[0:00] earlier this year we toured and fell in
[0:02] love with this 110 year old cottage in
[0:04] texas
[0:05] and ever since we have poured all of our
[0:08] energy
[0:08] into renovating and restoring it into a
[0:11] place to call home
[0:12] so i've put together 10 home renovation
[0:14] tips from our experience
[0:16] so far and what i wish i knew before
[0:22] i hope you guys are enjoying this
[0:23] renovation series so far as much as we
[0:26] have enjoyed
[0:27] working on the house renovating it
[0:29] restoring it
[0:30] figuring out what the heck we're doing
[0:32] so if you've missed any of the
[0:33] renovation videos i have a whole
[0:35] playlist
[0:36] i'll link it down below you can catch up
[0:38] you can binge watch
[0:39] if you guys have been following along
[0:41] you know that i have taken on the
[0:42] majority of the renovation work
[0:44] myself with of course the help from my
[0:47] amazing mom and dad
[0:48] and romeo we have kind of all been in
[0:50] this together
[0:51] by doing it ourselves we have saved a
[0:54] ton of money
[0:55] and learned a lot about the renovation
[0:57] process based on what we have done
[0:59] so far so today i'm going to be sharing
[1:01] with you guys 10 home renovation tips
[1:03] that i have learned so far and
[1:07] things that i wish i knew before all of
[1:09] this that would have greatly helped my
[1:10] stress level
[1:12] stay low so you bought a house or you're
[1:15] about to buy a house
[1:17] where do you even start which was a
[1:20] question i asked myself i was like
[1:22] now what make a plan
[1:25] any plan a random plan any plan at all
[1:28] having a direction and just a few steps
[1:31] that can get you in the right direction
[1:33] is the key to this whole process so to
[1:36] get you started here's how
[1:37] we started in our first plan of attack
[1:40] so we started by inspecting what we had
[1:42] how's the roof how's the foundation
[1:44] how's the plumbing
[1:45] how's the electrical and then once we
[1:48] assessed that
[1:49] we knew where we were at we had to dream
[1:51] up or i had to dream up what i wanted
[1:53] this whole project
[1:54] and this house to become so things like
[1:56] thinking about the floor plan
[1:57] and the new layout and gathering
[1:59] inspiration and just kind of
[2:01] exploring what's your dream outcome for
[2:04] your home and then you just gotta make
[2:06] it happen so
[2:07] everything to get you from where you're
[2:09] at to where you want your dream outcome
[2:11] with your house to be
[2:13] so when it comes to creating a new floor
[2:15] plan
[2:16] for your house for your innovation for
[2:18] our house and our renovation
[2:20] i designed the entire new floor plan it
[2:23] took me
[2:24] weeks to really wrap my head around what
[2:27] i really wanted the space to be
[2:29] what i wanted it to look like how it was
[2:31] going to function for our family
[2:33] and then over time just little tweaks
[2:35] here and there or how to make something
[2:37] better so it is a process
[2:39] there are also a lot of things to
[2:41] consider when doing a renovation project
[2:43] versus a new build
[2:45] new build could pretty much be whatever
[2:47] you want it to be
[2:48] you have to pay attention to certain
[2:50] things that are just going to save you a
[2:52] lot of money on budget
[2:53] and if you want to keep the integrity of
[2:55] the house keep the character of the
[2:57] house
[2:58] like we did there are some things that
[3:00] you just want to pay attention to
[3:01] so the first step that we did i went
[3:03] down to the house i got a scrap piece of
[3:04] paper of my notebook
[3:06] and i drew each room like a box and i
[3:09] measured out every wall every window
[3:12] and every door opening this way you'll
[3:14] know what you're starting with so you
[3:16] know how to transform it
[3:17] once i had that i went and picked up a
[3:20] gridded
[3:20] graph paper like this one they even come
[3:23] bigger than this
[3:24] if you want um this is a four by four
[3:26] graph paper
[3:27] each box is equal to one square foot so
[3:30] after i had the measurements for
[3:32] each room i came back and i drew the
[3:34] whole floor plan
[3:35] on graph paper this was the original
[3:38] house this was all the walls all the
