Real Homes from Real People

[cheapdiva]

Hello to all my old CL buds and new C&B friends!

I posted somewhere else here this morning a little rant about what I want to see in a decorating magazine . . . real people, real homes and real BUDGETS! In this economy, especially, I want to know how people creatively re-do their homes. How long did it take, how much did they spend, what work did they do themselves, etc.

Yes, I know, costs are relative to where you are in the country but I'd at least like an idea when someone says they "did this on a budget" what that means. Everything has a "budget" but most of us don't have $50,000+ to re-do our kitchen. Now - if you spent $5,000 and did a major remodel - THAT'S what I want to know.

We will be re-doing our half bath/laundry room/storage room this year and I have a budget of around $8,000 - tops. Which means we are re-plumbing and ro-doing electrical which is the bulk of that expense. Plus tearing down walls and rebuilding 2 rooms into one big room. I do not have a husband who is handy - not in the least, so he won't be doing any of the work. But I will!!

Here are two of my favorite d-i-y blogs:
http://owcl.blogspot.com
http://romantichome.blogspot.com

One homeowner (who is twilightmama here, I think - Kim, that's you, right?) and the other is a renter.

Okay - any others you'd like to hear more about???

[ChapterTwo]

Hi Cheapdiva,

Nope, twilightmama isn't me, although I like twilight and I AM a mama! ;)

I agree about the costs of projects AND of decorating items in many magazines being sky high. There are a lot of ways to cut costs, and by you doing some of the work, Cheapdiva, that will sure help. When we had our bathroom remodeled when we first moved here (ancient history - 1978!), we took the tiles down to the lathing, and that saved a bundle. It was kind of fun (and let out a lot of pent up emotion - HA!) to crash everything down!

It sounds like you have a very ambitious "redo" ahead...when are you going to start? Good luck with all of that - I'm sure it will be wonderful!

[Lisa S]

I was looking at Kim's blog again. I marvel over her kitchen. She makes me want to rip out everything and start over. I think I'll put some of her ideas to good use when I decorate the lake house. Her "before" kitchen is pretty much where we'll start too.

[Gigi]

Cheapdiva~ You go girl! I think that's great you are planning to do it yourself

I'm with you~ not interested in a 50,000 re-do of anything...set the limit-try to stick to it~ and hopefully a Home Depot or Lowe's is nearby....

P.S. Lisa~ I marvel at your kitchen

[Lynzee]

Your kitchen is awesome, Lisa! Mine really wants to look like that someday. :)

I need to have DIY projects featured. We live so far out in the middle of nowhere that there are no local contractors and the ones in "nearby" towns do not want to come all the way out here. Of course, the "real" budget is an absolute must, too!

[Gigi]

Lisa~ You should post a pic of your kitchen....;):)

[Lisa S]

You're sooo funny! And I still love you!

[Gigi]

Are ya talkin' to me girlie? I just remember the pic of your kitchen from CL- it looked worthy of a magazine spread!

[Lisa S]

You're so sweet! You were teasing me just a little for flooding the boards with my darn kitchen pictures though, weren't you? :p:p:p

[memmey]

Lee Sa!!! Your kitchen is gorgeous. You most certainly didn't flood the boards. You are not a bragger( unlike me who is) and your kitchen looks magazine worthy.

[annielinz]

Alright guys you're killing me here. You can't tease us newbies, I love pictures. Please post pics Lisa and others! :)

[Gigi]

I agree with Memmey- not flooding the boards-just adding alot of interest and admiration for taking a project on- for a wonderful re-do!

And Memmey I know I can speak for everyone~ we all LOVE all the pictures and stories of your home---everything is so much fun to look at (and listen to)...:)

[Lisa S]

Yes, Memmey ~ more pictures!

I've made a few little changes around here, so I'll clean up the joint and take some new pictures. Tomorrow, maybe...

Remember the Christmas lights on the trailer? I kept saying to my husband that I needed to get those lights up so I could take pictures for my Cottage Ladies. He suggested that we put the box on the trailer and take a picture of "the lights on the trailer". I had commissioned my big kid to do the job. He left the box on the trailer (teenagers!!!), it snowed and two weeks later I took the box down. Aren't we just the classy bunch?

