10 HOME RENOVATION TIPS for DIYers & Beginners *What I Wish I Knew Before* | XO, MaCenna

[00:00] earlier this year we toured and fell in

[00:02] love with this 110 year old cottage in

[00:04] texas

[00:05] and ever since we have poured all of our

[00:08] energy

[00:08] into renovating and restoring it into a

[00:11] place to call home

[00:12] so i've put together 10 home renovation

[00:14] tips from our experience

[00:16] so far and what i wish i knew before

[00:22] i hope you guys are enjoying this

[00:23] renovation series so far as much as we

[00:26] have enjoyed

[00:27] working on the house renovating it

[00:29] restoring it

[00:30] figuring out what the heck we're doing

[00:32] so if you've missed any of the

[00:33] renovation videos i have a whole

[00:35] playlist

[00:36] i'll link it down below you can catch up

[00:38] you can binge watch

[00:39] if you guys have been following along

[00:41] you know that i have taken on the

[00:42] majority of the renovation work

[00:44] myself with of course the help from my

[00:47] amazing mom and dad

[00:48] and romeo we have kind of all been in

[00:50] this together

[00:51] by doing it ourselves we have saved a

[00:54] ton of money

[00:55] and learned a lot about the renovation

[00:57] process based on what we have done

[00:59] so far so today i'm going to be sharing

[01:01] with you guys 10 home renovation tips

[01:03] that i have learned so far and

[01:07] things that i wish i knew before all of

[01:09] this that would have greatly helped my

[01:10] stress level

[01:12] stay low so you bought a house or you're

[01:15] about to buy a house

[01:17] where do you even start which was a

[01:20] question i asked myself i was like

[01:22] now what make a plan

[01:25] any plan a random plan any plan at all

[01:28] having a direction and just a few steps

[01:31] that can get you in the right direction

[01:33] is the key to this whole process so to

[01:36] get you started here's how

[01:37] we started in our first plan of attack

[01:40] so we started by inspecting what we had

[01:42] how's the roof how's the foundation

[01:44] how's the plumbing

[01:45] how's the electrical and then once we

[01:48] assessed that

[01:49] we knew where we were at we had to dream

[01:51] up or i had to dream up what i wanted

[01:53] this whole project

[01:54] and this house to become so things like

[01:56] thinking about the floor plan

[01:57] and the new layout and gathering

[01:59] inspiration and just kind of

[02:01] exploring what's your dream outcome for

[02:04] your home and then you just gotta make

[02:06] it happen so

[02:07] everything to get you from where you're

[02:09] at to where you want your dream outcome

[02:11] with your house to be

[02:13] so when it comes to creating a new floor

[02:15] plan

[02:16] for your house for your innovation for

[02:18] our house and our renovation

[02:20] i designed the entire new floor plan it

[02:23] took me

[02:24] weeks to really wrap my head around what

[02:27] i really wanted the space to be

[02:29] what i wanted it to look like how it was

[02:31] going to function for our family

[02:33] and then over time just little tweaks

[02:35] here and there or how to make something

[02:37] better so it is a process

[02:39] there are also a lot of things to

[02:41] consider when doing a renovation project

[02:43] versus a new build

[02:45] new build could pretty much be whatever

[02:47] you want it to be

[02:48] you have to pay attention to certain

[02:50] things that are just going to save you a

[02:52] lot of money on budget

[02:53] and if you want to keep the integrity of

[02:55] the house keep the character of the

[02:57] house

[02:58] like we did there are some things that

[03:00] you just want to pay attention to

[03:01] so the first step that we did i went

[03:03] down to the house i got a scrap piece of

[03:04] paper of my notebook

[03:06] and i drew each room like a box and i

[03:09] measured out every wall every window

[03:12] and every door opening this way you'll

[03:14] know what you're starting with so you

[03:16] know how to transform it

[03:17] once i had that i went and picked up a

[03:20] gridded

[03:20] graph paper like this one they even come

[03:23] bigger than this

[03:24] if you want um this is a four by four

[03:26] graph paper

[03:27] each box is equal to one square foot so

[03:30] after i had the measurements for

[03:32] each room i came back and i drew the

[03:34] whole floor plan

[03:35] on graph paper this was the original

[03:38] house this was all the walls all the

[03:42] rooms as they were all of the add-ons

[03:45] and additions

[03:46] all the windows everything so that i

[03:50] could really see what the space was

[03:51] on paper in a floor plan what i did

[03:54] exclude when i was

[03:55] in this stage of designing the floor

[03:57] plan was wall

[03:59] depth one line separated each room

[04:02] and then we developed that later on then

[04:05] once you have

[04:06] the house as it is you can start to

[04:08] reimagine it

[04:09] where you're gonna walk in how rooms are

[04:11] gonna be laid out where your back door

[04:13] is going to be

[04:14] do you want your bedrooms together do

[04:15] you want them separate do you want a big

[04:18] primary bedroom sweet and all of that

[04:20] type of stuff

[04:21] and not be so clouded by what the room

[04:23] used to be when someone else owned the

[04:24] house

[04:25] but what you want it to be and how it's

[04:27] going to function for you so i would

[04:28] suggest writing a must-have list

[04:30] for the house like for us it would be

[04:32] open concept

[04:33] two beds two baths a separate laundry

[04:36] room

[04:37] a primary suite that's all connected

[04:39] back porch

[04:40] kind of thing and then if you want to

[04:42] take it even further and do a

[04:44] cad drawing digital drawing of the house

[04:46] and your new floor plan with wall

[04:48] dimensions and stuff

[04:49] i'll leave some resources for you guys

[04:51] to check that out and

[04:52] learn how to use autocad i have

[04:54] experimented with other free

[04:56] programs or cheaper programs they just

[04:57] don't compare if you want to learn that

[04:59] i'll leave some links for you guys too

