ORC Fall 2014: A Grand Makeover: Cost Breakdown

This picture, right here, cost me about $500.00. 

Once upon a time, I thought about becoming a designer. Once, back in my Graduate school days, as I contemplated stealing the cobalt blue milk crates instead of the yellow ones, all stacked neatly in the alley at the back of the store, I thought about it again.

I thought that just because someone couldn't afford pricey fabrics and furniture, that didn't mean they couldn't have a fabulous, stylish looking place. And then I realised that though that might be true, that client, so broke they used milk crates as bedroom furniture (which I totally did), that client wouldn't be able to afford me.

But, things have changed. Have they ever. It is more than possible to decorate stylishly without a lot of money--though, admittedly, it does take some. There are blogs out there which show you how it's done on the high end--and then there are blogs like mine who can show what can be done on the down low.

I always wonder how much makeovers cost. I am always curious about budgets--how far can a dollar be stretched? A lot depends upon where you live: not just the price of things in your area, but the availability of second hand stores and outlets and fabric stores, and most importantly, the variety and quality of the stuff they carry. So, while this information, in its specifics, is really only germane to me and the people who live in our area, it may be generally helpful to someone who wants to know how much a makeover done "on the cheap" can cost.

Two things helped keep the costs low: I already had the fabrics I needed for the slipcover and the drapes--and my seamstresses (my mother and me) worked free of charge.

Talking about money is always a delicate thing. Think of these prices as illustrations, as examples. One can always pay more, and sometimes, one can pay less.



Major Purchases: $191.98
Rug 7x10 (from Target): $149.00
Pouf (from Target): $41.99

Projects: $211.58
Wood trim above fireplace and window wall:
already had some.
for the 5 1/2 feet we needed to finish up: $8.87
Wood putty: $3.97
Total: 12.84

Shelf above TV:
wood, already had.
stain, already had.
Total: 0

Bookcases:
Paint for the back of the bookcase: (Marquee, Rush Hour) $26.47
Tops for bookcases: boards (Home Depot) $ 28.80
Trim pieces: $10.40
Total: $65.67

Drapes:
2 sets of Ritva back tab drapes from Ikea. Already had on hand.
Thread: $5.75
Total: $5.75


Slipcover for sofa:
We used one I'd purchased years ago for about $150.00  which my Mother sewed. (Not included in grand total)
Total: 0


Coffee table:
Vittsjo coffee table (from Ikea): $69.99
wood for the top (Home Depot): $18.18
stain: $7.97
brush: $3.49
Total: $99.63

End Table:
(Part of the Vittsjo coffee table, above.)
Wood for the top (Home Depot): $18.18
Brackets: $3.87
Screws: $2.97
Cork protectors: $2.67
(These last three items were needed to have something to put the glass on for the bottom shelf.)
Total: $27.69

Accessories: $527.95

Lamps:
Lamp base (Target): $19.99
Lamp shades (Target): $23.99 (x2)
Total: $67.97

Shelves:
TV area:
Wooden bird (Target): $7.49
Video box (Ikea): $9.99
CD box (Ikea): $7.99
Total: $25.47

Left of fireplace:
Branches (Ikea): $4.99
Vase (Bouclair Home): $9.99
Ceramic bird (Bouclair Home): $3.99
Total: $18.97

Scholarly Monk (Pier 1) $89.99

Right side:
Picture Frame (Target) $9.74
Squirrel: (Bouclair Home): $7.99
Boxed agave plant (Bouclair Home): $4.99
ZZ plant: (Ellerslie Gift and Garden): $21.95
Pot (Ellerslie Gift and Garden): $13.95
Total: $58.62

Coffee Table Accessories:
Candlesticks, (Ikea) $19.99
Planting Bowl (Target): $11.89
Cacti: (Ellerslie Gift and Garden): $23.75
Basket for remotes (Bouclair Home): $5.99
Total: $61.62

Couch:
Pillows, textured blue-green (Target): $24.99 (x2)
Pillows, plush indigo (pier 1): $29.95 (x2)
Zebra cushion. base (Pier 1): $19.98
plus fabric (Walmart): $9.27 (x2)
Throw (Walmart): $19.97
Total: $168.37

Other chairs: $36.94

Poang:
slipcover, made from fabric I already had.
Pillow: $26.95

Platform rocker:
throw (Ikea) already had
Pillow (Ikea) already had
Pillow cover (Ikea): $9.99


Grand Total: $931.51

Speeding ticket assessed while buying the rug from Target: $70.00

So, a grand. Does that surprise you? It seems about right to me.

ORC Finale: It's Unbelievable.

I can't even....

I don't know what....

It's....

Where to start?

Before.

