In Renovator’s Notebook, homeowners open up about the nitty-gritty of their remodels: How long it really took; how much it actually cost; what went horribly wrong; and what went wonderfully, serendipitously, it’s-all-worth-it-in-the-end right.  

The first time interior designer Shannon Tate-Giordano made over the powder room in her Massachusetts home, in 2017, she set out to spend the least amount of money that would make the biggest visual impact. She painted the builder-grade vanity black and tacked on some side cubbies for extra storage, painted the floor in a way that made it look tiled, and hung an extra-large round mirror. “I got supercrafty, and I was happy with it,” she says. But fast-forward six years and the inevitable (if you’re a designer, anyway) happened. It didn’t feel like her anymore: “I like things to be a little bit more refined now.”

This go-round, Tate-Giordano set out to spend a little more money on the project. She specifically had her heart set on hand-painted Moroccan floor tile. Her house, though, had other plans for her budget. As she began to prep the floors for reno 2.0, a valve burst, spewing water all over the bathroom floor and into the basement ceiling. As she and her plumber began pulling out the insulation downstairs to air it out, they discovered preexisting mold damage—a problem that came with a steep $30,000 price tag to fix. “It totally threw everything off,” recalls the designer. She moved forward with the powder room project, but with limited funds to dedicate to the space, she decided to go the DIY route once again.

The Receipts 

Tate-Giordano estimates that her original plan of installing Moroccan floor tile would have run her around $4,000 for materials and labor. By skipping that step and deciding to tackle the new vanity and Roman Clay walls herself, she suspects she shaved off nearly $9,500. The only jobs she hired out were to a plumber to do the sink hookup and to an electrician to install her pendant light in a new location. Her total cost came in just under $3,000, excluding a $680 pendant she received for free. 

Here’s a look at some of the materials she ended up purchasing along the way. 

• Anthropologie mirror: $398
• Rejuvenation drawer pulls x 4: $80
• Etsy faucet: $250
• Etsy sink drain: $70
• Portola Paints wall finish: from $28
• Bed Bath & Beyond sink: $148
• IKEA vanity: $350
• Hennepin Made light: gifted (usually $680)

Ahead, in her own words, she looks back at her budget-friendly revamp.

Fake the Look of Tile With Stencils

Because the existing floor is Marmoleum (a water-resistant and sustainable alternative to linoleum), I was able to dry it out enough so that I could glue it back down, sand it, and prime it for paint (it takes paint very well!). Then I cut a star-shaped stencil out of card stock with a razor blade. I used a Sharpie to outline the design and ended up eyeballing it because I have very little patience for a level—I think it looks pretty straight. I filled in the shapes with a mix of colors in Benjamin Moore’s Porch and Floor Paint Finish. It took a while…my back was killing me. 

Start With an IKEA Vanity Base

The old vanity was nothing to write home about, and the cabinet was impractical for storage. I definitely wanted to switch to having drawers. Not wanting to build something from scratch, I bought an IKEA Godmorgon vanity for the shell and custom-made the sides and the drawer fronts out of walnut-stained plywood with a solid wood trim. 

A local stone yard in western Massachusetts had three full slabs of this red travertine, and they told me they’d had it for nearly 15 years. Nobody wanted to buy it! The slabs were three-quarter-inch—the perfect thickness for my vanity. It was a total score.

Double-Check Your Drainage

I was looking on Pinterest and watching videos of how people turn bowls into sinks, and I was like, Yeah, I’ll do that. I went to HomeGoods and found a bowl that was the perfect color. (It was similar to a $500 concrete sink I was eyeing on Etsy.) I felt so smart and so accomplished; I even drilled it for the drain and had the plumber come in and hook everything up once the countertops were in. 

Then, an hour later, I tried it out. All the water was staying inside the bowl. I was so annoyed with myself. Of course, this wasn’t make any sense; why would it drain? The pitch wasn’t high enough. I thought maybe I’d just order the $500 sink, but then I found this hammered copper one at Bed Bath & Beyond and really liked the way it looked. I switched to that, and it was supereasy. I actually figured out how to change the plumbing and I didn’t have to hire someone twice to do it.

Amp Up the Wall Texture With Roman Clay

I had used this Portola Paints color, Rustic, on another project recently, and I thought it was a really nice combination with the warm red travertine counters. I prefer Roman Clay over limewash; it has this really smooth, buttery finish. I applied three coats with a metal trowel to make sure I couldn’t see any of the wall underneath, then added a sealer.

Find Balance by Going Off Symmetry

Hennepin Made reached out to me and offered its Lacuna globe pendant light. Because all of the plumbing is skewed to the left of the mirror, I thought it would be cool to hang the fixture to the right, to fill that void. It’s not a bathroom that I do my makeup in, so it didn’t have to be bright. I wanted it to feel more like a hotel.

I reused my existing art; I felt like it still fit. I started frequenting an antiques shop when we first moved here.  

In the end, I’m actually way happier with how these cost-saving measures look. I like them way more than my original plan, so it’s very satisfying.

Get the Look

Lacuna Globe Pendant, Hennepin Made ($680)

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Godmorgon Vanity, IKEA ($349)

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Ball Cabinet Knob, Rejuvenation ($20)

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Clara Mirror, Anthropologie ($398)

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The post An IKEA Vanity and Floor Stencil Kept My Powder Room Budget Under $4K appeared first on domino.

In Renovator’s Notebook, homeowners open up about the nitty-gritty of their remodels: How long it really took; how much it actually cost; what went horribly wrong; and what went wonderfully, serendipitously, it’s-all-worth-it-in-the-end right.  

Square footage: 210

Year built: Late 1800s

Top priority: Remove the micro-kitchen on the top floor of a Brooklyn brownstone in order to add a much needed primary bedroom.

For the first two years that Aubrey Ament and Will Glaser were living in their Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, brownstone, it was a “construction sandwich.” The couple, who run the design firm GLAM Studio, started revamping their garden level shortly after they moved in, with the goal of listing it as a short-term rental on Airbnb so they could secure some extra income and put it toward their mortgage. They treated the floor above that, the parlor, as their living room with the eventual goal of building out their dream kitchen. And until that could become a reality, the couple and their then-newborn son, Theo, holed up on the third floor, where they installed a micro-kitchen they bought at IKEA for $5,000, a dining area, and a shared bedroom. This setup made entertaining an intimate affair, to say the least. “We were cooking Christmas dinner, and my sister-in-law is sitting on the bed while the pork is roasting 8 feet away in the oven,” Ament recalls. 

