Browse our Luxury Vinyl Flooring Ranges Whatever your space, whatever your style, you're bound to find a look that's just right for you. Launch our Floorstyle Floor Designer Keep up to date Follow, Like and SubscribeLow costs do not have to equal low-quality finishes when it comes to renovating old properties — there are many ways to keep a lid on your budget. Here, Natasha Brinsmead reveals how she and her husband, Bill, kept down costs during their Victorian house renovation. Far more than self-builds, renovation projects are notorious for going over budget, due to the nasty habit they have of springing up unexpected, and often unwanted, surprises that result in yet more money being spent on the project. However, there are many ways to keep costs under control when renovating a house and replacing kitchens, bathrooms and period features — all without resigning yourself to a poor-quality finish. Of course, one of the best ways to keep costs down is to bite the bullet and take on some of the labour required on a DIY basis.

Having said that, if you lack the correct skills and even the patience and enthusiasm necessary, then your DIY efforts could actually end up costing you more than if you had got the professionals in to begin with — so it is important to get a good idea of what you are and are not capable of tackling yourself. One of the easiest ways to control costs is to keep things simple. What this means is choosing standard-sized fittings, using materials which most tradesmen are familiar with and generally trying not to over – complicate matters. Yes, it sounds like something your grandad may have told you, but it is true. There is a time to save and a time to spend. For example, we tried to save when it came to paints, both matt emulsion and gloss, and every time we bought a cheap product we ended up having to repaint due to poor final coverage or gloss that turned yellow within a matter of months. So, too, when buying fittings such as screws, nails and wall plugs — all the cheapest versions we tried to get away with bent, snapped or rounded off.

Same goes for adhesives and grout, plus tools such as drills and saws. Many renovators of period properties are keen to get the details right and to use authentic fixtures and fittings wherever possible. For this reason, reclamation yards are usually teaming with renovators on the hunt for that perfect piece for their home, and the recent popularity in ‘shabby chic’ style interiors, including reclaimed furniture and fittings, has meant that it is now much harder to find a bargain than it once used to be. Toilet Paper Holder Ideas PinterestYou might find that you have more luck – and end up saving more money – at an auction house, flea market, second-hand furniture shop or even charity shop than you do at a salvage yard these days. T Shirts LiberalOnline auction sites such as eBay are also worth a look and it is certainly still possibly to grab a bargain — but be open to the idea of restoring furniture and even joinery items yourself. Mirrored Glass Dressing Table Stool

We were quoted over £1,200 to have a new set of French doors made up for our dining room, but ended up finding an authentic Victorian pair on eBay for just £150. We had to have them reglazed at a cost of £80 and put in some elbow grease sanding, undercoating and painting them, but they now look far better than a new set could ever have and cost us £970 less too. One of the cleverest and most effective ways of saving money when renovating is to mix more expensive items with cheap off-the-shelf buys. Kitchens are the perfect room in which to employ this technique. Don’t be fooled into thinking you must have the highest quality unit carcasses when in reality they will never be on show. Likewise, cheaper unit doors can really be transformed by the addition of high-quality cabinet knobs and handles, or a solid wood worktop. Many of the most fantastic kitchens featured in H&R have been given this treatment. Likewise, simple, standard sanitaryware can be dressed up with smart brassware and bathroom accessories.

Never turn your nose up at DIY warehouses, small local, perhaps ‘unfashionable’, firms, and flat-pack furniture companies. It may not sound nearly as impressive to tell visitors that you got your kitchen from Units ’r’ Us down the road as it would to say it is from some high-end, hard-to-pronounce German company, but the fact that they have asked you where it is from in the first place means they are impressed, so you can feel smug in the knowledge that you have saved yourself money and if your pride really does end up getting in the Kitchens, bathrooms and wall and floor tiles are perhaps the best example. Having decided upon 10cm x 10cm matt white wall tiles for our kitchen we were shocked to find that the ones we liked in the brochure of a top-end retailer came in at over £100/m2. After searching around we found near identical tiles on a floor and wall tile website (www.wallsandfloors.co.uk) for under £10/m². When it came to our kitchen, most of the quotes we had back from specialist kitchen companies were well over our budget.