[3:42] rooms as they were all of the add-ons
[3:45] and additions
[3:46] all the windows everything so that i
[3:50] could really see what the space was
[3:51] on paper in a floor plan what i did
[3:54] exclude when i was
[3:55] in this stage of designing the floor
[3:57] plan was wall
[3:59] depth one line separated each room
[4:02] and then we developed that later on then
[4:05] once you have
[4:06] the house as it is you can start to
[4:08] reimagine it
[4:09] where you're gonna walk in how rooms are
[4:11] gonna be laid out where your back door
[4:13] is going to be
[4:14] do you want your bedrooms together do
[4:15] you want them separate do you want a big
[4:18] primary bedroom sweet and all of that
[4:20] type of stuff
[4:21] and not be so clouded by what the room
[4:23] used to be when someone else owned the
[4:24] house
[4:25] but what you want it to be and how it's
[4:27] going to function for you so i would
[4:28] suggest writing a must-have list
[4:30] for the house like for us it would be
[4:32] open concept
[4:33] two beds two baths a separate laundry
[4:36] room
[4:37] a primary suite that's all connected
[4:39] back porch
[4:40] kind of thing and then if you want to
[4:42] take it even further and do a
[4:44] cad drawing digital drawing of the house
[4:46] and your new floor plan with wall
[4:48] dimensions and stuff
[4:49] i'll leave some resources for you guys
[4:51] to check that out and
[4:52] learn how to use autocad i have
[4:54] experimented with other free
[4:56] programs or cheaper programs they just
[4:57] don't compare if you want to learn that
[4:59] i'll leave some links for you guys too
[5:01] so when it comes to finding inspiration
[5:03] and really details about
[5:05] other spaces that you can incorporate
[5:07] into your own home to make it your dream
[5:09] home renovation when i'm looking for
[5:10] inspiration i'm looking for two things
[5:12] i'm looking for vibe or a feeling that i
[5:15] get from a space
[5:16] and also details so when i'm scrolling
[5:18] through pinterest
[5:19] and i'm just looking or i'm scrolling on
[5:21] instagram and i see something that
[5:22] catches my eye whether it's the entire
[5:25] feeling that i get from a space
[5:26] it's the way that it looks it's the way
[5:28] that the sun is cascading in it's the
[5:30] way the textures are all compared
[5:32] together i save it
[5:34] or i may see a picture of a space or a
[5:37] living room or a bedroom
[5:38] and it's not totally what i like but
[5:41] there's one small detail in there that i
[5:43] absolutely love
[5:44] like a cabinet or a drawer or a piece of
[5:47] furniture or
[5:48] a color palette that i really like but
[5:50] it's not the overall
[5:52] look i save it and you guys ask me all
[5:54] the time how can you
[5:55] discover or figure out what your style
[5:58] is what's your interior design
[5:59] style and this is really hard because
[6:02] it's not necessarily one style
[6:04] i don't have one style i like a lot of
[6:06] different styles so
[6:08] if you're here you might have the same
[6:10] style as me so
[6:11] my style i would define as a mix
[6:14] of nordic vintage contemporary
[6:19] with a lived-in feeling you guys are
[6:21] probably like what are you talking about
[6:24] but it's true
[6:24] i love scandinavian but more of a warm
[6:27] nordic feel
[6:28] i love thrift shopping and finding
[6:30] vintage and finding second
[6:32] hand i love to incorporate that into
[6:33] stuff i love contemporary what's
[6:35] happening
[6:36] now with the organic shapes but overall
[6:39] i want my home to feel
[6:40] warm cozy and lived in and when it comes
[6:43] to renovating a house you're also having
[6:45] to deal with what style the house
[6:47] is or the area that it's in so for us
[6:50] our house was built in 1910
[6:52] the style is folk victorian
[6:55] and it this is a style that was heavy on
[6:57] woodworking
[6:58] it has a victorian influence but added
[7:00] much more affordable price point
[7:03] for that time so it was these houses
[7:05] were built between like 1870
[7:07] and 1910 to 1930s that's when they were
[7:10] really common
[7:11] so we're taking that style and the heavy
[7:14] woodworking details
[7:15] and we're kind of merging it with my
[7:17] nordic contemporary vintage
[7:19] lived and feel look so stay tuned for
