Debi Smith was desperate for a bath in her new home to help ease the pain from her fibromyalgia, a long-term condition she's been living with.

But when the 47-year-old asked a builder for a quote she was told it would be £3,500 for labour alone.

Debi, who works as a cleaner in a school, moved into the house nine months ago and found it only had a very dated shower in it.

“I have Universal Credit and desperately wanted a bath," she told LatestDeals.co.uk.

So, rather than pay out thousands, Debi decided to ask some friends for help and started scouring the internet for bargains.

"The light pull and towel holder were from Amazon on offer, the LED cabinet was £121 on ebay and has anti-fog on it so it doesn't get steamed up when using bath or shower," Debi said.

"I chose slate effect tiles (everyone said it would look dark but I had my mind made up!) from Wickes at 15% off for the floor and walls at £600 and PVC cladding with recessed lights for £56.

“I totally gutted the bathroom (thank goodness I have a downstairs loo!) and replaced it all bar the window.

“The tiles were on offer in Wickes – £25 for a box of five tiles. All furniture was on offer in Plumbworld, so I got everything for £850.

“My only problem I encountered was that the shower glass panel was damaged but Plumbworld sent a replacement out the same day so I can't fault them.

And when it was all done, the Cardiff mum couldn't be happier with the result.

“I felt relieved when it was all done as I suffer from fibromyalgia so to actually get into a hot bath was amazing," Debi said.

“I was overwhelmed at the transformation – it was like a completely different room. It was so nice to be able to take a hot bath after a year of not being able to – nothing quite beats a bath when you have aches and pains does it?!

“If you want to do something similar, I’d say shop around, take note of online reviews and trust your gut feeling – everyone I asked was against me having such a dark colour but all those people now say it looks stunning!"

"Having my friend help me for £2,400 was considerably cheaper and saved me quite a bit.”

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