Then things quickly changed. Airbnb made it more difficult to have a listing in New York City, and the pair realized traversing up and down all of those stairs was becoming a nuisance for their two arthritic senior dogs. So they pivoted: Last summer, they nixed their Airbnb and instead started renting out the space to brands for photo shoots—it was a huge hit. “In August, we booked five different shoots and made three times as much as we would have from Airbnb,” says Ament. 

Ultimately, it gave the couple the financial confidence to do something they never thought they could afford: They claimed their entire brownstone for themselves. This meant they could begin building a true cooking space on the parlor level and trade in their tiny kitchen for a proper—and, most important, private—primary bedroom.  

The Receipts 

Here’s a taste of what the designers spent (and gained!) as they transformed their old kitchen–slash–dining room into a bedroom, including newly purchased furniture and decor. 

• Gut and patch old kitchen: $900
• Fireplace mantel and cast-iron insert: $0 
• Salvaged hearthstone: $500
• Mantel repair and installation: $1,000
• Sin ceramics for the shelves: $290
• Hook and Loom area rug: $525
• IKEA nightstands: $119 x 2 = $238
• IKEA bedside table lamps: $55 x 2 = $110

Total: $3,563

Selling the kitchen on Facebook Marketplace: -$3,500

Final cost: $63

Listing Our Old Kitchen on Facebook Marketplace

Aubrey Ament: The ramping up of our production shoots has allowed us to spread out over all three floors, ditch the micro-kitchen on the top floor, and add a much needed primary bedroom (before, we were squished into a space with our toddler, Theo).

The kitchen was designed to be temporary but ended up very cute in the end. The cabinets are IKEA Sektion with Voxtorp matte white fronts with integrated pulls. The butcher block counter is from Facebook Marketplace and cut to fit. The sink and faucet are from Home Depot, and the oven is a discontinued 24-inch Smeg gas range I found on eBay. 

We thought, hey, maybe we can sell the whole kitchen on Facebook Marketplace and that’ll help pay for switching this room out.

Will Glaser: There are people who want a relatively new kitchen with relatively new appliances for half the price. A good rule of thumb is to list it for 65 to 70 percent of what the value is, especially if it’s only a couple years old. We had some inquiries right away, but they were either lowballs or, in some cases, they wanted just one part of it. It took about a month to find a buyer who was actually interested. I was pretty stoked to get $3,500 at the end of the day.

The IKEA kitchen is an easy “on and off” sort of system. There’s main support rails attached to the wall and the cabinets hook onto that. There’s legs that support it as well. But really, after you unscrew the cabinets, take off the doors, and take off the countertop, they just lift right off. A plumber had to come in to detach the appliances, and then the buyers came over with their van and moved everything out. 

A month later they called us and said, “Hey, we have some of your dishes.” We had accidentally left them in the dishwasher! It was a chaotic time, so the missing plates didn’t even register with us. They were really sweet and dropped them back off in a reusable grocery bag.

Gifting Backsplash Tile to Friends

Ament: We had our friends Sarah and Teddy over for pizza and wine, and we were showing them how we were taking apart the kitchen. We were like, “Hey, do you want these Block Shop x Fireclay tiles?” And they said, “Actually, yeah!”

Glaser: They were finishing out their basement and wanted a kitchenette. 

Glaser: We thought about chipping the tiles off the wall, but that seemed like a likely way to break a bunch of them. So we used a Sawzall to cut the tiles off with the drywall itself, because we knew we were going to have to replace the drywall anyway. We made four big panels of tile attached to drywall. 

Ament: Teddy came over a week later and grabbed them, and they ended up cutting the Sheetrock at their house to fit our tiled Sheetrock.

Restoring Our Neighbor’s Historic Mantels

Glaser: We were interested in the house next door because it had been abandoned for 25 years and it was an exact copy of our house. We were pretty sure that no renovations had ever been done on it, so we thought, maybe it has a bunch of original hardware.

A developer bought it and was demoing the entire place but told us we were welcome to look around and take things if we wanted them. We saw these gorgeous marble mantels on the parlor floor. The next day, we went over with chisels and full hazmat gear and carried them piece by piece into our backyard, where they lived for a couple of months until we were able to get them installed. 

To even buy a mantel new like that would be a couple thousand dollars, so even though it was $1,000 to repair and install each mantel (one is in our son’s room), you’re paying for two people to work a day and a half, matching up the pieces and gluing them in such a way that minimizes imperfections. 

Interestingly, there were no hearthstones in the neighbor’s house. The person who installed our mantels had a connection and was able to source those for us for $500 each. 

Keeping the Open Shelving (for Now)

Glaser: There was definitely a discussion around the most efficient way to have storage in a bedroom. Eventually, we want to build something out. But we thought the open shelves looked good, and we really don’t have a ton of budget left to do much more.

Creating a Haven for Our Toddler

Ament: The bedroom we had before was shared with our son, and we were tired of sneaking in at night and not being able to turn on the lights or make noise because we didn’t want to wake him up.

“Does a kid’s room really need a mantel?” We asked ourselves. But we are always keeping in mind our side business, and that’s a really big thing in New York: having multiple spaces where you can shoot. 

We took inspiration from other brownstone kids’ rooms and put the toddler bed to the right of the mantel, hung his mobile and some art above it, and got a full-size area rug that’s this really springy cotton that’s good for playrooms. This room can be a lot of things: You can fit a queen-size bed in here, you can turn the small alcove on the other side of the room into an exercise area or a sectioned-off bedroom for another kid. We are always down for flexibility.

The post The Final Cost of Our Kitchen-Turned-Bedroom Reno Was a Mere $63 appeared first on domino.

In Renovator’s Notebook, homeowners open up about the nitty-gritty of their remodels: How long it really took; how much it actually cost; what went horribly wrong; and what went wonderfully, serendipitously, it’s-all-worth-it-in-the-end right. For more tips to nail your next project, follow @reno_notebook.

The first time designer and DIYer Ajai Guyot drove down her street, she was shocked by the amount of Tudor-style homes that lined the lane. The rows of little cottages was an unusual sight in Los Angeles. “The moment I laid eyes on our home, it reminded me of our trip to the Cotswolds during Christmas a couple of years ago—it was love at first sight for us,” she says. But Guyot couldn’t say the same for the kitchen. 

While the galley space was certainly bigger than her and her husband’s previous kitchen in Atlanta, Guyot was bummed to have to cook in such a long and narrow area again. Her goal in renovating this kitchen was simple: “Make myself fall in love with it,” she states. Luckily, this go-round, they had decided they wouldn’t spend nearly as much money as they did on their first reno (in Georgia, they shelled out $25,000 on upgrades like porcelain floors and pendant lights). This time, Guyot transformed the space for less than $6,500. Ahead, in her own words, the seasoned renovator shares how she pulled it off.

