks and pores in which dirt accumulates. Treatment lasts for 3-5 years, and then it can be repeated.

Bath

A cast iron capital bathtub can be restored. Complaints about its fragility arise from violations of cooking technology coloring composition and its application. If the technology is strictly followed, the restored bathtub will serve for another 10-15 years.

Heated towel rail

It is not at all necessary to replace it with an expensive one made of stainless steel or brass and make a bypass for it. The heated towel rail is stripped down to metal after cleaning the bathtub for painting with the same cord brush in a drill chuck. If no fistulas are found, it is painted with the remaining compound from painting the bathtub. The look will be no worse than modern branded ones, and the durability will be like that of a bathtub.

Video: economical bathroom renovation

Fasteners

You can save up to 1,000 rubles on fasteners during repairs by using phosphated (black) rather than galvanized or cadmium-plated (shiny). The heads of self-tapping screws and dowel-nails will still have to be sealed, but there is no rain or frost in the apartment.

Design

To make a cheap renovation, you first need to know what needs to be done and how, what the apartment should look like after renovation. Don’t be too lazy to confer with the whole family several times, look at more pictures of ready-made apartments. Design is not something incomprehensibly sublime; Most people are endowed with artistic taste. The professionalism of a designer in most cases comes down to understanding the client’s taste and guessing what he wants. And you, since you are doing it for yourself, need to understand what you want. Up to 50% of the costs of do-it-yourself repairs arise from the fact that they start at random and then correct and redo them along the way.

Sequence of work

And finally, carrying out work in correct sequence: we start from a distance front door, and in the course of work we are gradually approaching it. Living room, bedroom and can be renovated in any order. Then it's time for the kitchen. We make the hallway the second to last one, and complete the renovation with the bathroom. Savings come from the amount of construction waste (and half of it is waste of materials that were paid for) and from the reworking of soiled and battered waste due to unreasonable organization of work.

Based on the above, you can make a comprehensive renovation of the apartment with original design, spending little more than cosmetic repairs.

Video: reflections on the quality and cost of repairs

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Discussion:

Ksenia said:

Last year, renovating a room in a communal apartment cost me a maximum of three and a half thousand. Of these, wallpaper and glue are about three thousand. A friend gave me three kg of putty for free, she filled up small uneven spots and bought a spatula. I bought a can of paint and a brush. In general, everything has changed with the world, but the appearance has become completely different. Ask your friends for materials more often; many also have some left over after repairs, but it’s a pity to throw them away.

Olga said:

We were able to save a lot on finishing the walls, but unfortunately, we didn’t immediately figure out how to do it, so we had one bedroom for the price of a corridor and hallway or a living room with a kitchen.
The bedroom was wallpapered at a discount (ourselves) - 4,000 rubles, and the rest was plastered by my husband.
Putty (the most common one) was mixed with acrylic primer and color (we found videos with decorative plaster on YouTube).
He did it for the first time, but it turned out very well.

Alexey said:

When you do the repairs yourself, this in itself saves money. The hired team will do everything to ultimately inflate the price and it is not a fact that the work will be done efficiently. You yourself will always do what you need and save money. You can definitely save money on tools, for example, ask your neighbor =). I have all the tools I need for repairs, so everyone I know saves money on me by borrowing them. The most important thing is to do everything without haste. You need to start with small rooms or with a toilet, a bathroom and slowly do it, calculating the means and design of the renovation.

Vladomir said:

I have never been particularly involved in apartment renovations, since due to my military profession, they were all temporary. So on to the little things: put up some wallpaper, tint something, tighten it up, and nothing more. It all started with obtaining permanent housing in 1994. Then I had to work hard and learn a lot. I literally tormented store clerks and skilled neighbors with questions. However, without hiring anyone, slowly but surely I learned with my own hands how to properly glue wallpaper, lay and adjust linoleum, scrape parquet, move doors, sockets and switches, change plumbing fixtures, lay out brick walls and plaster them, as well as much more. They started coming design solutions. For example, to the general indignation of my parents, I destroyed the pantry (“mother-in-law’s room”), resulting in an almost complete third room. Yes, it was a real school, which later came in handy for me many times! Therefore, it is not in vain that they say: “The eyes are afraid, but the hands are doing.” There is no need to talk about significant cost savings at all.

1. A good face for a bad game.

100% polyester silk. Stone-like tiles, parquet-like linoleum, onyx-like laminate, Trekhgorka like Ralph Lauren. Python-like porcelain tiles. “Artificially aged” something... It’s embarrassing to even think about. Alas, the number will not work. Look through good interior design magazines. There, everywhere a stone is a stone, and a tree is just that: a tree. If you don’t have money for parquet, and simple laminate is beneath your dignity, look for a good engineering board. The result is a floor that looks worth much more than the money you spent on it. A good alternative to porcelain tiles for kitchens, bathrooms and hallways - cement tiles. The result will look a hundred times more expensive.

