#4 of the Top 10 Sanity Savers When Remodeling

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#4 It is ok to stand your ground.

You are going to have to make sacrifices and compromises like we talked about in tip #3, but following my #1 and #2 tip gives you the confidence to stand your ground. What are the key elements that are going to pull this whole remodel together for you. What are the no-cuts, you should know before planning gets going and be prepared to stand your ground.

I had two no-cut items in our whole house renovation. The first was the claw foot tub I have been dreaming about owning for 14 years. Not only had I been dreaming, but I had been scouring the internet as well. Our plumbing supplier had tubs. The lowest shell was $3000. Hardware was a solid $1,500. If I didn’t know that the tub was a no-cut item for me, I would have been turned away by the numbers, but instead I kept searching other sources.

There was only one place I found that consistently had tubs in a range I could afford. By the time we started construction I practically had Vintage Tub & Bath on my speed dial. I did not wait to be told we could not afford it. I searched around and found a way to get the tub I wanted. You could also pick up an old tub and have it refinished for well under $1,000 but with Vintage Tub & Bath I was able to get the entire ceramic over cast tub and chrome hardware for about $1,200. It was a splurge, I know, but I also went with a much less expensive shower surround to offset some of the cost as well.

To tell the truth, a bigger tub was $300 more, which at the time was a lot of money when we were deep into the project. I wish I had just gone ahead and gotten the larger tub because over the range of a 30 year mortgage it would have been money well spent. The good news is that I can submerge all of my “parts” in my new tub and it is exactly what I had imagined for so long.

The second Item that was a no-cut was a brick looking floor. You would think this would not be hard to find. We have a 110 year old house and ten kids in muddy boots. I wanted a floor in the entry way that would live as long as the first one and keep a farm house feel. You would think that it would be easy to find but after 6 months of searching, I was getting ready to give up. Construction was winding down and the new entry way was just about finished. The tilers would need a start date soon and I was still searching. I had two sample tiles I could go with but I did not love them, so I went back to the tile shop one more time. I talked to a different receptionist. She knew of a product that had the look of brick but was thinner and had the wear of commercial grade tile. I did not give up, and I got exactly the look I wanted and a floor that I love.

Because I knew the things that would really give us the look we wanted to achieve, I knew what to keep searching for. I also knew that I was going to have to make it work financially by cutting costs elsewhere or looking for alternative sources. Standing your ground is much easier when you know exactly what you want and what it is going to cost you well before purchase time.

If you have done a project, what was your no-cut item? How did you make it happen?