Happy Monday! In today’s post, I wanted to share with you my 3 biggest successes during the renovation of my first home’s kitchen. Last week, I discussed my 3 biggest failures. If you haven’t read that post yet, it’s worth a read. Later this week, I’ll be launching my new ebook to my newsletter subscribers only. For a few short days, all of the products will be available at a discounted rate. Then I’m going to raise the prices and advertise to everyone else. If you want to get in on the lower prices, just sign-up for our free newsletter by filling out the form below. Keep in mind the prices will go up before the weekend (20 June 2015).
So let’s discuss those successes.
My 3 Biggest Kitchen Renovation Successes
1. I Saved a TON. How much is a ton? In this case, I probably saved anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000. How was I able to do that? The biggest savings came from the kitchen cabinets. I built my own from scratch and gave them a custom look by adding crown molding and making the doors inset. My material costs were around $2,000 for the plywood, lumber and hardware. They weren’t perfect, but they really looked good. I don’t think you could tell they were home made unless I told you. Similarly priced cabinets from a cabinet shop or other supplier would’ve set me back well over $10,000. Not interested in building your own cabinets? No problem. Consider buying ready-to-assemble cabinets or see if you can find a local cabinet shop that will sell you unpainted cabinets. If you are seriously thinking about building your cabinets, hang in there. I’m going to build a course soon that will teach you how to do just that. In the mean time, you can read about two of our more popular cabinet builds to get a sense of what that process is like. Read about our home office cabinets or better yet, watch the build video. You can also read our TV cabinet build.
2. I Extended the Life of the House. The house was around 100 years old when I bought it. Much of the bones of the kitchen weren’t in great shape. The entire kitchen had paneling over furring strips. The walls weren’t insulated. The roof above the kitchen wasn’t insulated. The windows were broken. The door was a piece of crap. The electrical was sub-standard. The plumbing was on life support. You get the picture. The renovation required me to frame in a whole new interior structure, add insulation, new HVAC supply line, new plumbing as well as new windows and doors. Within a few weeks, the kitchen was the most modern part of the home. Aside from getting a beautiful looking space, that kitchen will help extend the life of the home by decades. It’s less likely to have an electrical fire. It’s less likely to have a roof leak. With all that added value, it’s going to be looked after by a new family or new families for a long, long time. Leaving the house in better shape than I found it is very satisfying.
3. I was Able to Sell the House in Two Days. After nearly seven years of living in my first home, it was time to move. My wife and I listed the home on a Monday morning and it was under contract before Thursday. The first people to walk through the place on Tuesday morning made us an offer. After a day of negotiations, we agreed to terms. We had to cancel a weekend full of showings and maybe we left a higher offer on the table, but we didn’t care. We were already under contract to build our current home so our focus was on getting a quick sale. I’m sure our buyers had a long list of reasons why they liked that house, which included things that we couldn’t control like location and their commutes, etc. But the things we could control, like the kitchen, we killed it.
Those are just a few of my successes from my first home’s kitchen renovation. In my new ebook, we discuss ways you can both save money and properly plan and execute your next kitchen remodel. It doesn’t matter if you’re a handy DIYer or completely hands-off. Knowing how to manage your kitchen renovation is the key to a successful remodel.
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Thanks and hope to be emailing you soon!
R,
John
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