Why I Renovate in Phases - Real Talk About Room Makeovers
Today I want to talk about room makeovers. And I want to talk about being realistic about budgets, timelines, and DIY. Everyone loves a good room makeover; they inspire us to look past the surface of a room to see what it can become. They give us the confidence to make changes to our homes, all on our own. And who doesn't love seeing the befores that make our unfinished spaces not look so bad?!
But, the reality is, those amazing room makeovers sometimes give unrealistic expectations. Big drastic makeovers tend to have big budgets, and big timelines.
I don't know about you, but there is nothing more frustrating to me to see a "budget friendly makeover", that is $5000. Um, I'm sorry, in my world, that is not even close to budget friendly. I know that you can't overhaul an entire room for a couple hundred dollars, but let's not pretend that budgets for simple makeovers have to be four figures.
Here's my personal example: Our master bathroom needed an update, it was one of the last rooms in the house to get touched. What is really needed was a new floor and I would love do new cabinets. mirror and lighting, but they weren't must-haves right now, and we didn't want to spend the money right now either.
But, the reality is, those amazing room makeovers sometimes give unrealistic expectations. Big drastic makeovers tend to have big budgets, and big timelines.
I don't know about you, but there is nothing more frustrating to me to see a "budget friendly makeover", that is $5000. Um, I'm sorry, in my world, that is not even close to budget friendly. I know that you can't overhaul an entire room for a couple hundred dollars, but let's not pretend that budgets for simple makeovers have to be four figures.
Here's my personal example: Our master bathroom needed an update, it was one of the last rooms in the house to get touched. What is really needed was a new floor and I would love do new cabinets. mirror and lighting, but they weren't must-haves right now, and we didn't want to spend the money right now either.
So, with a budget of $100, I added a new backsplash and paint, put up a new curtain, added a rug and built some shelves. Was it a complete room overhaul? No, but it made the room feel bright and new again, and bought me some time to save more money for bigger updates in a couple of years.
But, we didn't get a couple of years. Here is where budgets, timelines, and DIY all collide, and it wasn't pretty! Our fiberglass shower cracked about 6 months later and we were faced a bigger makeover that needed a much bigger budget. We opted to replace the floor at the same time we were having the shower replaced. This time around we hired a professional to do the flooring and tile the new shower stall. Yes, it cost more money, but it was also done in 3 days; I'm pretty sure it would have taken me a couple of weeks or more to DIY. We did all of the demo on our own, which did save a few hundred dollars, and it was a pretty good stress-reliever to tear that shower and floor apart!
It's hard sometimes to get a good idea of how long a room project really takes. On blogs you might see a before post one day, a progress post the next, and by the end of the week, the entire room is done! What you don't know, is that blogger has probably been juggling this project for weeks (or months) along with having a "normal" life. Sorry, you are not completely gutting your kitchen and giving it a complete overhaul in a week's time, it's just not realistic.
I teased over the summer, June I think, I that was going to give our master bedroom a quick makeover. Have you seen the reveal of the finished room yet? Nope. It's been sitting in the same almost finished state for the last probably 3-months. I'm thisclose to having it finished, but life happens, and I know it will get done eventually, and then I will share it with all of you.
Knowing when to DIY, and when to hire out is just as important as the budget. If you aren't sure what you are doing, or your project involves knocking down walls, or it's major plumbing or electrical work, it's best to just spend the money to have professional do it right. If you have a tight timeline, hiring a professional will definitely save you the time, you have to decide if that is a major factor for you. You can always negotiate parts of the job too, we have done this on more than one occasion. We demo'd the bathroom to save on the install, in our basement we hired someone to put up drywall and do the mud and tape, we did the painting and trim work.
In the end, you have to do what works best for you. We have a real-life budget, so when we have bigger projects we want to complete, we do them in small phases over a year or two. And sometime life happens, and that quick weekend project really ends up taking 2 or 3 weekends. It's okay! What I really want you to take away from all of this is: keep finding those great room makeovers to inspire you to turn your house into a home you love, don't think you have to get it all done right now, or, don't think that you can never do it because it costs too much. Be resourceful, set you own budget and your own timeline, and make you home your own.
But, we didn't get a couple of years. Here is where budgets, timelines, and DIY all collide, and it wasn't pretty! Our fiberglass shower cracked about 6 months later and we were faced a bigger makeover that needed a much bigger budget. We opted to replace the floor at the same time we were having the shower replaced. This time around we hired a professional to do the flooring and tile the new shower stall. Yes, it cost more money, but it was also done in 3 days; I'm pretty sure it would have taken me a couple of weeks or more to DIY. We did all of the demo on our own, which did save a few hundred dollars, and it was a pretty good stress-reliever to tear that shower and floor apart!
It's hard sometimes to get a good idea of how long a room project really takes. On blogs you might see a before post one day, a progress post the next, and by the end of the week, the entire room is done! What you don't know, is that blogger has probably been juggling this project for weeks (or months) along with having a "normal" life. Sorry, you are not completely gutting your kitchen and giving it a complete overhaul in a week's time, it's just not realistic.
I teased over the summer, June I think, I that was going to give our master bedroom a quick makeover. Have you seen the reveal of the finished room yet? Nope. It's been sitting in the same almost finished state for the last probably 3-months. I'm thisclose to having it finished, but life happens, and I know it will get done eventually, and then I will share it with all of you.
Knowing when to DIY, and when to hire out is just as important as the budget. If you aren't sure what you are doing, or your project involves knocking down walls, or it's major plumbing or electrical work, it's best to just spend the money to have professional do it right. If you have a tight timeline, hiring a professional will definitely save you the time, you have to decide if that is a major factor for you. You can always negotiate parts of the job too, we have done this on more than one occasion. We demo'd the bathroom to save on the install, in our basement we hired someone to put up drywall and do the mud and tape, we did the painting and trim work.
In the end, you have to do what works best for you. We have a real-life budget, so when we have bigger projects we want to complete, we do them in small phases over a year or two. And sometime life happens, and that quick weekend project really ends up taking 2 or 3 weekends. It's okay! What I really want you to take away from all of this is: keep finding those great room makeovers to inspire you to turn your house into a home you love, don't think you have to get it all done right now, or, don't think that you can never do it because it costs too much. Be resourceful, set you own budget and your own timeline, and make you home your own.
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