'We saved £20k after buying a second-hand kitchen for £50 on Facebook'
Watch: 'We saved over £20k after buying second-hand kitchen for just £50 on Facebook'
A couple have revealed how they managed to save around £20K after spending just £50 on the bulk of their second-hand kitchen from Facebook Marketplace.
Louise Horton, 35, and her husband, Peter, 37, from Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk, took eight months to transform the kitchen in their three-bed house and estimate they spent an estimated £1k in total.
After deciding they didn't want to fork out over £20k for brand new units, the couple sourced almost everything second-hand, describing the process as a "labour of love on a tiny budget".
When beginning their kitchen renovation the couple struck gold when they found someone selling their entire kitchen for just £50 - including the oven - with the only catch being the buyer would need to collect everything.
Louise, an actress, and Peter, a site manager, stripped down the seller's kitchen before taking home all the cabinets, doors, shelves, carcasses and the Leisure oven, which would cost over £500 brand new on its own.
The pair then began the task of sanding, priming and painting every piece of wood in a deep green colour before reconstructing it.
They were also able to score a free butler's sink from a neighbour, who was also doing up their kitchen at the time.
They combined their second-hand furniture with a modern compound laminate worktop, designed to look like marble, which set them back around £800.
The only other costs the couple forked out were for a kitchen island - setting them back £300 and a set of double doors, which they found on Facebook Marketplace.
Mum-of-three, Louise, says the key to the success of the makeover was having a "very clear plan and vision" before buying anything.
"We bought all the cabinets of that kitchen and the oven was included in that deal," Louise explains of the £50 Facebook marketplace purchase.
"The guy was getting a new kitchen refitted and didn't want to go through the hassle of stripping it all out.
"So he sold it really cheap, but part of the deal was we had to remove it."
Louise says she got quotes for an MDF kitchen which were in the region of £20K, so the couple were thrilled with the saving.
"I had a very clear plan in mind and that's my advice on how to do it - you have to know exactly what you want," she continues.
"I knew every part that we needed and the style for the theme. I knew where I wanted everything and I had the vision from the start.
"It's such a beautiful kitchen to work in now."
Louise's passion for DIY and interior design began during the first Covid lockdown when she and her husband renovated their house.
"I like pushing the boundaries," she says.
"When I start to think about what I do with a room I think about how I could 'do' something to it rather than buy something for it.
"The only brand new furniture in our home is the bed, everything else is second-hand or freebies.
"I started to have a real passion for design and ideas after we did our whole home renovation small budget and the passion grew to make things look as amazing as they can."
Louise says it was a juggle trying to fit the kitchen while also looking after their little ones - Nye, three, Elis, one and newborn, Jac.
"We weren't able to do it as quickly as we'd have liked," she says.
"Just making it all fit in the space was the hardest part.
"The cabinets didn't quite reach the ceiling so we added some carcasses that went straight up and then some coving around the top to give it that built-in look.
"Sanding, priming and painting every single cupboard so that was definitely a process," she continues. "We used hand rollers and paintbrushes to get the look we wanted."
Louise says if you're using something second-hand combining it with something modern can make it look brand new.
"We went for a splashback countertop - it looks like solid marble but it's called compound laminate," she explains.
"The handles on the cupboards are solid brass hardware from Yester Home, which was a really important part of bringing it all together.
"The sink was a freebie from our neighbours who were also getting a new kitchen.
"I knew I wanted deep green for the colour and we toyed with a few different options - it looks so perfect in the space."
Louise says the project has allowed her to enjoy the challenge of "bringing something to life".
"It makes me so proud," she says.
"I have to keep reminding myself what it was before and remind myself what we've done."
"I wouldn't do it any other way now."
Breakdown of costs
For £50 Louise and Peter got:
Kitchen cabinets
Doors
Shelves
Oven - worth £500 new
Carcasses
Extra wood used for other projects
Other costs:
Kitchen sink - free from a neighbour
Paint - gifted
Kitchen double doors - second-hand on Facebook Marketplace
Barn doors on pantry cupboard - Facebook Marketplace
Compound laminate worktop - £800
Kitchen island - £300
Additional reporting SWNS.
Read more about the cost of living:
'How I slashed my weekly food bill from £130 to £62' (Yahoo Life UK, 3-min read)
Thrifty mum reveals food shopping hacks that saved her more than £1k (Yahoo Life UK, 6-min read)
‘I saved £4K in six months by doing the no spend challenge' (Yahoo Life UK, 6-min read)