Eventually, we had it made for us in solid pine, supplied unpainted. A pine kitchen may not have been what we had in mind, and the work that went into knotting, priming, sanding and painting the whole thing may have almost driven us mad, but we now have a well-made, painted Shaker-style kitchen that cost us just £1,500. There are some amazing bargains to be found from many of these retailers and, providing you don’t kit your whole house out to look like one of their room sets and don’t mind carrying out the odd bit of customisation, then no one will suspect a thing. One of the best ways to save money when renovating is to do as much of the work as possible yourself. However, some jobs require real skill and attempting them yourself, only to mess them up, could just end up costing you more. Victorian Tiles - Encaustic & Geometric The Victorians loved their houses. Encaustic and geometric tiles were both stylish and inexpensive. They were stylishly patterned, with the Gothic look that was so fashionable in the latter half of the 19th century.

The development of mass-manufacturing techniques meant the Victorian tiles were relatively cheap, were extremely hard-wearing, and the colours in encaustic tiles were inlaid into the clay before firing, so the patterns never wore off or faded. Even if the tiles were chipped or scratched, it would be barely noticeable, as the colour ran right through them rather than being painted or glazed on. From the 1850s through to the early 1900s, Victorian homeowners installed splendid floors, paths, porches and hallways, using encaustic and geometric tile floors. The craze was exported to the farthest corners of the empire. Wherever the British flag flew there are examples of encaustic and geometric tile floors, even in some places where the flag did not fly, notably the United States. The Inverlochy pattern takes its name from the design on the original floor at Inverlochy Castle, a grand house built in 1863. In 1873 Queen Victoria spent a week there to sketch and paint. She wrote in her diary, “I never saw a lovelier or more romantic spot.”

Most manufacturers had dozens of designs and you rarely see two floors exactly the same. Interestingly, the medallions used in the palace of Westminster were duplicated in the U.S. Capitol building. The only exception was the use of a cherub in the center rather than the British coat of arms! Geometric floor tiles are part of Britain’s heritage and were used originally to ornament medieval churches and monasteries, and the homes of the aristocracy. Their popularity was enhanced in the 1830s when the young Queen Victoria came to the throne, and they soon became one of the hallmarks of the new Romantic Movement. In the 19th century, a housemaid would have the job of scrubbing the Victorian tiles thoroughly once a week and then lightly oiling them or buffing them with wax for a high sheen. These days, however, few cleaners are so assiduous. If you have original encaustic and geometric antique tiles that look dingy, simply cleaning them can do much to perk them up. To bring back a neglected floor, you need to deep clean.

This is a job that anyone can do if they have the time and inclination. Products recommended are readily available in the United States by companies such as Custom Building Products, Miracle and Aqua Mix. Oxford pattern with Melville border incorporating Cardigan decorated tile. Original Style Artworks tiles on the wall. A penetrating sealer should be added to new tiles after installation or tiles which have been stripped of sealer. The tile should be clean and dust free. The tile may not seem to readily absorb the sealer. This is because they are fired at very high temperatures therefore very hard. But they do absorb enough. Wipe off the excess - avoid "pooling" the tiles in the sealer. After the tiles are installed and grouted the tile can then be sealed again. How many coats you apply depends on how high the traffic will be over the tile, the use of water etc in the area (kitchen, bathroom, outside, often-used hallway), etc. More coats will build up a sheen on the tile, so it is also a question of aesthetics - do you like a subtle or more shiny look?

