April 29, 2025 • 57 mins
Been dreaming of a kitchen upgrade but haven’t had the sign yet? Consider this as one. In this episode, Jen and Jill sat down with DeLancey to dish out all the DIY-friendly tips you need to start planning without overspending, second-guessing, or hiring a pricey contractor!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Episode five oh six, How to Save money on a
kitchen remodel with Delancy Carson.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
save money, embrace simplicity and life. Here your hosts Jen
and Jill.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Welcome to the Frugal Friends Podcast. My name is Jen,
my name is Jill. And the kitchen might bring you
some negative thoughts if you are in a house or
your kitchen is not as aesthetically pleasing as the ones
you see on social media. But fear not, you don't
have to live with it. You don't have to endure it.
(00:46):
You can because your kitchen doesn't have to look like
the ones on social media, but there are affordable ways
to update it. And I am so excited to share
Delancey diy with you because we had a great convo
on budget renovation.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
But first, this episode is brought to you by clear
in the Crap. Okay, you know what I'm talking about.
Oh gosh, We're not dealing with any crap anymore. We're
clearing it out.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Save the drama for your lama.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
So if you if you also are tired of the crap,
you're ready to clear it, clear it out, get it
gone by means of a declutter. We are here to
help you. We just wrote a declutter challenge, a thirty
day declutter challenge. We actually do challenges like this every
month for people in our membership, our Monthly Money Membership Challenge,
(01:48):
and this month in May is a declutter challenge. So
thirty days walking you through kind of tangible, bite size,
attainable things you can do every day for thirty days
to clear the crap, get yourself into a more decluttered space,
maybe even to help yourself see what kind of remodels
(02:09):
could happen from there, or just the declutter is your
version of a remark.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
You don't need to remodel your Maybe you just need
to like clutter ahead of some stuff. So why don't
you try that first? Yeah, and then take these tips
with you.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
So this is launching in May, so I know we're
listening to this. At the end of April, we are
offering a discount. So if you use code declutter, it
will get you fifty percent off that declutter challenge, or
to be honest with you, it'll get you fifty percent
off an annual subscription. So you want all of the
(02:44):
challenges that we're giving you this year, then get the annual.
But if you just want the Declutter Challenge, there you
go fifty percent off for it. That deal ends May
first at eleven fifty nine pm Eastern Standard Time. Plash
Sale back fast do it Now code is Declutter. Go
to Frugal friendspodcast dot com Slash Challenge and declutter fifty
(03:07):
percent off.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, and if so, we're going to be offering this
challenge all month long. But if this isn't what you
want to do, or if you ever find a challenge
that you don't want to do, we offer the last
three months of challenges too, so you can grab those
and so there's always going to be something you want
to do, even if it's not with the rest of us.
Because challenges are a great way to drive intrinsic motivation.
(03:30):
If you're looking to reach a financial goal, it can
be really monotonous. We've both done it, and gamifying the
process really helps, and so that's what we design every
money challenge to do. So we look forward to seeing
you in there. All right, So we love talking about renovations,
don't we, Jill. We love renovating.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
We apparently love doing We love it.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
We've never stopped renovating in the last three or four years,
just always renovating. So what we do over haul renovations,
and not everybody can do an overhaul renovation. So Delancey
actually helps women just hey, ditch the fear of power
(04:14):
tools so that they can do more DIY friendly renovations
in their homes, so transforming outdated spaces to things that
they love with out blowing the budget. So we have
loved hearing from her and seeing her on Instagram. At
Delancey Diy she has renovated about five different kitchens affordably.
(04:38):
So we we're talking about where to go, go in
on where you can save, and the best tips for
doing the most with the least. So without further ado,
let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Delancy, Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. We're so excited
to have you here.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Thank you so much for having me on. I am
so frugal and so this is right up by Ali.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
We've noticed, Yeah, you do some really amazing renovations for
low cost and a lot of times when people do
that for low costs, you can see it you can
really sell. But yours look really great. So I'm excited
to hear what you have to say.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
I love frugal, but like high impact, so that is
what all of my renovations are. They're like, how can
I spend the least amount of money and make this
look the most different awesome?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, And we like to say we're frugal not cheap.
So absolutely we like to save money, but we bougie,
so we like to look good and we like our
things to look good and be good quality. Yeah all right,
So our first question is what do people waste the
most money on? And where should you not? So I
(05:56):
guess it's two questions. What do people waste the most
money on? And then what are those things?
Speaker 5 (06:03):
Like?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
What are the things that are not a waste? What
should they not skimp on?
Speaker 4 (06:07):
This is such a good question. So I actually think
that the thing that people waste money on is they
don't start like a DIY project with the end in mind.
So sometimes we get so distracted by the little things
that we forget to take into account the whole picture.