The Receipts

Here’s a taste of what Guyot spent on her kitchen.

• Stainless steel shelves: $65
• Outlet covers: $26
• Range hood: $400
• Faucet: $392
• Fridge: $700
• Additional lower cabinets: $400 
• Quartzite counters: $1,800

Save: Recycling Packing Materials

I used packing paper, tape, and a drop cloth from our move to prep the kitchen for painting and sanding. 

Save: Painting the Cabinets (With the Doors On)

For me, painting the cabinets without removing the doors worked better because I don’t have a large workspace, and sanding, priming, and painting the inside of the doors is easier to do when they’re on (I could swing them back and forth by the old knobs). Plus I’ve discovered that I like the look of cabinets that are painted with a brush instead of a roller. I applied a custom color derived from Farrow & Ball’s Old White. I love the base of this color but wanted mine to be a bit more yellow, a bit darker.  

Save: Installing Additional Lower Cabinets Myself

After becoming a mom and nursing for years, and also falling in love with cooking, I knew I needed more storage, so I kept all of our uppers and added more lowers this time around. I opted for in-stock unfinished cabinets from Home Depot. I’ve used these before and quite like them. Installing the additional lower cabinet units myself felt really good, especially when the countertop installers came in and complimented my work (I told them it was my first time and they couldn’t believe it!). I store the trash can in the cabinet closest to the patio, and plates, cups, pans, and cooking utensils in the other cabinets.

Save: The Floor Model Refrigerator

I ended up replacing the previous refrigerator because the waterline was severely damaged. The fridge had a tough time closing as well (it was never quite flush). I purchased a floor model from Home Depot because it was marked down. It doesn’t have any dents (thankfully).

Splurge: A Silver Bridge Faucet

I had a nice amount left on an Etsy gift card, so I was like, “It’s now or never!”

Save: Reporting Our Moldy Sink

During our home inspection, two inspectors pointed out the mold [around the sink] to us. A month after we got the keys to our home, it was one of the first things we brought to our insurance company’s attention. They sent someone out to check it, and then granted us approval to have the sink removed and replaced with a $75 deductible. It wasn’t a difficult process; dealing with insurance companies is more of a waiting game—it requires patience. For the sink itself, I’d advise people to check their local countertop warehouses, because there are some great deals out there. My sink came from one and was around $120.

Save: Playing the Role of Assistant

I had one of my contractors come in to create a new arched entry into the kitchen (and I offered to assist for a better price). I love doing this because it allows me the opportunity to learn. We used wood and drywall to create the arches. The wood serves as a stud that allows us to anchor the drywall to it. My contractor plastered, and I sanded and painted.

When I hired our countertop installer, I told him I’d been DIYing the kitchen and was wondering if there was some work I could do to save him on time and me on money. He said I could install the plywood while he was cutting the counters outside. I ended up being a helper of sorts for him, and it all worked out. 

Splurge: The ZLINE Stove

I knew I’d fall in love with the kitchen if I gifted myself the stove. I did end up selling our previous stove and microwave (because they were on the newer side) and applied those funds toward our current stove and range hood, so it wasn’t too pricey in the end.

Save: A Touch of Texture

I love how quaint beadboard is. I used a cordless jigsaw to cut each [panel], added a little glue to the back of the board, and then applied each one to the wall with a nail gun.

The textured look I created on my kitchen walls and ceiling is not limewash: I used a masonry brush, two different paints (one slightly lighter than the other), water, and a regular paintbrush. (Check out the process here). I painted the walls one color (two coats) using the regular paintbrushes, and before it dried completely, I followed up by stroking the walls with a lighter color (using the masonry brush), but I made sure to dilute each stroke with water. 

Save: Recharge Your Charging Stations

After adding the higher backsplash, I was going to have to upgrade all of the outlet screws to longer ones, so I figured while I was already at it, I’d upgrade the covers as well. I got a really good deal on them (about $25 for a pack of 20). 

Get the Look

VEVOR Stainless Steel Wall Shelf, Amazon ($66)

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Silver Bridge Kitchen Faucet, Etsy ($392)

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ZLINE Convertible Vent Wall Mount Range Hood in Stainless Steel, The Home Depot ($400)

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CML Decorator Metal Wall Plate 20 Pack, Amazon ($26)

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The post With a $6,500 Budget, I Was Determined to Fall in Love With My Galley Kitchen appeared first on domino.

In Renovator’s Notebook, homeowners open up about the nitty-gritty of their remodels: How long it really took; how much it actually cost; what went horribly wrong; and what went wonderfully, serendipitously, it’s-all-worth-it-in-the-end right. For more tips to nail your next project, follow @reno_notebook.

Location: Portland, Oregon

Budget: $500

Year built: 1940s

Top priority: Bring some color and sweet ’40s charm to a plain white rental bedroom. 

Chelsea Harris’s reasons for moving into her one-bedroom Portland apartment last January were simple: spend less money on rent and more time surrounded by historic charm. Harris, a copywriter for Schoolhouse, found what she was looking for in a circa-1940s building that had a sweet galley kitchen with checkerboard floors, to boot. Right away, she focused all her energy on making updates to said kitchen: She painted the lower cabinets yellow, added a peg rail for hanging produce bags, and applied butcher block–inspired contact paper to the counters. Then she moved onto the bathroom, where she DIYed a beadboard wall and swathed nearly every inch of the space in pink. So what next? 

“The bedroom felt like the last place where I could really add color,” says Harris. “I thought, Okay, what can I do in a rental bedroom? I’ve never really made one over before.” Having already spent a good bit of money updating the other areas in her apartment, Harris set out to spend less than $500 on this space. And if you are wondering, she’s more of the ask-for-forgiveness-not-permission type of renter. “If I lose my security deposit, it’s worth it to me to have a space that feels good,” she says. 

The Receipts

Here’s a taste of what Harris spent on her bedroom.

• Wallpaper: $200
• Paint (2 gallons, plus brush and tray): $100 
• Wall trim: $60
• Shelf brackets: $16
• Curtains: $100
• Curtain rods: $72
• Shelves: free!

Paint Everything (Even If You’re Still Contemplating Wallpaper)

I think choosing the color was probably the hardest part. I spent a lot of time at Home Depot looking at paint swatches, but I eventually went with Nature’s Gift by Behr. I didn’t prime my walls; I just went for it. I used a roller at first and applied two coats, three in some areas (it was a very gloomy week in Portland when I painted, and later on, in the natural sunlight, I noticed some spots that weren’t fully painted that I had to go back over).  

