We all know that there is loads and loads of planning that goes into a renovation/new build right? There are always budgets and big expenses involved. It’s SO easy to go over budget on renovations because what looks like a few hundred here, and a thousand or two there turns into tens of thousands seemingly overnight. it’s really easy to find your dream tile and think “I’ll just take money from something else and put it here”. But where can that extra money actually come from?

That approach, I’ll save on the things that don’t matter, so I can spend on the things that do, seems really logical. But my eyes were opened to what that actually looks like, so lets talk about it!

I’ve got a bunch of experiences to pull from. My in-laws just built a new completely custom home. My sister built a new house with a builder that gives you a base price with limited finish options and you pay for upgrades. My other sister bought a house mid construction, and we have the house we were never meant to build + the Merc. So this isn’t just pulling from our one experience, it seems that everyone has this problem.

When we were planning on building (before we found the Merc, you can read about that journey here) I had never walked down this road before. Everything that we had done to our previous house was on a project by project basis and never really required a huge chunk of cash. At most a few thousand for our biggest projects, but nothing that we didnt save for. One of the realizations that I came to when we were working on the budget for the build was that we were going to spend a ton of cash and I still wasn’t going to get everything that I wanted. In fact, I felt like I was compromising on almost everything. We didnt make it far enough along to have concrete bids, just an idea from the builder of what things would generally be. When we got the bids for the Merc, because of the unique nature of the building and loan situation we had to get a full bid set, as if we were contributing nothing (no DIY or sponsored products) and it was crazy eye opening. The “I want these door knobs so we’ll pull money from something that no one will see” mindset vanished. The stuff that no one will see that you think you can scrimp on turns out, aren’t really that optional. Things like framing, electrical, and insulation are sort of not optional and don’t really have a lot of wiggle room. Short of lowering your square footage, you’re not really going to save that much off of what your bids come back at. So what does that mean!?

Compromise. DANGGGGG IT!!

There are 3 categories that everything renovation related seems to fall into. Permanent, Semi Permanent, Replaceable

Let me first start by saying that obviously walls can be moved or an entire house torn down, so we’re using the term permanent to mean something that you won’t want to change for the next 15+ years. Things that are structural usually fit into this category.

Windows, Walls, Exterior, Wiring, Roof, Plumbing

Semi-Permanent are things that can be changed but you don’t really want to have to change because of time or expense.

Flooring, Doors, Wall Finish, Appliances, Cabinetry, Plumbing Fixtures, Baseboard and Moulding, Countertops etc.

Replaceable are things that can be easily switched out, and usually can be DIYed.

Lighting, Cabinet Hardware, Accent Tile (backsplash etc.), Mirrors,

Trust me when I say, it’s so easy to get frustrated when you want what you want from the moment you move in. But remember, this is going to be your home! If you can’t afford your dream light fixture, that’s ok! Just find something at Restore or cap the electrical until you can! We’ve done that in so many places at the Merc.

I don’t think that you should build a house where you hate everything because you settled. My advice is to start with the permanent category and move your way down. You’d be surprised what you can live without. ? As of today we don’t have lighting in the office, either of the bathrooms, or Ivie’s closet. We also don’t have shower doors (shower curtains work just as well), mirrors in the bathroom, cabinet hardware anywhere but the kitchen, and closet systems (just a bar in all of them!) I’ve got walls that still need tile and shelving, and we’ve got to figure out how to hide our water shut off valve. And that is just in phase 1.

.

Pro tip: did you know that Frog Tape makes a great drawer pull in a pinch?

Guys, renovation/building is messy and complicated and it doesn’t always end when we want it to.

Bite off what you can, wrap the rest in tupperware and put it in the fridge for later. Isn’t the whole point of this to create a space that you love?! Don’t feel bad if you cant do it in one fail swoop.

So where did we actually save money?

Because of our partnerships with some of my favorite companies we were able to save quite a bit. I know that is not reality for very many people, but I also don’t want to not acknowledge that we got a huge leg up on our budget. But let’s just say that you don’t have that option, saving money is still very much a reality.