[Lynzee]

Yes, Lisa, you really should. I need a peek at your refrigerator box again. Not that I would steal your idea, you understand...I'd just like to borrow it. Yeah, that's it.... :D

[ThriftShopRomantic]

Excellent- It's a new board and a new day ladies-- so, um, MORE PICTURES! :) Even if they're repeats. Some of us (like me) need brain refreshers sometimes. :)

[Lisa S]

Lynzee ~ I "emulate" people all the time! :p

[chyna]

I know what you mean about the budgets!!! When they say their budget was 50 thou I about croak because that is my entire budget goal for tearing off the back of the house and adding to it for a family room (the bonus room is going bye-bye) and makin the laundry/pantry larger. And we plan on doing much of it ourselves just contracting out for the foundation, framing, roofing and drywalling. Yes we could do the drywalling ourselves but I don't want to. Yep there I said it, I can but don't want to. Let someone else mud those walls!:o

[cheapdiva]

Ya know what's missing from this site - photos!! I NEVER get tired of seeing photos of everyone's home and projects. So bring 'em on. After seeing Mem's wonderful cottage last year in person . . . photos just make it seem so personal. Like you're actually there!
So photos, photos, photos - We WANT photos.

[Gigi]

Okay ladies this is my 1st attempt to attach a photo...let's see if it works...42

Our main house in the snooowwwwwwwwwww..........

[Gigi]

Okay I think I figured this out :rolleyes: I'll try another....of our waterfront home...43

44

Front side and our backside on the water....

[memmey]

I love that place!!!! I know it has got to be nice in the evening on that dock. It looks so peaceful. Are you and your husband resting there or are you working like dogs on it? LOL

[Gigi]

Aw thanks Memmey- yep we are working on it. We just finished taking out a wall in the living area to open it to the water from the kitchen...

The front is- well boring- not cottage like--SO in the spring we are changing the shutters to white paneled-painting the front door dark red- adding a new white storm door with french panes...and doing some major landscaping...

Any suggests are MORE than welcome to make this rantage a cottage....

And yes the dock/backyard is so peaceful--that is where the wedding will be in September...about 100 guests---oh lordy we have some work to do! :o:eek:

Almost forgot---on the sea wall inbetween the posts are where the antique ball jars with tea lights and seashells will be....

[ChapterTwo]

Gigi - Your winter home looks like it should be on a Christmas card...beautiful! And your waterfront home is wonderful too - must be so relaxing! Tnx for sharing (and I'll have to try to attach like that - I could even enlarge your pics, which was neat!)

[Lynzee]

Both of your homes are lovely, Gigi! I agree, the picture of your main home looks like a picture from a post card. Your waterfront home is great, too. I'm sure you will really enjoy it. :)

[annielinz]

Now we're talking!! Great pics Gigi. Your home dressed for winter is lovely and postcard pretty. And your dock is to d*e for.

[Lisa S]

Beautiful homes! Your in town house looks great dressed in snow!

[ThriftShopRomantic]

Oh, that sun on the dock... lovely lovely... :) What a morale-booster.

[RoseMary]

The snow is beautiful, but your dock picture makes me wish for summer:)! You have beautiful homes, Gigi.

[WannaBHomemaker]

Yes, Gigi - you know from CL boards that I love love love your main house!!! I'd love for my lil house to grow up to be just like yours!

the waterfront looks wonderful - ahhh, I can see myself there now.... the light slapping of the water on the dock, birds flying overhead, floating softly in a flat-bottom boat just off the dock....

[One Woman]

Hey, it's Kim (Twilightmama)! I changed my username to reflect the person behind my blog, One Woman's Cottage Life. Because I'm just one woman (with a husband, the muscle behind most of our projects), trying to makeover her house on a tiny, practically nonexistent budget.

Most of the money for our projects come from some of our tax returns (usually between 4-5ooo a year). We try not to buy anything on credit and with three kids (and all their requirements: braces, glasses, allergy treatments - the list goes on!) there is no such thing as "extra" money. I live for spring when we get our taxes back so that we can do a little more work on the place. Last year, our van died and we had to replace it using our return - so no projects really got accomplished in an entire year:(

It's frustrating to move at such a slow pace and sometimes I think we're crazy and that we shouldn't even be remodeling to begin with, with money so tight. We didn't have, say - $5000 to plop down at once for our kitchen. We've done it all in stages (an appliance here and there, cabinets one year, countertop the next, the ceiling another time.) We still haven't installed our flooring or added the beadboard to the walls. For us, it's the only way to have the kind of home we want...little by little.

I can't even watch the home decorating shows anymore. I don't know what bugs me more, the large budgets or the practically instant transformations!

We live in a very humble, oldish neighborhood (about 30 years old) and sometimes I wonder why we are putting what little money we have into a place where we probably won't recover the money if and when we sell. But I just can't help making this little old place our own - homey and cozy and old-fashioned. It's worth it, I think, if it truly feels like "home" - no matter how long it takes to get to that point. Even if we have to nickle and dime it for the next ten years, hehe!

[RoseMary]

Hi Kim! I'm glad to see you here. I love reading your blog and have enjoyed watching your kitchen remodel as well as the things you've done in other rooms.

I know what you mean about budgets. We built our cabin ourselves (literally) and have been in it 8 years, and we are still working on parts of it. I have had plain pine shelves in my kitchen for years and we are just now getting around to making the trim for them--I'm excited about that, because as little as it seems, it is progress! Like you guys, we stay out of debt and do a little at a time.

