Harold's Renovation Blog: #42: How We Budget For Big Projects Without Going Broke

As we find ourselves in the midst of our biggest and most pocket-draining project ever, on this week’s episode we’re sharing our system for planning and managing our spending during any large scale upgrade or renovation (plus we divulge a few money-saving tips along the way). We also share how some simple house updates paid off big for a friend, we learn why you shouldn’t touch someone else’s toilet paper, and we school ourselves on the correct pronunciation of “hygge.” Also, MARIGOLDS!!!

You can download this episode from iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn Radio – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos that we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you might have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Let’s serve up some updated shots of the beach house, mostly the 98% completed framing throughout (next up: plumbing, HVAC, electrical, insulation, and drywall! Hootie hoo!). The piece of plywood protecting the front door was taken down during our last visit, so we could get the shot above, which shows the view from the front porch.
In the shot below you can see there’s lots of new framing upstairs too (I know, I know, you can’t really tell what’s what in this photo – but once the walls go back up it’ll get really exciting).

And you can tell how much more secure it is compared to the last photo of the upstairs we shared (below). Also: hooray for no more termite rot!

Among the things to note: we now have a hallway! This is the view of it while standing in the back/master bedroom. We modeled it after our current house’s hallway (43″ wide) so it doesn’t feel too cramped, but doesn’t encroach too much on all of the nearby rooms.

Speaking of the master bedroom – the tracks for the double pocket doors are officially installed over the back staircase. Picture two colorful doors with frosted glass panes on the top half of them to let light through.

Remember this inspiration photo that demonstrates the idea (except we’ll have pocket doors, not barn doors – and the glass will be frosted for privacy while still letting the light shine in).

(source)

Downstairs is looking mostly the same, although you can see where we’re starting to mark off the island and cabinets to get a sense of where the lighting needs to go.

Lastly, If you missed ’em in last week’s show notes, that’s where you can go to see before & afters of our neighbor’s home that we helped stage to sell. Sherry’s still talking about how much fun it was. And we’re thrilled it sold so fast!

Updates

Here’s the previous episode (#39) where we chatted about hygge and the book, The Little Book of Hygge, that sparked our interest
And here’s episode (#36) where we spoke about the failed attempt to recognize marigolds as the National Flower
Lastly, if you want to practice your hygge pronunciation, below is the video we played this week:

What’s Not

Here’s Apartment Therapy’s “Hands Off” list: 10 Things You Should Never Touch In Somebody Else’s Home

Listener Question: Budgeting

This podcast covers how we’re budgeting for this big beach house reno, and as promised here are some of our favorite general money-saving posts from over the years:
- What We Splurge On Vs. What We Save On In A Home
- 21 Ways We Cut Costs In Everyday Life
- Simplifying In General (you’d be amazed how much you save)
- 11 Ways To Save Money On Clothes
- Saving Money On Kid Clothes
- 14 Tips For Saving On Baby Stuff
There are also dozens of other posts about ways we’ve saved loot in our Money Saving category.

We’re Digging

Above is a shot of the new large-scale lamps that Sherry bought for our dining room (here’s the shade she picked for them).
And below is a round-up of other gloriously big lamps that she’s digging (all are at least two feet tall & many are more): 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / a / b / c

Here’s more about the #TryPod Initiative from NPR and other podcasters. If you want to help a friend try a podcast, you can even send ’em to our Getting Started With Podcasts guide.

And here’s that S-Town podcast we’re excited to check out this week, as well as Planet Money – the nerdy but compelling look at all things economic in the world.
Also, this is the episode about the kid who sells $20,000 worth of truffles a day… out of the trunk of his car. This one about combating burnout is pretty good, as is well as this one on the Wells Fargo scandal.

Psst- Looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into? Well, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all past episodes.