Have you ever wondered if a house update you want to make is worth it? In this episode, we’re discussing a magazine article we found with a list of remodeling projects that give you biggest – and smallest – return on your money when you sell your house. Of course it’s a lot different than DIY projects or even those you hire out yourself, so we go down memory lane about how our own projects compare and the “you have to live there” factor. Plus, recipes from the garden for spring and the riveting audiobook series that’s keeping us glued to our headsets together.
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Remodeling ROI
Here’s the article Brian found on remodeling ROI – do you agree?
The laundry/mud room we created when we converted a garage into living space we purely done for need. But of course I wanted to make it cute. And when we sold the house, it was one of the selling points the buyers mentioned (the other was the clawfoot tub you can see in the first image above).
As we mentioned, the prices in the article are way larger than anything we’ve ever done, even when we’ve hired it out, so that affects ROI as well. And of course when you do it yourself, you get the most return on your investment of all.
DIY Remodeling
We listed all the projects we did in our first home, a 1930’s bungalow, including the kitchen remodel (for under $10,000) and that wood railing you can see above that made a huge difference to the feel of the house (imagine the window half blocked by a wall…).
If you look closely, you can also see the brown paper flooring applied to the stairs – it lasted a lot longer there than I thought it would!
And total aside: I designed this kitchen in 2000 and it still looks classic and fresh with the farmhouse vibe that’s only gotten stronger. Of course back then it was called cottage style, ha!
Our 1980s ranch turned cottage remodel has been documented here, and you can see the last home tour before we moved here.
Some of our favorite DIY remodeling projects – that we loved and enjoyed AND that helped sell the house – include:
And of course we’re embarking on a new adventure with the farmhouse fixer. We’re stalled with the foundation issues which is not a DIY project for us. Once we get that going, we can tackle the areas we can that we talked about in the before tour.
We will be hiring out what we can and doing a lot ourselves – it’s always a balance for us, but we do enjoy doing things ourselves. Just look at the difference $30 and a couple hours made for this window! It would’ve been hundreds if we hired it out and we have more windows and doors to do.
We will definitely be thinking about ROI, but we will balance that with what we like and what will be useful to us as we live in the house. Plus, we get to bring this humble little farmhouse back for a whole new generation – that’s a joy for us!
What’s Cooking – Spring Seasonal Foods
Asparagus
Garden-to-Table Recipe: Shrimp and Asparagus with White Bean Puree
A Step-by-Step Guide to Pickling And Canning Asparagus
Asparagus and Ham Egg Cups with Easy Hollandaise Sauce
Ultimate Asparagus Guide: Grow, Harvest, Cook & Preserve
Peas
How to Freeze Snap Peas without Blanching {and Snow Peas, too!}
Three Pea Salad with Feta & Walnuts
Stir-Fry on Baked Noodle Pillows
This is Really Cool!
Brian’s: Sort of two, but listening to the terrific Red Rising series together on audiobook using these super cheap earphone splitters- Monoprice headphone splitter with volume controls. It’s really fun to experience this together.
Jami’s: Even though I mentioned it here, I had to sing the praises of this wonderful Arizona Chipotle spice again. It’s so good!
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Thanks you two that was informative and enjoyable.
Your most welcome, Marlene – we’re so happy to have you listening regularly. 🙂
(I can just picture you loaded down with all those bottles of AZ Chipotle….still laughing….)
And, I was completely thunderstruck by the “mid-range” and lower price points for those remodeling jobs. The things people will spend money on. Just crazy, insane.
But what I wanted to ask you about is your experience with adding interior french doors. I’ve got a doorway that I think would be great for one but the “problem” is that it was an exterior doorway (still is fitted with an exterior door) going in to an enclosed porch. Some of the measurements around here — especially for doors and windows are pretty, shall we say, unique. So I’m wondering it it’d even be possible to put a french door in there. I sure don’t want to replace it with another metal exterior door. That would be beyond ugly. Any ideas or suggestions re who to talk to? Thanks much! Sounds like things continue to merrily roll along on the homestead! 🙂
Yes they do, Beth! I’m with you on those prices – yikes!
As for the door, I would just get one as close as possible to the measurements – if you have to shave an inch or two off, there is room on wood French doors for that at the bottom and sides. I agree, it would look way better than a metal door and would let a lot of light in.
Thanks much — I’m going to keep my eyes on lookout mode for a likely french door candidate!