[7:22] how all of that turns out
[7:24] find one picture that absolutely
[7:26] embodies what you want to do what you
[7:28] want to
[7:29] capture just love your house to be that
[7:32] way
[7:32] save it dissect it figure out what you
[7:35] love about it what you don't love about
[7:37] it
[7:37] and then find other images that are like
[7:39] that start exploring what style that
[7:42] picture is
[7:43] and you never know what you're gonna
[7:44] come across okay so let's talk about
[7:46] permit and who to call did you guys know
[7:49] that there are so many when you buy a
[7:50] house there are so many
[7:51] people that you have to call and things
[7:54] that you need to do to get
[7:55] it all set up and running so the people
[7:58] to call are the electrical company
[8:00] the water gas if you have natural gas
[8:03] you need to get home insurance
[8:04] telephone and internet and also you
[8:07] gotta call
[8:07] the trash pickup people so this is where
[8:11] i was the biggest dummy because i
[8:13] had they had a trash can here it was
[8:14] full when we bought the house and i
[8:16] moved it out to the street
[8:17] and they weren't picking up my trash and
[8:19] i was like what the heck i thought in la
[8:21] they're kind of grouped together it was
[8:22] like a
[8:23] department of water and power and trash
[8:25] was all kind of rolled into one
[8:27] so i just assumed it was all kind of
[8:29] bundled together with one of the
[8:30] companies i called but i just kept
[8:32] moving the trash i'm like why didn't
[8:33] they pick up my trash to try i don't
[8:34] know what day it comes what how do you
[8:36] my dad was like you gotta call them and
[8:38] set it up and i was like fine
[8:40] okay so call the trash pickup people
[8:43] and as far as permits before you start
[8:45] doing any work on the house whether it's
[8:47] demo
[8:48] or building something you just want to
[8:50] make sure that you have everything that
[8:51] you need in order to do that
[8:53] so this is going to be different for
[8:54] every county in the united states
[8:56] and even more so internationally so you
[8:59] just want to
[9:00] get a hold of the right number for us we
[9:02] called the developmental department in
[9:04] the county
[9:04] and just chatted with them through what
[9:06] we were planning on doing with the
[9:07] property
[9:08] and they pointed us in the right
[9:09] direction with what we were going to
[9:10] need in order to get the right permits
[9:12] and so on and so forth
[9:14] okay so what should you diy versus what
[9:17] you should hire out
[9:18] now you guys know i am the truest form
[9:21] of a diyer
[9:23] i love to try new things the sense of
[9:24] accomplishment that i get when i
[9:27] actually do something well
[9:30] and i do it myself is just like unlike
[9:33] any other feeling so
[9:34] i'm an arrow on the side of diying more
[9:36] than the average person
[9:38] but i more so like to do things
[9:41] right so this is pretty much on you
[9:45] what do you feel like you can diy in
[9:47] your own house
[9:48] but that you could also do right so some
[9:51] things that
[9:52] i know i'm not even going to touch with
[9:54] this whole renovation
[9:56] process is electrical plumbing and
[9:59] building the addition doing the
[10:01] foundation
[10:02] framing that up making sure that it's
[10:04] just just
[10:06] so so good is really important to me and
[10:08] it's i know that it's something that i
[10:10] don't trust myself to do
[10:12] right now in life i won't admit forever
[10:13] but right right now in life
[10:15] oh and one other thing that i am gonna
[10:17] hire out is building the fireplace in
[10:19] the main cottage
[10:20] again i just wanna make sure that it's
[10:22] right and i'm not gonna burn
[10:23] my house just assess what of the project
[10:26] you can really take on like
[10:28] i never knew i could frame either but i
[10:30] did that and it's level and it's
[10:31] perfect how to tell your contractor what
[10:34] you
[10:35] want now if you're going to be hiring a
[10:37] contractor to help you with
[10:38] any part of your renovation process and
[10:40] you are as
[10:41] a stickler about design as i am and very
[10:45] particular
[10:46] this is really where a picture can tell
[10:49] a thousand
[10:50] words i put together a document of