Pick a Small-Scale Wallpaper Print If You’re Using Pattern Elsewhere

I probably lived with my bedroom just painted for two or three months, but I felt like wallpaper would totally change the space. I had a browser open on my computer and I’d look at wallpaper daily. I really wanted something subtle because I have a plaid rug. I chose the Ric Rac wallpaper from Spoonflower because, when you look at it from far away, the squiggles are so small that it almost doesn’t look like a pattern, it looks like a solid color. 

It was easy to calculate how much I needed on the website: I measured the height and width I wanted, and it totally worked out. It comes rolled up in little sheets that you peel off like a big sticker, and it’s clear where you line it up with the next panel so it looks seamless. It probably took me two and a half hours because my walls are slightly slanted. I ended up having to paint the trim around the top of the ceiling more so in certain spots to make it appear as if the wallpaper was straight across the top. 

Mark a Natural Cutoff Point With Trim

I felt like the wallpaper was looking a little short, so I bought a piece of trim from Home Depot to add along the bottom. I went with the widest one I could find, and I like that it’s more traditional and the paper is so funky. It took me probably two hours to paint the trim because there are so many crevices. I used a nail gun to mount it to the wall. 

Phone a Friend and Say, “Can I Take Anything Off Your Hands?”

A friend of mine was moving out of her place and had some extra shelves lying around that she and her partner had custom-cut, so I decided to take those and add some shelving over the reading corner. The bedroom isn’t huge, so I wanted more storage, but I also didn’t want another huge piece of furniture in the room. Painting the shelves and brackets I picked out on Amazon (I’ve used them all over my apartment!) the same color as the wall created a built-in effect. 

Go Gauzy With Your Curtains

I already had the curtain rods from Target, which ended up working out because I really wanted to go with warm brass accents in this space. The curtains are pretty gauzy—you can see through them, and I prefer that because there isn’t a ton of light in the room. I wanted something that offered privacy but also allowed in light. 

Take Your Brush to the Furniture, Too

I found the wardrobe at a local thrift store. Someone had done a bad sponge-paint job on it, so I repainted it. My partner and I both work from home, and he uses the main closet in our bedroom as his workspace, so this (along with a living room closet) is where we store the majority of our clothes. I definitely led the charge on the DIY—he moved in with me after I had done most of the work, so it worked out for him! 

Get the Look

Nature’s Gift, Behr

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Dauntless Curtain Rod, Target ($36)

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OVOV 2 Pack Wall Mount Wood Shelf Bracket, Amazon ($16)

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Ric Rac Wallaper, Spoonflower ($14 per 2×1′ swatch)

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The post For $500, My Rental Bedroom Went From Plain White to Cottage-Worthy appeared first on domino.

In Renovator’s Notebook, homeowners open up about the nitty-gritty of their remodels: How long it really took; how much it actually cost; what went horribly wrong; and what went wonderfully, serendipitously, it’s-all-worth-it-in-the-end right. For more tips to nail your next project, follow @reno_notebook.

Size: 3,900 square feet

Location: The Berkshires

Year built: 1790s

Budget: $350,000

Top priority: Reimagine a farmhouse that has welcomed generations of one family as an inviting and modern Airbnb for guests. 

Blythe Graham-Jones can picture it now: her grandfather pushing her cousins on the big swing outside, her mother in the kitchen cooking holiday meals, birthday cakes being handed off through the tiny pass-through window in the dining room. The memories she and her family have made in their Massachusetts home, which her grandparents originally purchased back in the 1960s, are endless, so it’s no surprise that when the question of potentially selling the property came up, Graham-Jones and her brother stepped in to save it. 

For 15 years, Graham-Jones’s parents rented the home out to long-term tenants, and the place had fallen into a state of disrepair. But during that time period, she began buying properties, renovating them, and then listing them as vacation rentals. It quickly became clear to everyone in the family that they could try something similar here—but it would take a lot of work to get the 1790s farmhouse ready for Airbnb. “The first few contractors we met with quoted us over $1 million for this project,” recalls Graham-Jones. Most of them suggested replacing everything from the radiators to the windows, but she and her family agreed: The house was, for the most part, okay as is. “The heating system has never failed us since the 1960s,” she adds.

So instead, they turned the job into a family affair: Her brother oversaw the budgeting and did a good chunk of the electrical work, her handy dad custom-built a banquette out of IKEA bookshelves, her sister-in-law and mom revamped the garden, and Graham-Jones handled the permits and coordinated between all the vendors. Once a week, she and her brother would meet at his kitchen table and Graham-Jones would present her status report. “I used all the same tools that I learned in the corporate world. We shared Google Calendars and compiled folders with annotated estimates in Google Drive,” she says. “Having that Friday meeting helped me treat this project as if it were for a client—it needed to be documented the same way.” 

In the end, they managed to complete their reno for around $350,000 (including all the furnishings). Ahead, in her own words, she takes us through the highlights.

Narrow Down Your Permitting Priorities

We focused the majority of the budget on areas that needed a more significant overhaul, like a new kitchen, and adding a new bathroom directly above. Then for 50 percent of the home’s footprint, we did solely cosmetic work. We also kept a lot of the original details, sometimes because we didn’t have the budget to change them, but also because they brought character—stone fireplaces, exposed beams, a teeny-tiny powder room that we covered in floor-to-ceiling wallpaper, and sloped ceilings that we converted into a bunk room.  

Our contractor wanted to box up the old beam in the kitchen, for example, to make the new walls run totally flat. But we liked the mix of old and new, so we kept that exposed and had them tile up to it on each side so we could keep some of that older charm visible in an otherwise mainly all-new kitchen.  

Prepare for Scheduling Mishaps 

When we were trying to figure out the structural beams, we needed to open up the kitchen. I told the construction guys to do what they needed in order to pass inspection. But doing what they needed involved cutting the new electrical wires in the dining room. So when the electrician came back, he told us he had to reroute all of the electrical for the dining area.

Shop Stock Cabinets and On-Sale Appliances 

We almost doubled the size of the kitchen, but we did some things to lower costs, like keeping the sink and stove in the same locations. We ended up using stock cabinets from a local showroom and going with really nice hardware to elevate it a bit. We still envision being able to come here with extended family over the holidays, so our appliances were important to us. The nice thing about having such a long lead time on this project was being able to shop Black Friday sales. 

