A woman has renovated her home using basic DIY skills on a budget of £18,000, adding more than £60,000 to the property value.
Sarah Berg, 36, a social media influencer from Minnesota, US, has transformed her home into an open-plan, modern space.
She and her husband, Andy, 36, purchased the five-bedroom home for them and their four children for $325,000 (£247,781) in August 2014 and were eager to decorate the home as soon as they moved in.
They noticed that a few of the rooms were quite small, so decided to tear down the existing walls and create a brand new layout across the home.
They started by tackling the kitchen, which was their biggest project overall and took seven weeks to complete.
They also added new windows, which they were quoted $4,000 (£3,049) to install, but managed to do this by themselves for $200 (£152).
“We reframed the window to make it smaller, so there would be two windows in the kitchen that matched each other,” Sarah, who shares her tips on Instagram (@savage_diy_mom), told Jam Press.
“[As we were quoted a large amount] that wasn’t within our budget, we watched YouTube videos to learn how to reframe and install new windows ourselves.
“We tore down a wall between the kitchen and formal dining room, as well as the old cabinets and flooring.
“We ordered all of our cabinets through IKEA and put them together ourselves, which was easy to do.
“We hired a professional for the drywall, but would’ve paid $100,000 if we had hired someone to renovate the whole kitchen.”
In total, the project cost $20,000 (£15,248) to complete.
In the living room, her husband created custom built-ins by himself for $300 (£228) and recently, she created an accent wall behind the TV.
She used plywood, as well as nailer and paint to create the final project, which cost $120 (£91).
For the main bedroom, she originally shiplapped the wall behind the bed but didn’t love the final product, so decided to build a wooden shelf above instead.
She said: “After tons of brainstorming, I decided to remove the top portion of the shiplap, which caused a lot of damage to the wall. I used joint compound from another project to give the wall a pretty cool textured look.
“I built a wooden ledge shelf and painted eight pieces of art [to hang above the bed.] It’s amazing what you can find at thrift stores, just use the frames, and repaint the rest! The cost of this project was minimal.
“In the kids’ bathroom we replaced the old flooring, as we didn’t like it anyway, and gutted the entire room.
“I wanted something that was fun for the kids’ bathroom – but also something that could grow with them. Needless to say, they have the best-looking bathroom in the house.
“I brainstormed ideas and decided to do horizontal white shiplap, with vertical grey shiplap and made my own stencil to sponge paint triangles onto the wall.
“I also built my own floating shelves, which I had never done before.
“For the staircase, I started by sanding for eight hours straight.
“I washed the steps, then pre-stained the wood so that it would take the stain evenly.
“After that was dry, I stained and used primer, along with white paint on the risers of the staircase.
“I loved how it turned out and if we had hired someone to do this, it would have likely cost us several thousand dollars.”
In total, they have spent $22,695 (£17,302) transforming the home and believe they have increased the property value by $80,000 (£60,935).
Sarah learned the skills to carry out the renovation through YouTube, online tutorials and from other Instagram influencers.
Along with her renovation, she’s also built a little stool for their entryway which cost $5 from an old thrifted chair, and built floating shelves in the kitchen, which is her favourite project to date.
Sarah said: “I learned many new skills [with this project] as the walls weren’t perfectly square.
“This presented an entirely new challenge that I had to figure out and I am now confident that I can make anything flush with a wall that isn’t straight or square.
“My favourite room is the kitchen, as it’s so open and the nine-foot-long island is perfect for my four kids to sit at and eat.
“It’s the perfect place to entertain and gather as a family.”
Next, she plans to create a custom built-in unit for the kitchen and renovate her son’s bedroom, along with his closet.
She regularly shares her DIY skills on social media, as she likes to have a place to document her projects and hopes to inspire others to build and create with her page.
Sarah added: “I wanted a place to put all of the steps for my projects, so that if I did a similar project in the future, I’d be able to reference it.
“I ended up turning it into a source of inspiration and I was thrilled to see people commenting and sharing my projects.
“[One piece of advice] is if you’re able to browse the ‘oops’ paint section at hardware stores, you’ll find discounted paint. This is paint that’s been mixed incorrectly or never purchased, so you can find some great prices.
“I also love thrifting, as you can make great money by flipping furniture.
“With DIY projects, there will always be mistakes along the way. But through those mistakes, we learn. No one should ever feel like they failed in a project they decided to tackle.
“DIY is so empowering, and as an added bonus, we save so much money!”
BUDGET BREAKDOWN
Kitchen – $20,000
Living room – $420
Entryway – $50
Staircase – $150
Kids’ bathroom – $2,000
Main bedroom – $75
Total: $22,695
