Hi there, we also bought an EM earlier this year. Its about 1560sq ft. We had also budgeted 50K for the renovation but when it came to quotation and we wanted to do, our quotations ranged from 56K - 75K. We had selected the contractor with the lowest quotation because she had given us a lot of great ideas and had a lot of practical and cost saving suggestions. Work has started and the revised quotation now stands at about 67K. We have practically overhauled the entire place as its also in its original condition.
So in short, i think, 50K might be a bit tight. We increased it to about 60K and then it went up again....but to be honest, we have included almost all our needs and wants since its somewhere we are planning to be living in for a while.
Our COV was 35K, renovation about 67K and as its our first apartment, we had to buy quite a lot of furnishing, about another 17-20K. We are feeling extremely broke at the moment but looking forward to having our own place.