2. Leave the ceiling alone.

Everyone has become obsessed with ceilings! If you think sensibly, focusing your attention on the ceiling only reminds everyone of its existence. And according to its height. Even if it cracks, the two-sixty-high ceilings will not turn into majestic vaults melting somewhere in an unimaginable height. This cannot happen, no matter what the “decorator’s tricks” promise you. Just accept it. Tall doorways can do much more for your home than a ridiculous five-layer ceiling with neon lights. Let interior doors will be two in height, say twenty. A door handles lower it a little, five to seven centimeters. By taking a non-standard approach, you will be pleasantly surprised by the result.

3. When choosing paint for walls, think about the movement of color throughout the house.

Neighboring. If you have a bright living room, let the hallway be painted in a deep, relatively dark color. The cost of paint will be the same in any case, and the result can look really expensive.

4. Buy modular cabinets from laminate in a store, and order the doors for them from a good carpentry workshop.

This will give you significant savings, which, however, no one will ever notice. The same is true for kitchen equipment.

5. If you still purchase ready-made cabinet furniture, let the veneer of the facades be dark, and the door panels be simple (rectangular).

Remember: light wood always looks cheaper. Avoid yellowish and reddish shades of veneer. And, while saving on the furniture itself, invest in good handles!

6. If on good carpet no money, look for viscose carpet or mixed fibers imitating a silk or wool pile carpet.

Choose the color and texture that suits you and order a piece of the size you need. For a little extra money, its edges will be covered with braid.

7. Place the curtains on a thick lining.

Even inexpensive curtain fabric will greatly benefit from this. Look for fabrics that are three meters wide. This results in significant savings. If you are not willing to spend a lot, avoid printed textiles (fabrics with a pattern). When cutting patterned fabrics, due to the need to properly join the fabrics, a lot of scraps remain. The more rapport, the more waste. Do not use curtain tape for curtains. Let the seamstress lay down the “hand” folds. It's not that expensive, and the pleats, gathered with braid, look very cheap.

8. Set-set-set. Identical things in the interior are permissible only in one case: if they are paired items that form a symmetrical composition. and leave the sconces from one set to those to whom God has not given imagination. They are the kits upholstered furniture“a sofa or two armchairs” and similar tender sadness. For more details, see the next paragraph.

9. Ready-made solutions.

Bad news: there isn't any. At least for us. Shower room being built construction method because it is a room. Unless you are running a student hostel or underground massage parlor with a striptease, the shower stall (this sad structure made of yellow acrylic and skewed doors) will not suit you. Don't spend money on “designer” plumbing fixtures. Let appearance The plumbing equipment of the bathroom (kitchen, toilet) will be dictated by function. Buy washbasins and faucets simple shapes, without inappropriate decor. The toilet should be inconspicuous and do its job. No one will admire him, right?

10. Paintings, prints, engravings, photographs and posters frame in simple but deep frames with glass and always with a mat.

Even a picture printed on a home inkjet printer (or a naive children's drawing), in such a frame looks very significant. Play with the size of the mat. A small work in a very wide mat looks very “designer-like”. And, by the way, cardboard for mats can be of almost any color.

11. Comfort. Another collective fetish.

According to my observations, what in our Palestinians is called “comfort”, in 99 percent of cases, is poetic closeness. In many ways, this is a physical memory of a bygone childhood, of the warm and affectionate meager Soviet life with carpets teeming with saprophytes, a kind grandmother, Czechoslovak crystal and the unread Dreiser in the polished Polish wall of “Hanka”. Moreover, expensive devilry like round bed with music and a minibar, a bar counter with a built-in aquarium, etc. The same is true for such rich things as lambrequin, garland and swag. Don't worry: in a good, well-thought-out interior, comfort inevitably comes naturally. That's why…

12. ...Farewell, gypsy Sera!

Duvet covers made of calico in fine Nefertiti, towels in scarlet roses, pillowcases in eye-catching shades, nylon blankets with Shanghai leopards. All these are attributes of collective farm chic, forgive me for being blunt. They will not add comfort. Variegated coloring is often necessary for these things solely to hide their exceptionally lousy quality. Keep bed linen and bath towels simply white (options: ivory, ecru). But made from excellent Egyptian cotton.

13. However, it is also important not to overdo it with ivory.

Peach, beige, sand... The average nuanced range is good for chain hotels. Because their stenciled interiors are bound to please everyone. You should like your interior. After all, he is a manifestation of your essence, right? Pick up a fan palette from any paint manufacturer. Do you feel pleasant heaviness? These are your possibilities. Don't miss them!