[05:01] so when it comes to finding inspiration

[05:03] and really details about

[05:05] other spaces that you can incorporate

[05:07] into your own home to make it your dream

[05:09] home renovation when i'm looking for

[05:10] inspiration i'm looking for two things

[05:12] i'm looking for vibe or a feeling that i

[05:15] get from a space

[05:16] and also details so when i'm scrolling

[05:18] through pinterest

[05:19] and i'm just looking or i'm scrolling on

[05:21] instagram and i see something that

[05:22] catches my eye whether it's the entire

[05:25] feeling that i get from a space

[05:26] it's the way that it looks it's the way

[05:28] that the sun is cascading in it's the

[05:30] way the textures are all compared

[05:32] together i save it

[05:34] or i may see a picture of a space or a

[05:37] living room or a bedroom

[05:38] and it's not totally what i like but

[05:41] there's one small detail in there that i

[05:43] absolutely love

[05:44] like a cabinet or a drawer or a piece of

[05:47] furniture or

[05:48] a color palette that i really like but

[05:50] it's not the overall

[05:52] look i save it and you guys ask me all

[05:54] the time how can you

[05:55] discover or figure out what your style

[05:58] is what's your interior design

[05:59] style and this is really hard because

[06:02] it's not necessarily one style

[06:04] i don't have one style i like a lot of

[06:06] different styles so

[06:08] if you're here you might have the same

[06:10] style as me so

[06:11] my style i would define as a mix

[06:14] of nordic vintage contemporary

[06:19] with a lived-in feeling you guys are

[06:21] probably like what are you talking about

[06:24] but it's true

[06:24] i love scandinavian but more of a warm

[06:27] nordic feel

[06:28] i love thrift shopping and finding

[06:30] vintage and finding second

[06:32] hand i love to incorporate that into

[06:33] stuff i love contemporary what's

[06:35] happening

[06:36] now with the organic shapes but overall

[06:39] i want my home to feel

[06:40] warm cozy and lived in and when it comes

[06:43] to renovating a house you're also having

[06:45] to deal with what style the house

[06:47] is or the area that it's in so for us

[06:50] our house was built in 1910

[06:52] the style is folk victorian

[06:55] and it this is a style that was heavy on

[06:57] woodworking

[06:58] it has a victorian influence but added

[07:00] much more affordable price point

[07:03] for that time so it was these houses

[07:05] were built between like 1870

[07:07] and 1910 to 1930s that's when they were

[07:10] really common

[07:11] so we're taking that style and the heavy

[07:14] woodworking details

[07:15] and we're kind of merging it with my

[07:17] nordic contemporary vintage

[07:19] lived and feel look so stay tuned for

[07:22] how all of that turns out

[07:24] find one picture that absolutely

[07:26] embodies what you want to do what you

[07:28] want to

[07:29] capture just love your house to be that

[07:32] way

[07:32] save it dissect it figure out what you

[07:35] love about it what you don't love about

[07:37] it

[07:37] and then find other images that are like

[07:39] that start exploring what style that

[07:42] picture is

[07:43] and you never know what you're gonna

[07:44] come across okay so let's talk about

[07:46] permit and who to call did you guys know

[07:49] that there are so many when you buy a

[07:50] house there are so many

[07:51] people that you have to call and things

[07:54] that you need to do to get

[07:55] it all set up and running so the people

[07:58] to call are the electrical company

[08:00] the water gas if you have natural gas

[08:03] you need to get home insurance

[08:04] telephone and internet and also you

[08:07] gotta call

[08:07] the trash pickup people so this is where

[08:11] i was the biggest dummy because i

[08:13] had they had a trash can here it was

[08:14] full when we bought the house and i

[08:16] moved it out to the street

[08:17] and they weren't picking up my trash and

[08:19] i was like what the heck i thought in la

[08:21] they're kind of grouped together it was

[08:22] like a

[08:23] department of water and power and trash

[08:25] was all kind of rolled into one

[08:27] so i just assumed it was all kind of

[08:29] bundled together with one of the

[08:30] companies i called but i just kept

[08:32] moving the trash i'm like why didn't

[08:33] they pick up my trash to try i don't

[08:34] know what day it comes what how do you

[08:36] my dad was like you gotta call them and

[08:38] set it up and i was like fine

[08:40] okay so call the trash pickup people

[08:43] and as far as permits before you start

[08:45] doing any work on the house whether it's

[08:47] demo

[08:48] or building something you just want to

[08:50] make sure that you have everything that

[08:51] you need in order to do that

[08:53] so this is going to be different for

[08:54] every county in the united states

[08:56] and even more so internationally so you

[08:59] just want to

[09:00] get a hold of the right number for us we

[09:02] called the developmental department in

[09:04] the county

[09:04] and just chatted with them through what

[09:06] we were planning on doing with the

[09:07] property

[09:08] and they pointed us in the right

[09:09] direction with what we were going to

[09:10] need in order to get the right permits

[09:12] and so on and so forth

[09:14] okay so what should you diy versus what

[09:17] you should hire out

[09:18] now you guys know i am the truest form

[09:21] of a diyer

[09:23] i love to try new things the sense of

[09:24] accomplishment that i get when i

[09:27] actually do something well

[09:30] and i do it myself is just like unlike

[09:33] any other feeling so

[09:34] i'm an arrow on the side of diying more

[09:36] than the average person

[09:38] but i more so like to do things

[09:41] right so this is pretty much on you

[09:45] what do you feel like you can diy in

[09:47] your own house

[09:48] but that you could also do right so some

[09:51] things that

[09:52] i know i'm not even going to touch with

[09:54] this whole renovation

[09:56] process is electrical plumbing and

[09:59] 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