The Cheap Home Revamp

Genista Jurgens Genista Jurgens
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The visionary interior designers and decorators at Roha Design have come to the rescue saving this outdated and unattractive apartment in South Korea. They managed to completely transform the interior, turning it from a seventies nightmare to a contemporary dream. 

Long gone is the embossed wallpaper, tinted glass walls and horrible fake parquet flooring. Out with the dim lighting and tacky furniture; in with dark mahogany tables, timeless appliances and elegant kitchen tiling. What's even more unbelievable is that this dramatic transformation was all done on a tight budget. Judging from this makeover, you don't need much more than a bit of loose change and some smart ideas to make some startling changes. Let's have a look at the disaster this apartment was before, and the stylish success it is now. 

Past It's Expiry Date

You can see how badly this apartment needed updating. The living room was barely liveable, looking more like a doctor's reception from 1969. That wallpaper is truly shocking and makes the whole apartment dull and dated.

Those doors! Super retro with doorknobs that should've been replaced a long time ago. Everything has tinge of cream and green, making the whole home seem antique, or at the very least, long past it's expiry date.

A Bright Future

What a difference brightening the walls, floors and doors makes. Replacing that nasty flooring with something lighter immediately makes this a home of today. The walls have had the wallpaper removed and are now coated in crisp white. The doors—no longer looking like they are made from that awful fake wood, are now light and cheerful. 

A tasteful TV cabinet has been added, supporting a very modern accessory—a flat screen television. Now we know what decade we are in! 

A Kitchen That's Half Baked

Tucked around the corner behind that distasteful desk is actually a kitchen. Spaces like this always look better with some sort of divide—either in the wall color, with the type of flooring, or even just with a piece of furniture. So if you have a kitchen corner in the same space as your living room, you could think about laying tiles down, or building an extra cupboard to dictate the arrangement.

Let's see what the design team did to this apartment…  

Raising The Standards

Now we have an elegant, professional looking corner kitchen. The pale grey ceramic tiles on the wall clearly state what part of the house you are in the minute you step into this space. A small kitchenette is built onto one wall, and a long wooden table divides the cooking area from the lounging area, and doubles as a great extra working space. 

Matching shelves above the table add to the sophisticated look. Surfaces are kept hard wearing and easy to clean. Such an improvement on the previous makeshift kitchen that looked like it came from a dormitory or dingy hostel.  

Not A Room For Rest

All of the basics in the bedroom are wrong: those tacky wooden doors, the unfashionable wallpaper and the wooden floor that flattens the room. Also that unflattering, bright light that doesn't create a relaxing atmosphere needed in a bedroom. 

Once the basics are right, then you can start to decorate and accessory from there, but until then, there is no hope. 

Getting It Right At Night

This dusky blue feature wall on the other hand, is getting it right. It's bright enough to freshen up the room, but not too fierce or energetic to be overwhelming. The painted wall is complimented by the pale purple bed linen, and wooden furniture, making the master bedroom now a peaceful and relaxing room, with a Scandinavia twist. 

The sand coloured floor throughout the apartment really help open the rooms up, making each space breathe much more. Once again, you don't have to make expensive changes while renovating your house—a few simple design updates is all you need to right any wrongs. 

If you are wanting more inexpensive makeover tips, then make sure you look at these tricks of the trade

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