Create a Built-In Bunk From a Wayfair Frame

The biggest expense with any carpenter is the labor, so we had to get clever with creating a built-in bunk bed. Assembling a metal Wayfair bunk bed for him to build off of was a huge time-saver. The bed already has the slats that run under the mattresses and the critical parts that make it safe, so then all he had to do was wrap it in plywood—it only took a day or two. We painted it to match the walls: Carolina Gull by Benjamin Moore.

Find the Best of What Your Hardware Store Can Offer

I spent hours digging on Lowe’s, Wayfair, Overstock, etc. for well-designed items. I felt more comfortable investing in tile, light fixtures, and other items that would be hard for a renter (or kid!) to break. In the new bathroom upstairs, the glass shower wall is just a stock find from Lowe’s but looks higher-end because of the black grids. 

Invite Guests to Set Their Lighting Mood

There was one whole side of the house where we tried to do just cosmetic work. And so on that side, we didn’t add any lighting—the switches are all tied to an outlet, meaning we had to do wall-mount, plug-in sconces. I don’t think people really mind walking around and flipping on a couple of extra lights, because they’re like, “This is a charming, unique, old house.” Some of that comes with it.

Get the Look

Jaipur Pink Cement Tile, Zia Tile ($14.85 per square foot)

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Flying Cranes, Spoonflower ($549 per 2’x27′ roll)

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Allen + Roth Ronald 48-in Almond Toffee Undermount Double Sink Bathroom Vanity, Lowe’s ($999)

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Maebel 1 Light Gold Armed Sconce, Wayfair ($100)

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Gifted products include those from Kingston Brass, Zia Tile, Spoonflower, and Burrow.

The post We Saved $650K on Our Farmhouse Reno by Turning It Into a Family Affair appeared first on domino.

In Renovator’s Notebook, homeowners open up about the nitty-gritty of their remodels: How long it really took; how much it actually cost; what went horribly wrong; and what went wonderfully, serendipitously, it’s-all-worth-it-in-the-end right. For more tips to nail your next project, follow @reno_notebook.

Size: 670 square feet 

Location: Forest Gate, East London

Year built: 1890

Top priority: Create a flexible, open-concept first floor and carve out plenty of storage. 

When it came to purchasing their first home, Irene Astrain and Peter Schledt of Astrain Schledt Architects were willing to take on a big renovation in order to meet their slim budget. While a full gut renovation wasn’t originally on their minds, they fell in love with a home in the Woodgrange Conservation Area, an East London neighborhood first developed as a commuter town in the late 1870s. “It was an absolute wreck, but we could see the potential,” Schledt says. Original checkerboard tile and Carrara marble fireplaces with cast-iron inserts were jumbled in with 1990s updates. “That’s where it’s quite handy being an architect. You’re able to see past horrible renovations to the original features,” he adds.

Astrain and Schledt purchased the property for £400,000 (approximately $629,000) in September 2017, spent another £16,000 ($20,000) on foundation repairs, and did the rest of the labor themselves with help from Schledt’s father, an avid DIYer and former classic-car specialist. When the couple married in 2018, they asked guests to contribute to their renovation fund or directly purchase items off their wish list, which included a dining room table, microwave, and even the kitchen sink. Below, Schledt breaks it all down in his own words.

The Receipts

Get a glimpse into what the couple spent on their now highly functional two-bedroom, two-bath home. 

• Bespoke millwork: $6,200
• Steelwork: $3,600
• French patio doors: $3,100
• Superfront green kitchen fronts: $2,100
• Plykea birch plywood kitchen fronts: $2,000
• Kitchen appliances: $1,800
• Kitchen skylight: $750
• Radiators: $750

Customize Basic IKEA Boxes

Today the first floor is completely open, filled with clever storage, a spacious-feeling living room (with a curtain to separate for overnight guests, parties, etc.), dining room, and kitchen, all leading to the backyard garden, but it took quite a lot of work to get there. We wanted a custom kitchen yet for the price of a builder-grade one. By using IKEA boxes paired with Plykea and Superfront fronts, it allowed us to have a quite high-end, bespoke space, and we managed to do it all for under £10,000 ($12,000). Even going to a low- to mid-spec kitchen supplier would have cost £20,000 ($25,000).

Highlight Original Details

When we first viewed the house, the original black and white Victorian floor tile was covered up by an awkwardly located bathroom. The first move was to rip out the ground floor and restore the tile. It’s the focal point of the whole downstairs; it’s where our dining room table sits, between the kitchen and living room, and is the central social hub.

Salvage and Reuse

When it came to the floorboards, we saved as many as possible and got some from neighboring properties. Because we were able to restore all of the floors, it was a big cost-saver. We also tried to retain other original features, including the cabinets in the living room, which we painted a dark gray. Furthermore, when it came to the addition of any internal partition walls during our renovation, we used wood from the site. 

Futureproof Your Design

The home is obviously very small, just two bedrooms and two bathrooms, but we designed it with the future in mind. Whenever we made moves, we wanted to futureproof the property with a large, airy space downstairs that is open from the front to the back. We added new French doors and a skylight above the kitchen, too. When it came to the upstairs, the strategy was to make it as efficient as possible. We have our primary bedroom, and for the second bedroom, our children’s bedroom, we looked at bed dimensions from the start. Whether we stay here for a long time or sell, we want it to be marketable as a family home. 

Get by With a Little Help From Friends (and Family)

When we got married, we found a bespoke way of doing our registry and asked for specific things for our renovation. People seemed to love that idea. We listed our microwave, oven, and kitchen sink, and our guests liked that they were able to contribute in some form (they could also donate money) with things we use in our day-to-day. The sofa was paid for by Irene’s cousins in Spain. The dining table, which cost about £1,000 ($1,200), was purchased by multiple people who didn’t even know one another, including cousins, friends, and coworkers.

Utilize the Garden

In the garden, my dad and I built a 96-square-foot studio to maximize the space we have across the whole site. It’s become a third bedroom, a home office, and playroom. Every day, I go in there with my daughter for breakfast while she plays. 

The post Our Wedding Registry Helped Pay for Our 670-Square-Foot Renovation appeared first on domino.

In Renovator’s Notebook, homeowners open up about the nitty-gritty of their remodels: How long it really took; how much it actually cost; what went horribly wrong; and what went wonderfully, serendipitously, it’s-all-worth-it-in-the-end right. For more tips to nail your next project, follow @reno_notebook.

Size: 225 square feet

Location: Dallas

Budget: $30,000

Top priority: Putting the DIY skills learned over the years to the test to create the kitchen of their dreams—within budget. 