• DIY what you can! We saved thousands by doing our own demo, exterior refurb, painting, tile, flooring, and finish work ourselves.
• Expand your mind a little. I knew that I wanted really detailed wood flooring, and did some heavy research into parquet, when it came down to it our wood floors in the bedrooms would’ve cost $15,000+ but we spent under $2700 because we made them ourselves. That is FREAKING AWESOME!! I don’t even want to know how much it would’ve cost to hire a professional to do the Merc logo in our entryway. I asked our tile guy and he flat out told me that he didnt know anyone who would do it. But because I was willing to learn (and suffer at times) we have this totally amazing statement that we probably couldn’t have afforded otherwise.
• Get bids! I got bids on our giant metal trifold door from a handful of metalsmiths. They ranged from $1,500-$20,000. The guy we ultimately chose was $3,000 and the door turned out better than I dreamed.
• Use a KILLER contractor. I cant even begin to tell you guys how much we love our contractor. He was on top of everything and everyone and I was honestly surprised at how many of our subs came in under budget, even with all of the Merc weirdness that we could throw at them.

Do you have any tips to add?! I’m dying to hear more money saving ways!!

The post Where To ACTUALLY Save Money During A Renovation/Build appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Well hello there! As you can imagine after our last post, things have been a little lax on the DIY front these days. That coupled with squeezing the last drops out of summer have made for a much needed breather. But, the girls are back in school and sawdust is in the air once again!!

There are about 5 million ways to rock a Rast hack. I mean, how can you go wrong with the most basic $35 dresser that has ever existed?! It screams at you to do something exciting with it! While I was at IKEA last month I bought one just for its blank canvas properties and knew that a fun project was just around the corner.

If you know anything about me you know that I am addicted to plants, I say “you guys” waaaaay too much, and I love leather. Specifically the scrap leather that I have laying around my house from doing things like skinning thrift store couches.

This hack is cake. The only tool that you’ll need is a router.

Start by assembling everything on your dresser except the drawer fronts.

The drawer fronts are pre-drilled for handles so we used it to our advantage and that is how we determinted the width of our leather pulls. All you have to do is route a (semi) straight line between the holes.

Use the guide on your tool and it is so easy!

Because we wanted the routing tool to go all the way through the wood, the piece needed to float above the table to create a little pocket for the bit to exit.

One thing that we learned is to move the router smoothly and consistently the entire time it is on, if you pause you’ll create a larger opening in that spot.

When your drawers are routed, give the entire dresser a quick sanding with 220 grit sand paper

I painted my dresser white with RustOleum 2x White in Flat. If you cant find the color that you are looking for in spray paint, I have a great tutorial for using roll on paint that will give you a flawless finish.

When everything is nice and dry, its time to attach your handles!

I had some scrap 3/4” dowels that I put inside the leather because it was so soft and floppy. If you use really stiff leather you probably wouldnt need to use them.

I folded over and stitched the edges of the leather just to finish them off a little, this part is totally optional but I love the way that the stitching gives it a little contrast!

Fold the leather around the dowel and stick it into the hole that you created.

Pull it through the other side, split it open and staple both sides down the inside of the drawer.

And you’re done!!

Can you think of all of the places you can use this!? I think this guy might be going in Ivie’s room as a nightstand.

The post DIY Leather Handle IKEA Rast Hack appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

I am still alive! (well barely. What day of the week is it?) The Hoard Sale was a MASSIVE success. Stay tuned for a post all about it,

Last week I shared my tip for getting a perfect paint job, so today I thought it would be fun to show you a project that got just that.

IKEA Rast dressers are utterly fantastic for a nightstand replacement. They are inexpensive ($34.99), small, and made out of solid wood. They were just what I needed for Macie’s Bedroom. But here is the thing. Sometimes you don’t want it to look like a Rast. Sometimes you want it to look a little nicer. Ya feel me?

After putting the dressers together the first thing that I did was putty all of the pre drilled holes and the screws. I like using the pink putty that dries white.