Here is where we were six tiny weeks ago:

And, Wednesday at three o'clock, we had this.

It's been five weeks in the making. The first three went very slowly and then things ramped up until these last two when with the incredible help from my husband and my Mom, we got most of the work done, some of it literally last minute. Here are the links if you care to go back and read all about it.

Week 1: The Befores, the Vision and the Punch List
Weeks 2 &; 3: Catching Up
Week 4: Barely Hanging On
Week 5: Tickety Boo

I kept a diary each day this last week, here on the blog.
Days 5.1 and 5.2: The Drapery Saga
Day 5.3: More Paint
Day 5.4: What I Did with my Free Hour
Day 5.5: Stylin' Shopping
Day 5.6: Photo Day Eve
Day 5.7: Photo Day

I will also be doing some follow up posts and I will link those too.

I am so grateful to Linda of Calling It Home for hosting this challenge--and especially to the professional participants as well. I read each of their posts every single week and they were so inspiring. Here's a link to their finales.

This project started out as an opportunity for me to finish up a few projects and then decorate. As the weeks progressed, I re-discovered all sorts of things I'd been planning to do or had thought about doing in this room for a long, long time. Finally, they're done.

First, the couch. When we started this, I had thought I wanted a navy slipcover.

Instead, we went with what I had on hand: an old off white one I'd ripped apart to custom fit my couch many years ago and abandoned.

Hooray for Mom finishing the job!

She also sewed up this cute zebra pillow cover for me on photo day eve.

I'd thought I'd recover our ottoman: but I couldn't find any fabric I liked. As well, I started lusting for something light and airy. The ottoman started to feel like a big black, light sucking hole. I saw lots of Vittsjo hacks--and the second my local Ikea got some in stock, I ran down and picked one up that very day. My husband created the wood tops. I stained them.

It comes in two parts. We finished the square bit and put it to use as an end table.

Mom also sewed up a new cover from some fabric I'd purchased some time ago for the Poang chair.

Isn't that great?

We didn't do anything to the old platform rocker on the other side of the faux fireplace: but I did buy a great big Nate Berkus pouf from Target. What a find.

The TV corner started out as one of those "finishing up" projects. I just needed to stain the top shelf.

So much better now.

Not  bad match, if I do say so myself.

That duck is named Ping. He's a member of the family.

The window wall also changed.

 Before: drop cloths on clips.

After:

I took this photo late at night as I'd forgotten during my photo session.

I'll be the first to admit a wall of drapery is rather underwhelming. And it certainly doesn't mirror the effort involved by even a tenth. We completed the moulding and I sewed up a pair of Euro pleated drapes from four old tab top Ritva curtains. Both projects were long outstanding ones--and I am very happy to be done.

Even though the change to the couch was dramatic, I think the faux fireplace wall could take the win for "most improved."

Before:

Now:

 A little different.

It was all very last minute, painting the backs of the bookcases, making the new thicker shelf for the top and painting it. I had a blast styling the shelves with all the pretty things.

left

right

I finished painting inside the fire area black mere hours before I took the photos.

It's a piece of garden statuary and I paid full price and I don't care. Mr. Monk is the perfect tchotchke for us.

And so there we have it.

Why yes, that is a cover on our slipcover. And no, I didn't pay for that model, though I totally would have, she's so coordinated!

Now, please go check on what all the other linking participants have done. I am looking forward to it, myself.

Linking to: Between Naps on the Porch.

ORC Diary: Photo Day.

Day 5.7
Wednesday.

I get up early and get a coat of paint on the wood tops for the Billy bookcases and touch up the black in the interior of the fireplace.

I go to a physiotherapy appointment--I get a diagnosis. Rotator cuff tendinitis. Among other things, they put little electrode thingies on it with an ice pack and zap me, on and off, for about 20 minutes. It is very peaceful. I come home feeling a million times better.

Mom has waxed the end table for me and washed half my floor. Lots and lots of paint drops had made the going slow.

I plant the cacti.

Then, I begin to empty the living room. My son is feeling run down, so he's home from school today, so I ask him to help.

Mom starts hemming the curtains. I should have got a picture. We decided to use hemming tape and we set the ironing board up right under the drapes still on the rod. She puts the ironing board close to the floor, sits on a stool and hems up the first one lickety split.

But when we go to start the second one--I actually cry when we discover the dog has marked it for his own. It is yellow. And dried.

Mom is such a trooper, she washed them out and just got on with the job. She was amazing.

Then, she puts the slip cover on the couch and steams out a few wrinkles.

I mop the floor and we take a minute while it dries.
Then, the minute over, we find some towels and using our feet, slide them over the floor to dry it.