One thing Amanda and Michael Walker’s kitchen didn’t lack was space. At 225 square feet, there was plenty of room to roam—but that’s about it. The counter was nearly nonexistent, and the flow (or absence of it) left much to be desired. Amanda, an avid DIYer and content creator, had always known they’d need to renovate, but for the sake of their budget, she was determined to do it on her own. 

She spent six years dreaming up the ideal layout and perfecting her skills in demoing, tiling, painting, and more to bring it to life. With all the features she wanted—a full wall of tile, a built-in breakfast banquette, room for a coffee bar, and an entire second side for a peninsula desk nook with open shelving—contracting the job would’ve cost a cool $16,850 in labor. Amanda, at 35 weeks pregnant, and Michael pulled it off for $30,000. “It challenged us far more than we imagined, but it feels so worth it,” she says. “We enjoy everything from cooking to crafts, to homeschooling our kids to at-home date nights here, and we usually end up having all of our meals in the breakfast nook.” 

Though Amanda was no stranger to rolling up her sleeves for a home project, this was her first time renovating a kitchen.”Figuring out the dimensions and how the flow would work felt like a guessing game,” she says. The demo was some of the hardest work. The floor tile removal also took a lot of trial and error. Though she learned her biggest lesson when she rushed into the breakfast nook arch. “It was my fourth arch to DIY in our home, but the width of the window threw me off,” she says. “While it was drying, a couple of minutes from midnight, I tore it all down. I’m so happy I did, because the second arch frames the area so beautifully.” There were a few other times when they almost gave up, but pushing through paid off for the family of five. In these key moments, Amanda tells us how she pulled off her now-perfect kitchen right on budget.  

Save: Go for Builder Grade

Because I was adding more cabinets, I wanted to make sure we stayed within budget. The builder-grade ones I chose only totaled $2,440, and I bought soft-close hinges to give them a high-quality feel before priming and painting them a soothing green: Biking Trail by Behr. I initially thought I’d get new doors for them down the road, but once I finished, I decided the style fits well within the whole design. A big bonus was that the builder-grade design still had trash drawers, so I installed two under the coffee nook for trash and recycling.

Splurge: Leave the Lumber to the Yard 

There’s essentially one continuous shelf around the side we added, so I wanted it to stand out. After a lot of research, we decided to find a local lumberyard to build them. I could’ve probably figured out how to make a pretty shelf, but nothing really stood up to the ash (a hardwood that stains beautifully) we found through the pros. Plus the time and work saved by having the lumberyard glue and plane the pieces to perfection was such a bonus. The shelves cost $501, and then I installed them on Cascade iron brackets for $136. I’m sure I could have saved more money on them, but the quality—and being able to hand over the hard part of the project at 35 weeks pregnant—made it worth every penny.

Save: Keep the Stone Simple

There was a huge price difference between the quartz with veining I had my eye on and a simple white. I went back and forth about the decision, but I ended up choosing the Arctic White, which was $3,161 (about $3,000 less than the option I liked with veining). I did, however, go with a marbled quartz for the island, which gives a perfect contrast to the solid counters. 

Splurge: Invest in Solid Seating

It may seem silly that one stool was a splurge, but this desk nook is extremely special. I couldn’t find any tutorials on how to build one, and I had to figure out how to work around the AC intake vent. It worked out far better than I thought, and between all the people in our home, this cozy niche is used almost all day long. Outfitting it with a gorgeous and comfortable stool was important for me, so I spent $698 on Anthropologie’s Raleigh counter stool in sandstone, and I’m so glad I did.

Save: Practice Makes the Perfect Backsplash

I learned how to tile for the first time on our covered porch. It felt low stakes, because it’s basically outdoors. Then I tiled a thin brick wall in our bedroom. All of that was amazing prep for DIYing the kitchen backsplash. It was a challenge to figure out how everything would line up around the room, especially in the corners. It didn’t make it easier that I was installing them while pregnant. The tile is the Manzanita Gloss 3×3 gifted by Fireclay Tile, and it was surprisingly easy to make a mosaic. After I finished the first wall, I grouted it as soon as possible to make sure I wasn’t making any big mistakes not having it done by professionals—I cried when I saw how good it looked when I was finished.

Now the kitchen really is the heart of our home. It’s been so much fun entertaining friends and seeing how the flow works for talking around the island. It’s such a soothing space, yet it allows for vibrant life to be lived within it.

Get the Look 

Raleigh Chair in Sandstone, Anthropologie ($698)

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Brielle Chandelier by Mitzi, Lumens ($546)

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Manzanita Gloss 3×3, Fireclay Tile ($18)

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Electric Kettle by Smeg, Amazon ($269)

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The post What Went Wrong (and Right) When I DIYed My Entire Kitchen Reno at 35 Weeks Pregnant appeared first on domino.

Who says you have to completely demo your kitchen (not to mention, your budget) to make it yours? In our new series, The No-Reno Kitchen, we’re highlighting total transformations that prove the power of paint, fixtures, and a little elbow grease.

Size: 69 square feet

Location: Galveston, Texas

Budget: $2,500

Top priority: Quick fixes that pack an aesthetic punch. 

When Brooklynite Hannah Armitage and her husband, Daniel, of Soleil House decided to purchase a fourplex all the way down in Galveston, Texas, they never imagined that in only a few months’ time they would be living there themselves. (They had planned to rent it to vacationers.) But with jobs (she’s the founder of Simka Rose; he’s the director of operations for Unis), city life, and, well, everything in flux due to the pandemic, the couple decided to take a leap of faith. They packed up their apartment and moved south to throw themselves into renovating full-time. “We knew there was a good chance that this property would become our main source of income,” says Hannah, “so as soon as the shelter-in-place order went out in New York City, we were like, ‘Let’s go.’”

Hannah grew up vacationing in Galveston, so she knew that the town’s proximity to Houston would attract city dwellers looking for an escape. But as is, the property itself wasn’t such a sure thing. The kitchen desperately needed a revamp in the form of bold cabinets, updated hardware, and elevated lighting, and the Armitages were up to taking on the challenge themselves. “We wanted to do everything we possibly could to make the space nice for guests, but we couldn’t afford a complete gut reno,” says Daniel. “Not to mention we don’t have the skills for that kind of undertaking, which we learned the hard way.” It wasn’t until they tackled the cabinets that they realized just how much learning was in store. Here, the pair walks us through the many mistakes (and eventual successes!).

Save: Making Sacrifices

Daniel: The question we kept asking ourselves was: How can we make this space as nice as possible as quickly as possible? We started renovating before making a dollar, so we had to focus on small fixes until income came in. It all boiled down to deciding which changes would pack the biggest punch. 