Pile it on nice and tall. Sort of like a wad of bubble gum. Don’t try and make it perfect at this point.

Make sure the your putty is completely dry before you start sanding.

To sand I used a 220 grit sanding sponge and a small circular motion.

Once everything is nice and smooth,  give you dresser a quick wipe down with a slightly damp cloth to get the dust off. (You can also use tack cloth, but lets be honest, who has that on hand at all times?)

Once it is time to paint, you will want to follow this tutorial to a T. It will give you a perfect finish.

For those interested, here is the paint formula for the custom pink color:

Now for the REALLY fun part. Bring on the leather and brass!!

I stated by cutting a campaign shaped pull out of leather (you can upload this image into Design Space if you have a Cricut Explore and cut it with that, or you can print it off and trace it!)

The corner pieces and brass pulls are from Home Depot. To find them you will want to go down the aisle that has the pulls and knobs.

The brass corner brackets come in packs of 4,  you will need 3 packages per dresser.

The pulls can be found right by the hinges and brackets. They are called Brass Utility Pulls. You will need 3 of these puppies too.

Start by gluing your leather piece onto the drawer. I decided to move mine to the top of the drawer instead of putting it in the center. Make sure that it is centered and level.

Then hold your brass handle onto the leather and mark where the screws will go.

Using a small drill bit, drill pilot holes through the leather and into the wood. Then attach the pull.

You will want to drill pilot holes for the corner brackets as well, so that you don’t split the wood.

Check out the other tutorials from this room makeover here!

The post Leather and Brass Campaign IKEA Rast Hack appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Sometimes projects are HUGE. They take a crapload of time and effort. And while they are usually worth it, sometimes you just want something simple. Did you know that you can literally update a dresser during naptime?!

Here is the skinny.

I found this dresser on AZ Craigslist. After a late night trip to a sketchy part of town (that may or may not have involved  Jilly having a heart attack while almost witnessing a stray cat being hit, which in turn gave the rest of us a heat attack thinking she was being carried away by drug lords or possibly someone cutting off her favorite finger. That girl can scream)

Anyway back to the dresser. It was $75 and in GREAT condition.

The one downside was that the outer shell of it was laminate. Now, normally I am not a huge fan but it was fairly realistic looking laminate and (like I mentioned before) it was in great condition. So we went with it.

Because we already had a lot of wood in Kelsey’s room (on the wall and on the sliding barn door) this happy little dresser got a quick update  just by painting the drawer fronts!

The first step is to make sure the piece is clean. Depending on the level of grime you might need to use a strong cleaner like TSP.

When its clean and dry you are ready to start! Meet your best friend. This is Kilz. It is hands down THE BEST primer on the market, especially when it comes to laminate pieces. The key to using Kilz is to shake shake shake (for a good 2 minutes) before you spray. If you don’t it will come out sandpapery and you will have to sand it smooth.

Once your primer is dry (usually between 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on the temperatures outside) give it a quick once over with 220 grit sand paper. This will make it silky smooth and make it look uber professional.

Wipe your piece down with a slightly damp rag or tack cloth to get all of the sanding dust off (if you skip this step you will have an epic spray paint fail FYI. So don’t forget!!)

Give your drawer fronts 2-3 good coats of spray paint. If you have read any of my posts about spray paint you know that I am a Krylon fan until I die. I have a few reasons I love it, let me share them with you.

1. The nozzle. Its life changing folks. Instead of spraying in a circle like most brands it sprays in a line AND it rotates. So if you are moving your can horizontally across your piece you want to make sure that your nozzle is turned to spray in a vertical line. That way it is covering a much larger area. I feel like I have WAY more control with a can of Krylon.

2. Krylon cures very quickly. If you are spray painting a piece of furniture chances are you like things done fast. There are some lines that take HOURS to cure. It is SO frustrating when you have given it adequate time and in all of your excitement pick it up and its still tacky (the one bonus to that is,  if you ever go missing and the cops need your fingerprints you can bet your hoard its perfectly impressed into that lamp.)