Mom has to leave in less than half an hour.

Mom and I lay the rug. We get it positioned--and she has to go.

I call my son and he helps me put the chairs and tables back into the room.

And then, with two hours of daylight left, I take my photos.

People, it is amazing. You will not believe it.

This is a low light plant called Zamioculcas Zamiifolia, or the ZZ plant.

ORC Diary: Photo Day Eve.

Day 5.6
Tuesday

(I think my numbering is off.)

Three things.

1) I am so excited. Today, the living room goes from looking like a bag lady stayed the night to an actual bona fide living room. The carpet goes down, and the slipcover goes on today, too. For the first time in six weeks, I'll get a feel for the finished room. I get to play with all the things I bought yesterday, too.

2) My house--my whole house is an utter disaster. Other ORC folks have mentioned it, too, so I know I'm not alone. But it's so bad, I am almost at the point where I want to tackle the mess more than set up the living room. I'm thinking that over the next to days, surely I will be able to do both?

3) This is hard to express. I have a hard time with tchotchkes. Ever since The Nester's accessory challenge in the summer of 2013, I've felt somewhat virtuous living in a pared down, minimal environment. But I have missed having pretty things. So, I have bought a few and I've tried to keep it all to things which relate to us in some way.

Busy, busy day.

**note: I wrote this this morning and then forgot to post!

The house is still a disaster, I've made 90% of my styling decisions, but I still have a project for my husband to do (and then I need to paint it), my mom is sewinga last minute pillow cover, and I have yet another painting job and the drapes yet to hem. Oh and a run to Target!

It is going to be a busy, busy night.

For obvious reasons, there won't be a diary post tomorrow.

ORC Diary: Stylin' Shopping

Day 5.5
Monday

I have the day off, though I was scheduled to work, because my right arm is giving me grief.

I start the day with a little priming and staining.

At about two o'clock, I leave with a small list in hand: I am on the hunt for a lamp, a shade, pillows, a throw, a tray, picture frames, you know, all the things that give the room that well pulled together look.

Except nothing is pulled together. I have two kinds of wood: bleached grey and cognac. For colours, I have two shades of barely there blue-green and black and white. For metallics--should I gogold--or silver? I can glam things up--or go organic. Target has a lampshade with leaves picked out in gold--organic and glam!

I decide: I am not making any decisions in the store. I will buy both kinds of wood, all the colours, faux animal fur of every kind--I even bought some plain flannel sheets thinking they'd make a cool blanket. I bought shiny things and rough pottery things and tall things and short things.... I went completely nuts and turned off my inner no.

I got home at nine thirty. Seven and a half hours of shopping. I spent a fortune--and you can bet more than half of this is going back. But it will be fun to play!

ORC Diary: What I Did with My Free Hour.

Day 5.4

Sunday

The clocks went back to normal time last night. For most folks, that's another blessed hour of sleep. For those of us in the ORC, it is another blessed hour for work.

Guess what I did?

Boo rah.

In other news, I picked up the last of the wood I need for the final two projects.

At this rate, I'll be squeaking over the finish line.....

ORC Diary: More Paint.

Day 5.3
Saturday.

I decided I need to paint the back of my bookcases a colour closer to the rug.
So last minute.

 I loved making this colour and painting it back when we had the vibrant teal rug. The colour just feels too loud for this room now, though.

So, this morning, I wake up early and get the backs off the Billys and crack open the paint I bought yesterday.

By 7am, I'm done. One coat coverage. Marquee by Behr--and even though I tell customers about it everyday, I am still surprised. And so happy. I leave for work.

After work, I come home, eat supper and by 7pm, we have this:

Ta Da!

So pleased I decided to do this.
And it was too easy.

ORC Diary: The Drapery Saga.

Day 5.1.
Thursday. Where it's at.

The post goes live and I start looking at what other linking participants are doing. I begin to panic. I start sewing up my canvas dropcloth for my drapes. Half the day later, I realise I've somehow done my math wrong and with the pleats all pinned, it's going to be too short for the rod.

Start over.

I measure the cloth and realise my first measurement had been wrong--nothing wrong with my math. So, I set to setting the pleats yet again. Then, when the math checks out, hooray, I begin to sew in the pleats. Boy oh, boy, three thicknesses of dropcloth plus buckram really is thick!

Another half of the day goes by and I hang them triumphantly.

Eight inches too short. And the pleats are wonky. I screwed up the spacing at the ends there, somehow.

I put another dropcloth I have lying around into the washing machine to bleach and run out the door to find a solution.