Hannah: We originally wanted to redo the flooring to be entirely hardwood, but these units are old—there are more than six layers of laminate and tile that have built up over the years. We only had the budget to tackle either the cabinets or the flooring, and the cupboards take up much more visual real estate, so it was important to do those first. We purchased a kitchen rug for $50 from Wayfair to cover as much of the less-than-desirable floor tile as we could.

Splurge: Painting, Then Repainting

Hannah: We tried to save time and cost by skipping all the prep steps, which ended up being our biggest mistake. We spent $108 on Sublime paint from Clare (a nod to the ocean) and covered all of the cabinets, before noticing that it wasn’t drying properly. We discovered that the original paint was oil based, which is great for wiping down cabinets but not for painting over them. We had to start from scratch. 

Daniel: We peeled off as much of it as we could before eventually turning to our trusty sander to handle the rest. We took the cabinets off their hinges, sanded them down, and then added a layer of well-mixed primer. Because we live in such a humid environment, we decided to add a top layer of sealer after we repainted, which we highly recommend for any kitchen cabinet project. It has made for fewer nicks and scratches. 

Splurge: Investing in New Appliances

Daniel: Instead of keeping the original stove, which was gas-burning, we ended up switching to an electric stove from Home Depot for $750. The old gas pipes stuck out from the wall, so it required the stove to sit pretty far out, which was an eyesore. Going electric allowed us to push the appliance back against the wall, which looked better and saved space.

Save: Compromising on Finish

Hannah: We were looking for a matching pendant light and a smallish drop chandelier, but it’s hard to find identical fixtures in different sizes that won’t break the bank. We ended up with two pieces from AllModern—the fixture above the sink was $66 and the larger chandelier-esque light was $163. The gold finish wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for—it’s a bit too olive green for my taste—but I was ultimately okay sacrificing color for similarity. 

Splurge: Updating the Little (But Impactful) Moments

Hannah: We left the countertops and flooring as is for budget reasons, but we were able to redo the sink and the hardware. Like the cabinets, these are noticeable features that would make a big difference to the space’s overall aesthetic once updated. The original sink was stainless steel and the counters are a creamy white tile, which didn’t go together at all. We replaced the sink with a white farmhouse-style option from Lowe’s for $138, which complemented the tile nicely. We then chose a $137 brass faucet from Amazon for a bit of shine.

Get the Look

Yearby Light by Mercury Row, Wayfair ($157 was $225)

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Kitchen Faucet with Pull Down Sprayer by Forious, Amazon ($99)

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Mayfield Drop-In Cast Iron Kitchen Sink, Lowe’s ($524 was $549)

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Sublime, Clare Paint

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In Renovator’s Notebook, homeowners open up about the nitty-gritty of their remodels: How long it really took; how much it actually cost; what went horribly wrong; and what went wonderfully, serendipitously, it’s-all-worth-it-in-the-end right. For more tips to nail your next project, follow @reno_notebook.

The post All the Mistakes We Made During Our $2.5K DIY Kitchen Remodel appeared first on domino.

In Renovator’s Notebook, homeowners open up about the nitty-gritty of their remodels: How long it really took; how much it actually cost; what went horribly wrong; and what went wonderfully, serendipitously, it’s-all-worth-it-in-the-end right. For more tips to nail your next project, follow @reno_notebook.

Square footage: 200

Date built: 1980s

Top priority: Transform the kitchen and breakfast nook into a space everyone can enjoy until the day comes to really renovate it.

Wildflower Home blogger and designer Marynn Udvarhelyi has a confession: She’s never been a “the kitchen is the heart of the home” kind of person. “Yes, people gather in our kitchen, but I actually prefer the living room,” says Udvarhelyi. In fact, she likes her cooking space to be small and cozy—never mind grand islands and big walk-in pantries. Still, the Temecula, California–based creative was well aware that her kitchen was far from perfect when she and her family moved into their home in 2018. The cabinets were painted cranberry red and made out of flimsy particleboard, for starters.

At one point, Udvarhelyi and her sister removed a pesky upper cupboard in an attempt to make the space look more appealing, but their progress quickly stalled. It wasn’t until Udvarhelyi’s daughter came to her six weeks before her 16th birthday and told her mom she wanted to have a party at their house that she felt compelled to do more. “My daughter was like, is there any way to make this kitchen more presentable?” says Udvarhelyi.  

Udvarhelyi considers herself a purist at heart—if you’re going to do something, just do it—but she also believes in making the best of what you have. So when she set out to lightly make over the kitchen, she combined the two philosophies: She strategically picked fixtures (down to the pegs!) that she knew she’d be able to reuse when it’s eventually time for a big gut renovation. “For now, we love the changes that we made in here,” she shares. Ahead, in her own words, Udvarhelyi reveals how she got her kitchen birthday party–ready on a $4,000 budget. 

The Receipts

Here’s a taste of what Udvarhelyi spent on her kitchen and breakfast nook.

• Faucet: $185
• Shiplap: $347
• Cabinet paint and sealer: $35
• Hood and ducting: $380 
• Sconces: $411 
• Unlacquered brass cabinet knobs and pulls: $274
• Soft-close hinges: $120
• Floor paint and sealer: $80
• Woven roman shades: $207

Total: $4,000

Save: Prepless Paint

The most impactful decision I made was to paint the cranberry cabinets a mushroom-taupe color. It made our very tiny kitchen feel bigger, especially after I covered the walls in shiplap and painted that, too. It allows the eye to only have to take in one color versus the three to four different colors that were there before. I used a product called Fusion Mineral Paint that doesn’t require any primer (it’s designed to stick to anything and has a built-in top coat). Plus, I needed something that wasn’t going to leave brush marks, because I decided not to use a sprayer. I sealed everything with Deft Acrylic, and it has held up beautifully. 

Splurge: Details for the Future

I have a really strong aversion to loud noises, so hearing a cabinet door slam (I have teenagers)…I couldn’t do it. I replaced the old exposed hinges with hidden soft-close ones that I can use in our next kitchen. The catch: Because of the way that the new hardware is positioned, you can see a little bit of a gap around the doors. I also replaced the knobs and pulls with ones from Rejuvenation. They were pricey, but I know that no matter what kitchen I install in this house, they’ll stay because they’re classic and they’ll likely still be available to buy down the line. 

I thought I could keep the existing vent hood in this space while adding the shiplap surround, but the controls were in the wrong spot. We came to the conclusion that we would buy a new insert that we could reuse in the future, given we won’t be altering the location or size of the stove.  