[10:52] photos
[10:53] and details of exactly what i wanted
[10:56] the finished product to look like i
[10:58] would find inspiration pictures of maybe
[11:00] the smallest of details of what i wanted
[11:02] to incorporate
[11:03] and i would call it out i'd be like i
[11:05] want this stone
[11:06] i want it overgrouded i want this
[11:09] fireplace it's this size over specify
[11:14] what you want in details so that they
[11:16] know what they're trying to do for you
[11:18] always better to over communicate
[11:20] monitor the process
[11:22] see be there be present see how the
[11:24] process is going
[11:25] and don't be afraid to say hey that'll
[11:28] that's not right
[11:28] that we need to change this this isn't
[11:30] right this is what i wanted because at
[11:31] the end of the day this is your house
[11:33] you want what you want you're not trying
[11:34] to be difficult but you do want what you
[11:36] want
[11:37] and so that's why it's better to over
[11:39] communicate from the beginning so that
[11:40] there's no confusion my
[11:42] go-to tools and safety gear welcome to
[11:45] my little
[11:46] corner of the house that i just keep all
[11:49] of that type of stuff in
[11:50] my tools have gone to work since we have
[11:53] bought this house
[11:54] i mean things aren't even the same color
[11:56] that they once were things that you're
[11:58] absolutely going to need
[11:59] are masks goggles gloves
[12:03] be a hard hat if you need i don't have a
[12:04] hard hat but it's maybe a hard hat if
[12:06] you need it
[12:07] shoes thick sold shoes like these are
[12:09] romeo's i don't have my boots on today
[12:10] but
[12:11] thick sold shoes because you're gonna
[12:14] step
[12:14] on nails i have stepped on mini but i've
[12:16] been wearing the right shoes so i have
[12:18] not gotten hurt
[12:19] so those are all the things to protect
[12:21] your body while you're doing demo
[12:23] also i would suggest earplugs because
[12:25] when you're demoing and you're hammering
[12:27] the crowbar and hammers and stuff it's
[12:28] really loud and very piercing so i ended
[12:31] up buying some earplugs and then
[12:32] obviously to demo
[12:34] meet micro family the crow f you can't
[12:36] go wrong with the crow family there are
[12:38] three members of the crow family
[12:39] here is big crow to get yourself a 36
[12:42] inch crowbar
[12:43] because i thought i couldn't handle this
[12:45] crowbar but i got stronger and now i can
[12:48] and he can do a lot baby crow will save
[12:51] your life
[12:52] this is like if you're my size and my
[12:55] strength
[12:56] you will use this baby crow for
[12:58] everything this is a 17 inch crowbar
[13:00] tiny crow tiny crow is equally as
[13:03] important to do
[13:04] trim to get trim work off without
[13:06] breaking or damaging it in any way
[13:08] we've used this to death to get this
[13:10] vinyl flooring or this laminate flooring
[13:12] off of the floor
[13:13] almost 10 inches obviously you're gonna
[13:15] need a hammer a tape measure
[13:17] a ladder depending on how high your
[13:20] ceilings are we needed a 12 foot ladder
[13:21] here
[13:22] and then as you get into like the
[13:24] building stages you're gonna kind of
[13:26] expand
[13:27] what you need a circular saw or a miter
[13:29] saw like i have
[13:30] and a nail gun and a leveler so you'll
[13:32] get into more tools as you progress
[13:34] but if you have a crowbar and your
[13:35] safety gear you are golden
[13:37] so let's talk about budgets so
[13:41] home renovation budgets can be tricky
[13:43] and really what it comes down to is
[13:45] what you feel comfortable with what you
[13:48] want to spend
[13:49] on your home renovation based on all of
[13:52] the factors
[13:52] of your life to be completely honest we
[13:54] don't have a set in stone
[13:56] overall hard budget for this renovation
[13:59] project because honestly i didn't care
[14:01] how long it took i was gonna
[14:02] do it until i got what i wanted and i
[14:05] developed the project into something
[14:06] that i was just like incredibly in love
[14:08] with and proud of
[14:09] if that took me ten years i was okay
[14:11] with that so the timeline and the budget
[14:13] are very very loose
[14:14] but our rough timeline is around