3. The color selection! Krylon has SO many on trend colors to choose from AND if there is one that you cant find check out this post I wrote a while ago on how to get the top secret colors you cant find anywhere else for FREE!

As much as I loved the white and wood,  this thing needed a little bit more flair. And tell me my friends, what can add more flair than bright pink?

To “color dip” a piece like this all you need is a roll of ScotchBlue and some paint (we used a sample pot from Lowes, just like I used on the Leather Belt Dresser Pulls)

Start by removing the legs if you can (it just makes it a little easier to work with). Hailee being the genius she is found a piece of Styrofoam to hold our legs

Simple and impactful my lovies.

I wanted the dresser to be super complimentary to the rest of the room without trying to steal the show. Sometimes that is what you need out of a piece of furniture.

Everything in the room cant be the star, but just because something isn’t the star doesn’t mean it needs to be generic or dull.

Did you notice the red lamp that we got for $5 from Serg?

I LOVE how this dresser turned out,  and can you believe it was such a simple project!? Do you have something that could use a 2 hour update? I want to hear all about it!

Make sure you check out the other posts in the Epic Room Makeover 2012 Giveaway:

Make sure to check out the other posts in the Epic Room Makeover 2012 Series:

Epic Room Makeover Reveal

Source List

How To Build A Simple Sliding Barn Door

How To Play “Lets Make A Deal!”

How To Drill Through Glass (Video Tutorial!)

Love Your Guts, Mandi

The post Update A Dresser In 2 Hours! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Getting close to wrapping up all of the posts about the $150 Room Makeover (yes, I know I still need to do the Herringbone throw, that one is next!!)

So go with me on this. When we walk into a space that we don’t so much love and see the boring, plain, not awesomeness of it, do you feel like you need $57,000 to totally change it? Like that is the only way to get this room to its full potential. Well guess what Candace Olsen? You don’t.

The biggest thing that you need are some guts.

You can change things on a MUCH smaller budget (I hope that I have proved this point by doing this room makeover). People think that if they have a small budget that they have to make small changes.

WRONG-O!

You can make great changes on a small budget!!

But sometimes.

Just sometimes.

You have to embrace the ugly.

This GIANT safe that weighs 47 BILLION lbs. was the ugly in Grit’s room.

Would I have liked to put a cute chair and little table there with a mirror on the wall behind it? HECK YES.

Was it an option?

Nope.

The safe needed to say.

Balls.

When you are in this situation of having a literal giant elephant in the room the first things that come to mind are ways to cover it. You could build a screen, hang a curtain, make a sliding wall,  build a bookcase that flips around when you pull the right combo of books. You know, crap like that. But then at some point reality sets in and you realize that none of those things are going to happen on your budget than can be blown in one trip to Target (please tell me I am not the only one that does that!? I mean what did I even buy??!)

So instead of banishing this corner of the room and doing nothing I decided to embrace the ugly and make it look like the safe is SUPPOSED to be there. Smart right?!

We did this by bringing attention to the wall.

This project is really easy, all you need is a laser level and a couple of rolls of ScotchBlue.

In fact. Instead of showing you a few process pictures I made you a video of the ENTIRE process! (Don’t worry its only 2 minutes long!)

And just for fun here are some more before and afters:

In those pictures I had you thinking that we just loved the crap out of that safe right?!! Ha! That is what it means to embrace the ugly.

Make sure you check out the rest of the projects in the $150 Room Makeover:

And don’t forget to vote for your fave room for the Epic Room Makeover Giveaway! Voting is SO close I cant even look at it.

Love Your Guts, Mandi

The post Embrace The Ugly. appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

A tutorial for a tufted headboard is not something that is hard to find, there are a ton and for all different styles of beds. This tutorial is special though, its more of a teaching you to fish type tutorial because you can use this basic concept and design your own headboard!

