DIY enthusiast reveals how she knocked down the wall to her dark box room to make an open-plan office for just £1,000 by upcycling Ikea drawers and doing her own painting
- Charlotte Summers, from Brighton, knocked down the wall to her dark box room to create an airy office
- She said the poky room was a ‘waste of space’ and wanted to have an open-plan study at the end of the hall
- Charlotte, who shares her transformations on Instagram, reveals she completed the whole project for £1,000
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An DIY enthusiast has revealed how she transformed her upstairs hallway and dark spare room into a bright and airy home office space for just over £1,000.
Charlotte Summers, from Brighton, realised she didn’t need the poky box room at the end of her upstairs landing, so decided to knock down the wall and form an open-plan hallway and study space to let in more light.
The landing received a smart refresh, with new painted banisters and balustrades and painted walls. She also added built in shelving and a new desk looking out the window.
An DIY enthusiast has revealed how she transformed her upstairs hallway and dark spare room into a bright and airy home office space for £1,000. Above, the wall at the end of the hall was torn down (left) and replaced with an open-plan space
Previously, the area at the end of the hallway was taken up by a dark box bedroom (pictured) that the couple didn’t need. By knocking down the wall, Charlotte was able to create space for an open-plan study area with a large window
The content creator said the box room was ‘the biggest waste of a beautiful view’ and opening it up created more natural light in the house. Above, the space previously taken up by the box room is now this elegant two-person home office
Homeowner Charlotte, pictured, shares details of home makeover on her Instagram page @charlottes_homestyle , which has 7,580 followers
Charlotte shares details of home makeover on her Instagram page @charlottes_homestyle, which has 7,580 followers.
Charlotte told North Yorkshire-based sheepskin retailer Jacobs & Dalton: ‘Our open-plan hallway and study area is up there with one of the best decisions we have made in our home renovation.
‘We didn’t need the additional single bed and felt it made the first floor feel cramped and dark. So we knocked the wall down and it has created a much better flow through the house.’
Before: The transformation continued on the other side of the hallway, where there was a dark bathroom tucked away at the end
During: The couple tore out and replaced the doors, ripped up the carpet and set about re-plastering and repainting the walls
After: The landing received a smart refresh, with new painted banisters and balustrades, painted walls using Trade Pre Brilliant Dulux white for £33 and, most strikingly, a brand new office space at the far end
She continued: ‘One of the main reasons I wanted to build our DIY shelving in the hallway was to have an open place to showcase our personal items in a stylish way, I wanted the space to not only be functional, but also form an interesting display of what makes us “us”!’
Charlotte said with help from ‘YouTube, a lot of trial and error, and a bit of vision’ she was able to make the built-in bookcase from scratch.
She explained on her Instagram they B&Q cabinets and Ikea doors then built a base for underneath the cabinets with battens.
They then cut MDF to size for the desk and added beading to give the desk a nice finish.
The DIY desk materials from Wikes, Jewsons and B&Q cost a total of £35.25 and she decided to upcycle drawers she already owner for the drawer unit.
She then painted the cabinets with Leyland MDF Primer for £16 and grey paint from Lick that cost £42.
They also used MDF for the shelving and used skirting board to tidy up the edges.
She used Tuscan oak laminate flooring from UK Flooring Direct which cost £250.
Sharing the transformation on her Instagram she wrote: ‘I’ve spent a lot of time in here this week and I’m not complaining!’
‘We didn’t need the box bedroom- and it felt like the biggest waste of a beautiful view and lots of natural light.
‘So we demolished the wall (luckily it wasn’t structural!) and created an open plan study area!’
Charlotte even created a built-in bookcase, which she said is a clever way to use the space and create vital additional storage