Saving Money With Paint.

My husband and I have this conversation practically every day: "You paid too much money for the beach house", he says. "Fine", say I. "Go see if you can buy another beach house for the same price". You can't. I paid $60 thousand LESS than the asking price. End of story.

The prices of the homes around me, though, have come down substantially. The beach house could really use a new kitchen, but with the lower value of the homes, it would be insane to invest $20,000 into a new kitchen. Enter the paint can.

A new coat of paint is an amazing thing. The proper color and a new coat of paint can transform any room from horrid to spectacular. For under $1000, we transformed a dated kitchen into a beach house cottage masterpiece. Judge for yourself.

Here is the before:


Here is the after:


The first thing we did was paint the old style bead board a shiny gloss white. Next, we painted the walls a soothing Vale Mist green. The stove was in the wrong position so we moved it to the other side of the kitchen. Next we sold the old, clunky refrigerator on Craig's List for $150 and used that money to buy a stainless-type, 10 cu foot, energy efficient, new refrigerator for $376 (with tax). We hired my girlfriend's boyfriend to sand, prime and paint the kitchen cabinets (after we removed one cabinet above the stove and removed one of the front cabinet doors to create a modern shelf area).


That cost us $375 which included the paint, primer and sanding tools. My husband did all the electrical work, which was quite extensive since the stove and matching exhaust fan had to be moved to another side of the room (he spent many hours on his back in the crawl space). The price for the electrical parts was $157. Both windows have inexpensive, plastic bamboo shades which cost $4 each. Lastly, and most notably, I replaced all the door handles with expensive (to me) but with attention-to-detail black knobs, which are shaped like little clam shells (perfect for a beach house) at a total cost of $77 for 22 handles.

The total cost for the remodel came to $993, less the $150 Craig's list for a total of $843. That's a hell of a lot better than twenty grand for a new kitchen! The black, asian-style benches, I bought last year at Wal Mart (yes, Wal Mart) for $24 each. The last finishing touches, I think, to fully complete the renovation would be a new ceiling light and maybe a more asian-styled dish drainer. The kitchen does not have a dishwasher, but hey! it's a beach house, right? You're supposed to be roughing it, yes? The stainless sink is a double sink. So, I soak and wash on one side and rinse off on the other side.

Next year we are going to relaminate the center isle. The original plan was to tile it with sea glass tiles but the price was over $300. For $40, we can glue a new laminate down over the old one. But that's on the agenda for next year.

Every year we plan on doing a little bit of updating. This keeps the costs down and our cash flow flush. Last year we installed a brand new bathroom inside a center hall closet for under $400 (just for the parts). It took us 2 weeks to complete (again my husband spent many hours on his back in the crawl space) but the rewards are spectacular.

See for yourself:


The towel rack was from a 'going-out-of-business' sale that I picked up for $5 (yes, five bucks!). The curtain is a dish towel that I attached loops to and hung over the window. The plates are really plastic eating dishes that I picked up for $1.50 each. The blue wooden lighthouses I picked up at some beach flea market.

Oh, I know how to save money and all. And I certainly know how to make money. I still have to work on my spendthrift habits (like buying the beach house in the first place!).

And so it goes.