While I am gone, this happens:

In two and a half hours I hit Marshall's, Home Sense, Pier 1, Bed, Bath and Beyond and Home Outfitters. I come home with yarn and two pillows. I keep looking at blankets...and I think, hey, I could make a fringe. I could make eight inch fringe with the yarn for the bottom of the drapes. You know, instead of sleeping. Not sure about it. Happy about the pillows--20% off.

In between jabbing myself with pins, I've put another two coats of stain on the wood for the coffee table today. Looking good.

But I am this close to throwing in the towel--or the dropcloth, as it were.

Day 5.2
Friday.
Halloween.
What's Halloween? Oh yeah, that thing which causes really long line ups at the fabric store!

Mom comes over to help with the couch slip cover. She brings the Poang cushion all covered! We discuss my "fringe" idea for the drapes--and conclude it would probably pick up too much dog hair.

I borrow her car because I realise I'd forgotten to check Walmart last night for more of that fabric I want to trim out the drapes. I also decide I want to paint the back of the bookshelves a colour closer to the rug. Mom helps me figure out a colour and away I go.

I get the paint, but the fabric is not available.

Driving back, I realise that I'd completely forgotten about the Ikea Ritva drapes I'd started reconstructing eons ago. (I bought them in October of 2011. Yes, I checked the blog.) I decide to get them out and figure out why I'd given up on them.

When I return, Mom has to leave. I don't have time to tell her about the drapes.

When she's gone, I decide the "new" old Ikea drapes will be fine. Mom comes back and takes everything out of the bookcases for me.

Six and a half hours after she leaves, I have one drapery panel done.

Again.

Not liking how it is hanging. Is it the Euro pleat?

I'll look again in the morning.

One more panel yet. And I work a long day tomorrow. We'll see what happens!

ORC5: Tickety Boo

What a difference a week makes.

First, thanks to all of you who left me comments and encouraged me. Your kindnesses helped lift me out of a slump of discouragement, frustration and disappointment.

Progress throughout this project has been slow. Here are the links to my previous progress reports:

Week 1: The Befores, the Vision and the Punch List
Weeks 2 & 3: Catching Up
Week 4: Barely Hanging On

This week made up for all of that--and just in time, too!

#1. I bought a rug. I took Chris to Target Friday night and we bought a rug, a pouf, and a wooden bird. I've been having second thoughts about the rug all week but I am coming around.

#2. The wood trim is up. Yahoo! Finally, the trim feels finished--oh, only 17 years after we started!

The chimney breast was tricky: and I had to do some repainting.  I remembered to take a picture after I'd started!

The window wall was relatively straightforward--even though the wall wows and we discovered the curtain rod wasn't hung straight. Oh well!

#3. The Vittsjo finally arrived at my local IKEA. I've bought it and, with my husband's expert help, hacked it.

#4. Mom is sewing up a storm on the couch slipcover.She is further along than this, but I didn't get a photo of her last fitting.

#5. It's not all just my husband and my Mom, I'm doing some work too. I made a decision on the trim for my drapes. That counts as work, right?

But now I need to decide between doing a Euro pleat or a traditional one.

#6. Mom took the poang chair cushion--and fabric--home with her to work on.

It's been amazing and I'm feeling pretty confident we can get it all done. But it'll be close!

The Punch List:

Put up moulding on fireplace chimney breast
Put up moulding on window wall
Stain second pine shelf over TV to match the first one.
Spot prime the bleeding knots in the fireplace surround.
Paint it.
Top bookcases with wood and or/thick shelf.

Declutter books
Declutter games and relocate
Declutter dvds, cds, etc.
Make sure the TV is set up properly for devices to attach properly.

sew a couch cover. in progress.

sew or buy a cushion cover for the poang chair in progress.

buy a rug

sew vertical trim on the dropcloth drapes. in progress.

buy low light plants


New things added:

*add wood top to second vitssjo piece. Stain it.

* Stain and wax top for coffee table.

* sew pleats into drop cloth drapes in progress

* buy pillows and blankets

* style bookcases.

Things that have changed:

buy and install window blinds. Not going to happen.

recover ottoman...zebra stripes? no longer necessary. Replaced with IKEA Vittsjo.

Cut, peel and flatten top of log for a table. Highly doubtful. We just can't get the chainsaw to work to flatten the log we have ready to go. Boo hiss.

This log is from the tree that used to be in front of the dining room window which we cut down many summers ago. I would be so great to have it in the living room.

Decided:

bring back long rustic lunch bench? no. There really is enough wood already.

stain floor w/multiple shades of blue? no.

get doors for 1/2 the bookcase?  I found out that in August Ikea updated the Billys--and the new doors, apparently, will not fit the old units. So. No doors.

**************** Please check on the other linking participant's progress at our gracious host's blog, Calling It Home. So inspiring.