A Cardiff man who transformed his bathroom during lockdown has won £1000 of heating and bathroom goodies in a national DIY competition.
The Lockdown Glow-Up competition, launched by BestHeating and Big Bathroom Shop, invited entrants to put forward their DIY projects they have been working on over the past few months.
With social distancing rules in place and many hours stuck at home, the entries ranged from staircases to kitchens, gardens and bedrooms with Brit’s trying their hand at some new skills.
The competition was launched after research from heating and bathroom experts, BestHeating and Big Bathroom Shop, found that Spring cleaning has been in full force with many projects consisting of organising, tidying and clearing things out. And nearly one in five (16%) have been bitten by the DIY bug now after revealing their project has now made them want to work on other areas in the house.
Almost 150 competition entries were whittled down to a top 10 shortlist by a panel of interior experts. The public were then able to vote for their winner who they chose as Gareth Hutchings from Cardiff who worked on an incredible bathroom transformation and won by a margin of 56 votes.
Commenting on the win, Gareth said: “We are still in the process of renovating our bungalow so the prize could not have come at a better time for us. We really are thrilled!”
Gareth is a carpenter by trade, specialising in loft conversions and extensions, but did the bathroom all by himself after never doing tiling or plumbing before. Fortunately, his brother who is a plumber was able to give him some tips over the phone while he undertook the huge task during lockdown.
After previously using contractors, with lockdown restrictions, Gareth decided to take on the project himself: “At the time we did it my partner was heavily pregnant so nobody was allowed in my home. I used normal tools for tiling, and a wallpaper table and paste for the wallpapering.”
John Lawless, content marketing manager at BestHeating and Big Bathroom Shop commented: “We want to extend a huge thank you to all those that entered their projects into our Lockdown Glow-Up competition. The DIY transformations have been fantastic and a real tricky task to choose our favourites.
“We were blown away by Gareth’s bathroom that has been transformed from a tired looking space to a comfortable traditional oasis. We wish him all the best with his further home DIY projects!”
View all competition finalists here.