[14:16] christmas time to have the majority of
[14:18] the work finished
[14:19] and i have a ballpark per square foot
[14:22] renovation cost that i would like to
[14:24] stick to
[14:25] and even come under that and that's a
[14:28] hundred
[14:29] dollars a square foot now that could be
[14:31] for a new build
[14:33] as well i don't expect to spend 100 a
[14:36] square foot
[14:37] on the part of the house that's existing
[14:39] we might spend it on the additional 900
[14:42] square feet that we're kind of building
[14:43] on
[14:44] if you're tackling the project like we
[14:45] are and you're doing a lot of the work
[14:47] yourselves and you're doing a lot of the
[14:49] labor intensive work
[14:50] you're gonna save a lot of money like we
[14:52] are so when you're saving money in those
[14:54] places
[14:54] you have the opportunity to splurge a
[14:56] little bit or spend a little more in
[14:58] other areas
[14:59] in addition to doing some of the heavy
[15:00] lifting yourself here are some other
[15:01] tips to keep
[15:02] costs down you can identify which walls
[15:05] in the house that are existing
[15:06] and load bearings so that you can save
[15:08] on costs of
[15:09] structural changes like structural
[15:12] investments
[15:12] when you're designing your new floor
[15:14] plan you can keep bathrooms and the
[15:16] laundry room kind of
[15:17] close in proximity so that you don't
[15:20] have the extra cost of running plumbing
[15:22] all over the house it can kind of run to
[15:24] one central area
[15:25] which is something i did in this house
[15:27] renovation as well you can salvage
[15:29] as much of the original house as humanly
[15:32] possible like we have you can save
[15:35] everything so that it can be reimagined
[15:36] back into the house
[15:38] and you can also shop secondhand
[15:41] you can restore things you can build
[15:44] things on your own so there are so
[15:46] many ways and so many things that you
[15:48] can do to actually keep
[15:49] the budget down so then you can splurge
[15:52] on other things like i am like
[15:54] appliances
[15:55] i want good appliances what to save
[15:58] versus what you should donate or what's
[16:00] just simply trash
[16:01] now this is gonna vary from house to
[16:03] house and maybe even with your style we
[16:06] aired on the side of saving everything
[16:08] everything that we possibly possibly
[16:10] could so that it could be reimagined
[16:12] back into the house
[16:13] for loads of reason budget
[16:16] saving the character reusing what we can
[16:19] so we just don't create more waste
[16:21] lots and lots of reasons so we're
[16:23] actually back here in my workshop where
[16:24] i have stored
[16:26] and organized everything that we've
[16:28] removed from the house
[16:29] and one of the major things that we were
[16:31] actually going to save was all the wood
[16:33] so think bead board wood floors studs
[16:37] trim all the wanescotting and the
[16:39] baseboards
[16:40] we saved all the doors all the windows
[16:43] all the siding
[16:44] all of the brick from the chimneys that
[16:47] we took down
[16:48] all of the brick that was still solid in
[16:50] one piece and we're even reusing all of
[16:52] the scrap
[16:52] at fox run and even the toilet the
[16:54] toilet that was in the main house is
[16:56] going to be in one of the guest cottages
[16:58] in the back and
[16:58] even the refrigerator and the washer and
[17:00] dryer that were in the house
[17:02] my parents took we used them out in my
[17:04] dad's workshop
[17:05] safe safe safe was our motto what was
[17:08] trash or what we donated
[17:10] free of charge to anyone that wanted it
[17:13] was
[17:13] all of the carpet rugs that were in the
[17:15] house were totally trashed they were
[17:17] so gross and not even real rugs all the
[17:20] curtains that were in the house were
[17:22] a no-go we got rid of those appliances
[17:24] like the stove
[17:26] and the microwave was a no-go for me
[17:29] also the bathtub was like this built-in
[17:31] bathtub a no-go the sink
[17:33] in the bathroom was not going to be
[17:35] repurposed donated that
[17:37] and of course we donated the hot tub to
[17:39] the street and someone did come get it
[17:41] for free
[17:42] but i was not a hot tub girl so you
[17:44] really just need to go through your
