I’ve been thinking a lot about that final estimated cost of our original plan for our house that I shared on Friday, and how ridiculously absurd that plan would have been. Of course, a big portion of that cost was for a contractor. That’s money I can save right off the top. But there were some pretty big chunks of money in there for things that I could certainly do myself and save money.
I’ve caught myself with this mindset lately (for the last few months, actually) of, “Just pay someone else do it and get it over with faster,” or, “Just buy what you want and move on.” But I don’t think that’s why people started following my blog. People started following me because I was DIYing my way through projects on my own. I was building and remodeling and sewing and upholstering and doing pretty much everything myself.
As Matt and I have gotten more financial freedom over the past decade, the tendency is to DIY less and just pay others to do more. Or instead of building something to save money, just buy the thing ready-made. And as I prepare to move forward with our new plan, which requires redoing several rooms in our home, I’ve noticed my mind steering more and more towards those thoughts of, “Just pay what needs to be paid, and get it done as fast as possible.” It’s nice to have more freedom to do that these days, but as far as the blog goes, it’s almost a bait and switch.
I kind of feel that bait and switch when I read other blogs that I’ve been reading for almost as long as I’ve been blogging that started out as DIY blogs, but have now morphed into something far different. Those first couple of DIY homes they had have long been fixed up and sold at big profits, and those profits have now allowed those bloggers to live in multi-million dollar homes (in states that are not New York or California 😀 ). Those interesting money-saving DIY projects have been swapped for posts about their new $1200 lamp along with an affiliate link where you can also purchase their $1200 lamp. Their blog that used to seem so relatable now seems unattainable for most people. And the DIY projects that used to fill their blogs now only appear once in a great while.
I don’t really have a problem with what other people do with their blogs. Maybe that was their goal all along, and that’s wonderful for them. As long as I’m interested, I’ll keep following. If I ever lose interest, I can always unfollow. It’s not a big deal, and they’re certainly not required to keep DIYing just for my entertainment. 😀
But my goal was never to start a DIY blog and then morph it into something different. And this past weekend, as I was looking for new bedside tables for our soon-to-be new bedroom, I had to remind myself of this. When I started looking for bedside tables, my thought was, “I’ll Just go ahead and buy them so that they’ll be here and be ready when I’m ready to start putting the room together.” Basically, I was planning to just buy everything, have it here (probably stored in my workshop for now) until the floor is finished, and then I can just move all of my newly purchased furniture into the room, call it good, and move on to the next room as quickly as possible.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. That’s what most people do. But most people aren’t DIY bloggers. 😀 I had to stop myself when I realized that I was looking at bedside tables that were as much as $1800 each, and I was actually giving them a serious consideration. As in, saying to myself, “Well, if that’s what you really want, just buy two of them, and get on with the next decision. Just get this done!“
There was a time when purchasing two $1800 bedside tables would have been laughable to me. The idea of spending that kind of money on bedside tables would have seemed like an absurdity to me. I would have found a way to make what I wanted for a fraction of the price. And that was the whole idea behind my blog. That’s what I wanted to share with other people. I wanted to demonstrate to others how you can actually achieve a champagne look on a beer budget. And yet, just yesterday, I was seriously considering paying $3600 on two bedside tables for the sake of convenience.
That is a long distance from my DIY roots. That’s a completely different mindset from the one that started this blog. And that seems like a complete betrayal of my mission statement for my blog that you can read on my About page, and that states, “…my goal is to inspire YOU to put aside fear and self-doubt, pick up those power tools, and dive into your home-related DIY projects so that you can turn your house into the home of your dreams without spending a fortune having others do the work that you could do yourself.“
So what does all of this mean? Well, it means that I’m going to get off of IKEA’s website and close the browser tabs I’ve had open for weeks with their PAX and kitchen design tools. It means there won’t be any more IKEA cabinets in my future. It means I’ll be purchasing a lot of sheets of plywood for the closet/laundry room project (but I have so much to share with you on that topic later). It means I’ll be purchasing even more plywood for the kitchen remodel. It means I’m going to be getting my money’s worth out of my new workshop we just paid a chunk of money for. And it means that when I said, “Challenge accepted,” at the end of Friday’s post about seeing just how much money I can save, I’m going to take that challenge very seriously. And it means I’m going to get back to my DIY roots, and I’m going to keep my vision and mission for my blog in my mind as my guide for all future decisions.
That doesn’t mean that everything will be DIYed. In fact, something pretty huge is happening at the beginning of next week, and there’s no way I’d ever DIY such a thing. I’d only ever let a pro do that project. (More on that as we get closer.) But if I’m capable and have the know-how (or can learn as I go), I’ll probably be doing it myself.
So the first project after I finish the floor in the new bedroom will probably be building new bedside tables. Here are the ones I had bookmarked when I was still in the “just buy something” mindset. I’ll probably use one of these (or a combination) as my inspiration when I build ours.
On this one, I love everything except the feet. Y’all know I love some turned wood legs and feet, so I’d use some round turned feet instead. (Arthelia 3-drawer nightstand, $349.99)
And here it is. This is my favorite one. I love everything about this one down to the hardware. (Newport Wood Nightstand, $1829)
I really like the drawers on this one. I like the frames around the drawers, and how the drawers are kind of inset. I also like the wood tone, and think it would look phenomenal against white wainscoting and below teal grasscloth. I’d like it to be a little wider, though. (Rosalie nightstand, $1199)
This one is too dark for my taste, but I love the simple style, the shape, the size, and the overall design. (Soline wood nightstand, $799)
This one is very similar in style except that it has an added shelf at the bottom, along with a very simple, subtle detail around the edges of the drawers. This would be so easy to build! (Rosalie nightstand, $1049)
But then there’s this, with the turned legs and the one continuous frame around the drawers. (Stacy nightstand, $419.99)
I love the whole design of this one with the top drawer that looks like two smaller drawers, the trim around the middle, and the trim accent around the bottom. The color is a little too orange for my taste, though. (Agnis 3-drawer side table, $559.99)
And finally, there’s this two-tone design. The whole top portion is covered in some sort of raffia texture, which I wouldn’t do. If I were going to do a two-tone, I’d just do a stained wood base and then paint the top portion an accent color. Hakana 2-drawer nightstand, $1393
So those are all of the bedside tables I had saved when I was still planning on just buying some, and I’ll admit that the second one (the $1829 Newport Wood nightstand) was the frontrunner. But now that I’m going to build my own, I can really decide which features are my favorite, and possibly do a combination of a few favorites.
One of my problems, which has been something I’ve struggled with for years now, is that continual pull between more traditional style with the turned legs and pretty trim, and the more contemporary style with the straight legs and no (or far less) trim. My taste has always been torn between those two. When people ask me what my style is, I always say that it’s colorful traditional with modern (sometimes contemporary) touches. The traditional generally wins out, but I don’t like everything to be traditional because then I think a room looks a bit stuffy. So I do try to add some modern touches to keep things interesting.
Perhaps the bedside tables will be the modern touch for the bedroom. I know that the headboard won’t be. I’ll be doing a fully upholstered headboard for the room. And the wainscoting won’t be. That will be very traditional. And grasscloth generally isn’t one specific style on its own. It depends on what you put with it. So I’m not 100% sure about the direction I’ll go, but if I had to choose right this minute, I’d go with the second bedside table — the $1829 Newport Wood nightstand. That one was a favorite the moment I saw it.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.