[shabbychick]

I hear you, Kim. I think a lot of us use the same strategy for the big, expensive parts of cottagizing our homes. I used tax returns to have my place painted by a pro the first spring after I moved in, and even then I only had the bottom floor painted. Tax returns have really made up the bulk of my very modest savings because most months there's just not much left over. What little I've done, I've done piecemeal...a room painted here, a light fixture replaced there, etc. I wonder, though, if that isn't the heart of a true cottage look...something pieced together with what people have on hand, things that don't match in look or even quality, and making do with something less than perfect. Personally, I'm going to hold off on anything expensive now because of the economy just in case something terrible happens. When things pick up again, I would like to replace all the carpet upstairs with laminate or wood, and I'd love to redo my bathrooms. For me, it's not even always so much the cost of the supplies as it is my lack of strength and know-how. There are just some jobs that are too big for me, and I can't afford to pay for the labor. Too bad we can't start a regional labor co-op of some kind among us cottage lovers. I'd be happy to drive somewhere and spend a weekend or two painting a room, sanding boards, or cleaning in return for someone who can do some wiring or plumbing. Those home improvement shows are fun to watch (though I don't actually have cable so can't watch them anyway) but I do find them a little depressing.

Today I'm going to go do Lowe's and buy a couple of shelf boards so I can put shelves above my sliding glass door and one of my windows to create more display space. I own a saw now, so I'm hoping I can get these things cut and put up. I'll be buying the cheap stuff, of course, but I hope that if I dress it up with a little molding, it'll look okay. I have this idea about cutting holes in the shelf brackets so I can run a curtain rod between them and hang a valance or a lace panel between them underneath the shelf. If I don't cut my thumbs off with my new (and not-yet-used) saw, I'll send pictures!

[One Woman]

It's so comforting to know that I'm not the only one - though I know that if can be really frustrating at times for it to literally take *years* to get around to something. I admire everyone's patience and stick-to-it-tiveness.

Rosemary, I hear you about getting excited about any and all progress. Your trim on your pine cabinets will be wonderful and it will be so worth the wait. How neat that you built your own cabin!

Shabbychick, I totally agree about part of the cottage appeal is it's many layers that take years to acquire. Cottage style isn't about buying a room of furniture all at once and having everything match, etc. Hubs and I have run into jobs that are too big for us, too, and are having to wait until we can hire out. Your labor co-op idea is fabulous. Wouldn't that be wonderful!?

Have fun making your display piece! I'll have to see how you do it because I'd like something like in my kitchen at some point, too:)

[cheapdiva]

I keep saying this . . .
anyone with money can transform a house - it takes more than money to make a home. R & K - YOU have WONDERFUL homes that you have put heart and soul into. Give me your home any day over some place that has a $100,000 kitchen in.

My neighbor downstairs (live in a building with 6 condos - 2 to a floor, 3 floors) re-did his kitchen a few years ago - stuck $75,000 into it. Then tried to sell last year and couldn't because he couldn't recoup his money. While his kitchen is beautiful, I don't see where all that money got spent.

We will be doing our "funny room" and half bath into one big 2nd full bath/laundry room this spring - which means we will be doing the kitchen as well because of some wall/door re-arranging. I plan on doing the WHOLE thing for under $10,000 - well under!!!

I will post pictures as we go along. And I will be doing a lot of the work (short of plumbing and electrical) since I don't have a handy hub!! And I've already told him to be prepared to live with a mess for the rest of the year.

[One Woman]

I keep saying this . . .
anyone with money can transform a house - it takes more than money to make a home. R & K - YOU have WONDERFUL homes that you have put heart and soul into. Give me your home any day over some place that has a $100,000 kitchen in.

My neighbor downstairs (live in a building with 6 condos - 2 to a floor, 3 floors) re-did his kitchen a few years ago - stuck $75,000 into it. Then tried to sell last year and couldn't because he couldn't recoup his money. While his kitchen is beautiful, I don't see where all that money got spent.

We will be doing our "funny room" and half bath into one big 2nd full bath/laundry room this spring - which means we will be doing the kitchen as well because of some wall/door re-arranging. I plan on doing the WHOLE thing for under $10,000 - well under!!!

I will post pictures as we go along. And I will be doing a lot of the work (short of plumbing and electrical) since I don't have a handy hub!! And I've already told him to be prepared to live with a mess for the rest of the year.

Yes, I can't fathom how money is spent on a $100,000 or up kitchen. I can't even fathom $50,000, lol - that's a little less than half the price of my house! Whew!

Looking forward to seeing your project, CheapDiva! Funny what you told your hubs about being prepared to live with a mess for a while - I understand that!