I
am really proud of this project for a number of reasons. It was quite easily the room that had been
overlooked the most so it was in need of some much needed love and affection. With this project however, I had very little
time available to work on it and even less money to spend. So I got really creative with both my time
and how I managed the renovation costs.
Everything out of the closet |
I
completely gutted this room right down to the ratty plywood subflooring. It was a blank canvas I had to work with
which made it really nice actually. I
wanted to really dress it up to go along with our downstairs improvements.
Once I got home from work each evening I changed into my grubbies and
got myself busy spending about 2 to 2 1/2 hours each night. After 8 evenings and one Saturday morning I
was able to wrap it all up and move in.
I
had gone through our garage and pulled out all the items I had leftover from the work we did downstairs. I had some leftover trim pieces plus the trim
I had removed from our living room door, some finish nails, screws, caulk, 3/4 of a gallon
of paint, 1/2 a gallon of Oops! paint, some brushes and a roller, paint trays, painters tape and some spackle. I had also collected several
gift cards in the past year to use to buy the things I didn't have.
Two coats of paint made a tremendous difference |
A
trip to Lowes for a couple contractor's packs of moulding, some trim pieces for the corners, a tube of adhesive,
another tube of painter's caulk (I wasn't sure if I had enough) and a few more paint supplies were paid for with a Visa gift card I
had received from my employer at Christmas.
I used it again at Home Depot to purchase two gallons of wall paint and a couple cans of spray paint.
The closet is like brand new and carpeted with leftover scraps from our living room carpet |
The
room sucked up the better part of three gallons of paint which did surprise me,
but at the same time I knew it had been so long since everything had been painted. I was just glad I had enough funds to pay for
all the paint that I needed and give it a really good paint job.
Even the old baseboard heater got a much needed facelift |
The
entire closet was a no cost renovation. I used the can of leftover paint in the garage to paint the walls and ceiling (the Oops! paint on the floor), trimmed it out with the leftover trim pieces I had in the garage,
mostly by reusing what had been around the living room door (I love that I was able to reuse it and not
let it go to waste) and then I carpeted it with leftover pieces from our living room and downstairs hallway carpet. The closet was really the biggest part of this project and it ended up being basically a freebie simply by using up what we already had on hand. Who doesn't love that?
I used one contractors pack of the new trim I
bought at Lowes to trim around the floors and ceiling and I used a tube of painter's caulk I already
had to finish it all off and fill the nail holes. The other tube of caulk I bought and the rest of the trim will be used in other areas of the house.
Originally our house didn't have any trim along the ceilings |
The new carpet goes in! |
Once
all the painting was done I was ready for the carpet. I ordered the same carpet I used downstairs
because I absolutely love it. It looks
beautiful, is easy to install and is really nice. I ordered the carpet from Home Depot online
and used my PayPal account to make the purchase. I do have the money in savings to cover this
expense, however since I have six months to pay this off before I'll be charged
any interest I'm going to pay a little each month until it is paid. If for some reason I can't do that within the
six months I'll take the balance left out of savings so I don't have any
interest due.
Moving in! |
The
carpet and the $11.00 dump fees are the only things I'm actually paying out of
pocket. Everything else I had gift cards
to use to cover those expenses. This
ended up being a very affordable and manageable project and the end results are
amazing. I really love this room and since I've moved in I'm
sleeping like a baby. 😃
Even with not a lot of time and a super small budget I was able to make a huge improvement to our home and my quality of life. It feels so nice to walk into this room and see how pretty it is. I am so very happy
I decided to tackle this project.
Even if you hadn't had the VISA card the cost was very reasonable. I also agree with your decision to pay it off over time since there is no interest for 6 months. Your savings can continue to earn interest for you, while you use someone else's money. I always try to do this for major projects - I just paid off my bathroom renovations that were finished last year with an interest free for 18 months at Home Depot.
ReplyDeleteIt looks terrific - your hard work has paid off in spades. Enjoy!
I don't mind using someone else's money if they're offering! Ha, ha. I will certainly enjoy my new bedroom. Thank you.
DeleteWow, your budget was even tighter than I imagined! You are really skilled at wrestling the value out of every single cent! And how wonderful that you are passing your skills along to the next generation.
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty tight and I think I surprised even myself this time.
DeleteLooks serene and restful, and I love color palette of the walls and bed spread. With all of the simplifying you've done,your 15 minute cleaning schedule will be more than enough to keep tidy. My husband and I live the same way, small, simple ranch house, and keeping to just the basics, though not quite minimalist, means lots of relaxing weekends that we can spend deadheading all our flowers in the garden and watching the wildlife.
ReplyDeleteI really love this home now that I've simplified everything and scaled back. It has made a tremendous difference in our lives.
DeleteYOU are amazing!!! And it looks great! I love the bed covers.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much. I think that set is my favorite of all the ones I've owned. It makes me happy!
DeleteThe room looks AWESOME! Thanks for sharing what it cost.
ReplyDeleteYou inspire me so much.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
Thank you Jeannie. You really can do a lot even when you don't have a lot.
Delete