Start with a 4×8 sheet of particle board. I got mine at Lowe’s for $14.00. While you are there have them rip cut it to the size you need (mine was 62”x 48”) and then have them cut it into quarters. One perk about doing a headboard like this is that you are able to fit it in your car, you wont need a truck/SUV to haul it home!! While you are at Lowe’s pick up your screws and washers too. The screws you need are 2” wood screws and one medium and one large washer for each screw. You will know how many screws you need based on the number of tufts you are going to create. You will also need at least 6 metal mending straps for a queen size bed. But there is nothing wrong with using more!

The main component to a tufted headboard is foam. Foam is SO expensive if you buy it from somewhere like Joann’s (even with a 40% off coupon) so here is a top secret tip. If you go to Home Depot right now they are selling camping pads for $19.99!! They are usually located by the customer service desk. I needed 2.

And last but not least you will need fabric. My go to fabric for pretty much everything is Duck Cloth. It’s a heavy duty canvas that is made out of cotton. It comes in bunches of colors and you can buy it at Joann’s. I needed 2 yards. The typical price is 10.99 a yard but I had a 60% off coupon so for 2 yards I spent just under $9.00 total!!

Start by cutting your foam to size. The easiest way that I did this was just by laying my piece of wood on the top of it and using a long serrated knife to cut it.

Then you are going to wrap your fabric around the foam and board pulling it as tight as possible. Staple one side and then move to the opposite side (do this on all 4 sides of your wood.)

When you have all 4 pieces upholstered its time to join them together. This is where your mending straps come in. Make sure that they are all straight and pushed together as tight as possible.

Then just drive wood screws into the back. I used screws that were 1.5” (you wont need to worry about them going through the front of the wood because the foam will hide everything.)

This is what your headboard should look like at this point:

Now to tuft.

If you want your tufting to be super deep and pleated I would recommend this tutorial from Brooke. I want my tufting to be more modern (obvs to go with the vibe of the room). There are a million ways under the sun to tuft, this is just one of them.

You need to find the center of each panel. I did this with a measuring tape and a pencil. I SUPER LIGHTLY marked where the center was on my first panel. This is where it gets fun. You are going to drill your screw directly through the front of your fabric. I recommending making a small hole first or else it will make a really loud POP when you start drilling.

The washers are to make sure that the fabric doesn’t just move around the screw. Cause then you would be left with a hole in your fabric, a screw in your backboard, and zero tufting.

To make things easier on myself I used a laser level to line up the next tuft. That way I only had to measure one side, and I knew it was straight.

Then I glued the buttons on the top of the screw.

Also, depending on how deep you tuft your screws may poke out of the back of the wood. If this is the case you will probably need to dremel/hacksaw them to get a flush mounting on your wall.

Now for the mounting.

The original plan was to use this guy to hang it on the wall (like a giant picture of sorts) It is a Hangman from Lowe’s. They are just over $10 and can hold up to 200 lbs.

The problem with that is that this wall is concrete…so ya. We couldn’t find the studs. So the Hangman had to go back. THe solution ended up being mounting 1x4s on the back and then screwing them into the bedframe. Just like we did on this old door turned headboard.

Pretty amazing if you ask me!!

Don’t forget to check out the other amazing tutorials in the $150 room makeover:

And don’t forget that round 1 of voting for the Epic Room Makeover Giveaway ends tomorrow night at midnight!

Love Your Guts, Mandi

The post Tufted White Headboard For Only $69.00 appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

What do you do when you have approximately $10 to spend on replacing outdated drawer pulls? (Pssst… you get CREATIVE!) This is one of my favorite projects from Mandi’s Fall Facelift.

For this project all you need is a leather belt, hex screws, paint and a drill.

Start by painting the back side of your belt. I bought a sample/tester size (do this to save save save!!)  You will need at least 2 coats because the leather is going to absorb your first layer pretty fantastically.

When your paint is dry take a straight edge and mark where you need to cut your belt. Each of our straps were 5 inches long.

Use your drill to drill 2 holes into your straps and insert your Hex screw.

So simple and such a fun way to add a little bit of secret color to your furniture.

There are only 3 days left to submit your room for the Epic Room Makeover Giveaway and have me come to YOUR house for a complete room makeover on MY dime! Get more info here!

Love Your Guts, Mandi

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