Full installation guidelines are available from Tile Source. It is MOST important to follow the guidelines of the manufacturer of the sealers. After installation tiles should be swept with a soft brush daily, or vacuum, to remove dirt which can wear down the sealant. Clean with plain clean water - any cleaners should be PH neutral - nothing to attack the protective sealant. After many years of traffic and adequate maintenance you may have to strip off the sealant and reapply. These floors are far more hardwearing than stone or wood. Simply follow the instructions on the bottles. This kind of floor is very low-maintenance. Once it's properly cleaned and sealed, all that is needed is regular sweeping and mopping. If detergents are used, though, it is important to rinse away every trace of soap using clean, cold water, as a build-up eventually makes the tiles look grubby. Vestible Project: Before and After Renovation of Old Floors: Cleaning-up encaustic tiles is hard work.

You can do it yourself by purchasing kits of cleaner, sealer, scouring pad and rubber gloves; or hire specialist companies who come with scrubbing machines. The difference can be stunning. Often, some repair work is needed alongside cleaning. Typically, where central heating has been installed there will be some damage to tiles. If carpet has been laid over the original tiles and then taken up, the peripheral tiles may have been drilled to take gripper-rods and need replacing. There may also be loose tiles in areas of particularly heavy wear, such as at the foot of a flight of stairs. Tile Source can get tiles made to match in terms of color, pattern and texture. The interlacing knot designs on the Galway and Dublin decorated tiles were inspired by motifs seen in Celtic art and mosaics from ancient Rome. Or you can make a new floor, from design to finish. Most Victorian-style tiled floors are actually a mixture of encaustic (genuine or simulated) and geometric (solid body tile - color goes all the way through) tiles.

The encaustic tiles are individually patterned, while the geometrics are small, plain tiles that fit together to make a pattern of squares, triangles or diamonds. True encaustic tiles are made by pouring or pressing the clay into the mould so the pattern goes all the way through the tile (consequently much more expensive). As the tile wears so does the pattern with it, so it always appears. Simulated encaustic is where the pattern is silkscreened just onto the surface of the tile. With modern day production methods these tiles are very hardwearing and it will take many years for the pattern to wear off revealing the solid body of the tile below. The more detailed a project (more tiles, many small pieces to make up design) the more expensive. A geometric/encaustic mix compares favourably to the cost of a good-quality wooden floor, and it will last a lifetime and beyond; at least as long as all those surviving Victorian examples, and probably longer. Production processes have changed very little, but we use more refined, stable materials, so the floors are even more hard-wearing. 

Customers need to be happy with the designs they choose, as they will be living with them for a long, long time. Cambridge pattern with Cavendish border in Black and Dover White. The chessboard pattern is a classic in black and white, but any combination of colours looks great in any room or situation. A practical choice for bathrooms, Victorian floor tiles can be installed with underfloor heating. Cleaning and renovating existing encaustic tiles really does restore them to their former splendour. And if you have some in your home, you are in good company. The very first encaustic tiles were hand-made by Cistercian monks in the 12th century, and some medieval examples still exist. They were revived by Victorian architects, and before mass-manufacturing techniques brought them to the middle-classes they were considered very upmarket indeed; Pugin was one of their early champions. They can be found in many public buildings, including the Palace of Westminster, U.S. Capitol, New York State Capitol.

Even Queen Victoria was a fan; there are some fine encaustic examples at Osborne House, her home on the Isle of Wight. Palmerston is a magnificent decorated panel of 36 tiles which incorporates many classic Victorian design motifs. It is an ideal centrepiece for large spaces such as conservatories and reception areas. Tile Source continues the tradition of Victorian and geometric floors. Their family was one of the original tile families of the Potteries in the UK and have done business in the United States for 60+ years. They are proud to say that they have tiled many courthouses throughout the US, many historic homes, modern homes, and such prestigious projects as Bethesda Gardens in Central Park New York, and the New York State Capitol in Albany. James Malkin is joint owner of Tile Source Inc., and is 6th generation in the Ceramic Tile industry with 29 years experience in the U.S. Tile Source supplies both genuine and simulated encaustic and geometric tiles, as well as an extensive range of Victorian wall tiles.