[17:45] house figure out
[17:46] what you can imagine back into the house
[17:48] what you absolutely want to keep
[17:50] and just know that saving things
[17:53] organizing all of this
[17:54] taking all of this down took time as you
[17:56] guys seen through the series but it's so
[17:58] so worth it in reusing and saving on
[18:01] budget what i wish i knew before buying
[18:04] this house
[18:05] or what you know you don't really
[18:07] realize or you don't
[18:09] truly understand until you're in this
[18:11] process is
[18:12] one how much work it truly
[18:15] is when i talked about planning in the
[18:17] beginning and how a plan
[18:19] is the number one thing even me being a
[18:22] planner
[18:22] i have had moments of complete overwhelm
[18:25] [Music]
[18:26] crying i don't know what i'm doing
[18:29] moments of self doubt the kind of weight
[18:32] of it all and the
[18:33] overwhelmingness that is this type of
[18:36] project
[18:37] and what i realized what i realized and
[18:39] what you should know what you should
[18:41] realize is this
[18:42] is fun this is a amazing process
[18:45] this is a incredibly creative process
[18:49] and you just have to take it day by day
[18:51] so i'm reminding myself
[18:53] take it day by day this is fun take a
[18:56] deep breath
[18:57] it's okay it's all gonna be okay it's
[18:59] all gonna work out
[19:00] and just kind of relieve some of the
[19:02] pressure off of yourself
[19:04] taking days to rest is so so important
[19:07] my hands get swollen sometimes for just
[19:08] being overworked i'm sore
[19:10] some days and just taking those days to
[19:12] really recuperate
[19:13] another thing that i just wish i would
[19:15] have known is actually what it was like
[19:16] to build a house or to renovate a house
[19:18] in 2020
[19:19] 2021 because it's different i think than
[19:23] it has been in the past it's such a
[19:25] crazy market
[19:27] people are buying houses left and right
[19:29] you're
[19:30] on a wait list for almost a year for
[19:32] different things like building and
[19:34] materials the price of wood
[19:36] has gone up so drastically over the last
[19:39] year so
[19:40] all of that i kind of had an idea about
[19:42] but i didn't truly know until i kind of
[19:44] in the thick of it
[19:46] and boards you know 2x4 by 12 boards are
[19:49] 15 16 apiece would i have changed and
[19:52] not bought this house
[19:54] and not have had this project and not be
[19:56] sharing this renovation with you guys
[19:57] no just budget out properly save in
[20:01] different ways where we can because of
[20:03] the influx and prices on wood
[20:04] and waiting on contractors and stuff so
[20:07] we're
[20:08] we're making do we're doing a good job
[20:10] and i hope sharing this whole kind of
[20:11] journey with you guys it has
[20:13] helped you have a little bit of insight
[20:15] into what it's like to renovate a house
[20:17] maybe you're looking too soon um that
[20:19] would be so much fun
[20:20] please let me know what kind of projects
[20:22] you guys are working on if you were in
[20:23] the thick of a renovation please
[20:25] share your wisdom with us if you have
[20:28] any tips or
[20:29] pointers or constructive types of things
[20:32] all positivity all constructive
[20:35] all good things comment down below we
[20:37] would love to know and please share your
[20:39] wisdom with us
[20:40] and of course you can catch up on all of
[20:42] the renovation videos
[20:44] on the playlist you can binge watch them
[20:46] this sunday afternoon if you would like
[20:49] to
[20:50] um and get all caught up because we have
[20:52] a lot of fun things coming up
[20:54] i mean we're building now it's major
[20:57] we're in a whole nother world we're not
[20:59] demoing anymore we're building which is
[21:01] so so exciting but i will be back in la
[21:04] for a little bit
[21:05] giving you guys some room makeover
[21:06] content some more thrift flips
[21:08] with a lot of fun things coming up on
[21:10] the channel so if you are not already
[21:11] subscribed
[21:12] subscribe hit the bell notification
[21:16] join our family join the fun i hope you
[21:18] guys have a
[21:19] wonderful rest of your weekend and i'll
[21:21] see you guys next sunday
[21:22] bye guys
[21:36] [Music]
[21:41] you