Save: A Speedy Faucet Swap

I have a lot of tradespeople who I work with in my back pocket—an electrician, a woodworker, a flooring guy—but I don’t have a plumber who I can just call up and be like, ‘Can you come do this real quick?’ Because of that (and because I’m impatient), I swapped out the faucet myself. I had done this before in my girls’ bathroom two homes ago, and after a YouTube refresher, it was pretty straightforward. 

Save: Checkerboard Floors 

The biggest challenge was painting the floors. It was backbreaking work: I was on my hands and knees the whole time because I decided to tape off the grout lines (I wanted to leave them natural so it didn’t look too diner-y) and go square by square. In hindsight, I would have just painted the entire floor white, waited, and then gone back with black paint. I also wish I would have used a lower-contrast color combo—we notice every little piece of dirt and crumb. 

Splurge: Lighting With Character

Lighting is such a big deal to me. For this space, I thought, how can I find something that is not too expensive but looks like it belongs in an old English-cottage kitchen? Then I stumbled upon Clay Cafe. Even though the arms [of these sconces] are very basic, the shades are handmade: They have a story and someone actually touched them. That’s always very important to me.

Spending $4,000 for a kitchen that I love, even if it’s temporary, turned out to be way better than not spending the money and having a space that I don’t want to be in. We will change it someday, start completely from scratch, and that will feel so good.

Get the Look

Concealed Mount Cafe Set, Rejuvenation ($50)

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4-Light 16 in. Wide Vintage Gold Taper Candle Pendant, The Home Depot ($240)

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Algonquin, Fusion Mineral Paint (from $7)

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Ball Cabinet Knob, Rejuvenation ($20)

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The post I Chose Materials for My $4K Kitchen Reno That I Can Reuse When I Eventually Do a Big Gut appeared first on domino.

In Renovator’s Notebook, homeowners open up about the nitty-gritty of their remodels: How long it really took; how much it actually cost; what went horribly wrong; and what went wonderfully, serendipitously, it’s-all-worth-it-in-the-end right. For more tips to nail your next project, follow @reno_notebook.

Location: Evanston, Illinois

Approximate cost: $3,000

Approximate square footage: 45

Year built: 1899

Top priority: Infuse fun and color into a drab white bathroom that is shared by the kids of the house and guests.

For a lot of families, the guest bathroom isn’t just the “guest” bathroom. It’s usually the guest-slash-kids’ bathroom. This shared setup is something interior stylist and blogger Kate Pearce is all too familiar with. So it was no surprise that the seasoned renovator recently gave her upstairs bathroom, which is located off her eldest daughter Eva’s bedroom and also used by her youngest daughter, a bold refresh. And it turns out, paint can go a long way in making a room feel more adult-friendly: Pearce made the space feel truly cohesive by sprucing up the scratched-up floors so they matched the shower tile (more on how she found the perfect color in a moment).  

What ensued wasn’t a full renovation but a two-weekend-long project that started with funky blue stripes and later called for a Facebook Marketplace–sourced dresser, which now acts as a vanity. “A room can look pretty high-end even when you aren’t spending too much money, and that’s the philosophy I try to have with any project,” says Pearce. Ahead, in her own words, she reveals the many saves and main splurge of her $3,000 bathroom makeover. 

Save: Change Your Floor Tile, Not the Shower Tile

This bathroom has beautiful navy shower tile that I wanted to keep, but I knew I needed to find an inexpensive way to update the grimy white floors. That was really the jumping-off point. I used the ColorReaderEZ device that pairs with an app to scan the tile, and then it gave me three potential paint color matches for the floor. I ultimately went with Sherwin-Williams’s Porch and Floor Enamel in the color Commodore. 

I first cleaned the floors as best I could, then primed with two coats of Sherwin-Williams’s Extreme Bond Primer. I let it dry overnight, and later the next day, I laid down painter’s tape to make the stripes. I then used a roller with an extension pole to paint on the stripes. While I didn’t add a sealant, six months later the stripes are holding up well. 

Save: Shop Your Own House for Paint

I’ve lately really been liking blue and red together. When I thought of a color for the bathroom walls, it turned out I had just enough paint left over from when I updated my daughter’s bedroom molding (using Farrow & Ball’s Book Room Red) to roll on two coats. Overall, sprucing up the floors and the walls took a single weekend, but it didn’t cost me a dime. I’m the painter in our family, so it was a pretty straightforward and easy job. 

Splurge: Hand Over Your Budget to Your “Dream” Find

I like to pick one or two things to splurge on, and then save on the rest. That’s why I spent $2,500 on an antique Calacatta Viola sink from Aegean Marble on Etsy. After giving the store owner the exact measurements of my space, the sink arrived in about six weeks from Turkey, and I paired it with a $150 mid-century Danish dresser from Facebook Marketplace. Billy, my husband, ran the pipes through the dresser, took the wood top off, and then placed the marble sink on top. Because I didn’t have a ton of depth to work with for the faucet, I selected a wall-mounted one from Amazon for $70.

Save: Bring the Walls to Life With Thrifted Art

I’ve been collecting vintage and antique silhouettes for 15 years (including works by artist friends and portraits of my girls), and I wanted to bring my assortment to a gallery wall. When gallery walls have the same frames, they fall flat. I have two different mirrors, some new art, and some 150-year-old art, and I love mixing up the shapes and sizes. I find that even if I have to shift things around, I can always cover up any nail holes I’ve made.

I purchased the brass sconces that now flank the vanity on sale from Anthropologie three years ago. They are hardwired, and I didn’t have an immediate use for them but held onto them because the design is classic. When this project came along, I knew they’d be just the right style and scale to accompany the thrifted mirror. 

Save: Don’t Hang Your Towels—Roll Them

Adding another furniture piece or shelving would make the bathroom feel cluttered, yet I wanted something that could store a decent amount of towels. I found a solution while scrolling on Facebook one day: a $219 vertical rack from Dutton Brown that can hold up to seven towels. I filled it with cozy Turkish ones that aren’t too childish. They’re nice and large, so we can even grab them for swim practice or when we head to the beach. 

Get the Look

Throne Towel Rack 36″, Dutton Brown ($219)

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Calacatta Viola Antique Marble Sink, Etsy ($1,250)

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Airuida Solid Brass Sink Faucet, Amazon ($69)

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Book Room Red, Farrow & Ball

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The post I Spent $2,500 of My $3,000 Bathroom Reno Budget on This Etsy Purchase appeared first on domino.