So like, if you're making over your kitchen, you need
(06:28):
to have a vision of what is this all going
to look like together? Because if you don't, if you
just start with like ooh, I would like green cabinets
and ooh, I would like a fun backsplash. If you
don't have a vision of them all together, you might
get to the end of the project and be like,
oh man, I spend all this money, but now I'm
(06:49):
looking at this backsplash and I hate how it looks
with the cabinets. So I think one way to avoid
all that is at the beginning before your project, take
a look at all all the things you want to change. Okay,
do I want to update cabints? Do I want to
add a backsplash? Do I want to change the countertops
or work with what I have? Do I want to
change the cabinet knobs? And then put it all together
(07:09):
in a mood board. Making yourself a mood board is
going to save you so much time and hassle, and
it's going to guarantee that you actually like the finished
product when you're done. So you can make a mood
board online with like Canva or PowerPoint. You just bring in,
you literally bring in let's see what green cabinets look
like with gold knobs, and what look like with this backsplash,
(07:33):
and then you can kind of see, oh, actually, the
green and the backsplash. Those don't go together. What if
I change it out for a marble backsplash? And so
I think people waste money by doing renovations and then
getting to the end and being likeugh, you know, if
I just spent like three hundred more dollars, I could
have had a backsplash I actually like, instead of being
stuck with this one for the next ten years.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I think part of that issue comes from I hear
so many people say, oh, I can ever picture something
at the end, you know, Like my husband and I
have done renovations on literally every place we've ever owned,
and that's one of the number one comments that we
get is, man, how did you guys imagine this from
the beginning? I just can't see it, Like when I'm
(08:15):
in my space, I can't see something different. And so
I love what you're describing about a mood board, but
I'm also curious how you feel about if you've seen
it be helpful for yourself or others to even utilize
like AI tools of like uploading pictures of your space
and being able to like put that color cabinet over
top to like help the people who visually they don't
(08:38):
totally know they typically just kind of make decisions as
they're going.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Yeah, And in fact, that's such a good point too.
You're talking about your husband, because I think mood boards
are the exact way to explain your project ahead of
time to your husband who cannot read your mind. And
so I find that AI doesn't help a ton. I
think my best advice is usually to go to Pinterest
(09:03):
and to look for keywords that you like classic kitchen,
timeless kitchen, Nancy Meyer's kitchen, and then you're going to
save all of those things to a board, right, And
then you go through and you look at your pens,
and then you have to think for yourself, what do
these have in common? What common themes am I seeing
(09:23):
throughout here? I'm actually seeing that all of these cabinets
are creamy. Okay, if I like creamy cabinets, That's what
I'm drawn to in each of these things. What pairs
well with creamy cabinets? Maybe I want to do a
island that's a wood tone? Okay, do any of these pictures?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Actually, look, a lot of these islands have a wood tone.
Is it a dark wood tone or a light wood tone?
And you can kind of see Pinterest is so good
about showing you things that go together well. And so
once you can kind of start seeing the common thread
through all of the things that your eye is drawn to,
then you can kind of bring them into a mood board. So,
(10:00):
for example, Canva, you can like remove the background, so
you can take a picture from Pinterest with cream cabinets,
remove everything except the cream cabinets, and then stick it
on your mood board. And then you can go find
a backsplash you like, stick it on there, remove everything
else from that picture, and then you can kind of
see the finished what the finished look will look like.
And it also helps so much when you try to
(10:22):
tell your husband, so I want to build this like
rock on the side of the refrigerator and it's going
to hold cutting boards, and he's like, what on earth
are you talking about? But then you can show him
the mood board and be like, do you see how
this person had it? Theirs is white, but I'm going
to do mine in green because it's going to match
the cabinets kind of thing. So I think I think
(10:43):
just really utilizing Pinterest and then utilizing making your own
mood board is really the way to visualize what the
project will be before you start.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, I think that's such a good tip. And I
think where AI could be useful is that once you've
found that mood board and you're trying to find a
similar thing or even identical, uploading that and being like,
hey find this where I can buy this online?
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Yeah? I think also AI would is great for like
adding a couple more things. It's not really good at
like generating the whole project. But I think if you
could say, hey, I want cream cabinets, and I want
a colored backsplash, and I want a wood tone island.
What else am I missing? Then AI could totally be like,
you know what you need? You need a statement island
(11:32):
lights over your island. And you'd be like, oh, I
do need island lights. You're right, I wonder what color
I should do? And then it would kind of lead
you on your next tangent. So I think if you
could feed in or you could also say to AI, hey,
I have a living room and it's dark blue, my
laundry room is like a cream What color would a
kitchen go with this? So I think the more that
you can feed AI, the more the better it will
(11:54):
give you a.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Response yes, okay, and then what is that thing people
shouldn't be skimping on.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Oh man, see I I okay, see. So I've done
a couple of bathroom remodels as well, and a couple
of regrets I have is so bathrooms sometimes you have
to take it to the studs, right, If you're going
to be taking something to the studs, I do think
it's worth to splurge on things that you will love.
(12:24):
I wish I had added that radiant heating under the
floor of our bathroom because our bathroom is like on
the side of the house and it gets the coldest.
So I should have spent the extra I don't know,
five hundred one thousand dollars to add radiant floor heating.
So I think things like that, if you're going to
be destroying a space anyways, is it worth the extra
(12:47):
ten percent to make it a space you truly truly love.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Yeah. So it sounds like it's going to be individualized
for each person on like what's the luxury item that
you really think is going to like elevate the way
you're going to use the space?
Speaker 4 (13:02):
And yes, And I think figuring out what that luxury
item is to you a lot For me, A lot
of it is functionality, like I don't want cold feet,
but like so I'll skimp in other areas to be
able to splurge on. So, if you want marble countertops,
great lovely marble countertops, are there ways that you can
(13:23):
save if you don't care about what the backsplash is
pure marble or if it's ceramic, you could save in
other ways and then splurge on the items that you
truly do love.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yeah, I mean it sounds a lot like how we
approach meal planning and creating our spending plan. Like we're
not going to know. We're not going to get to
where we're going if we don't know where we want
to go. So having some of these ideas ahead of time,
creating the mood board, knowing having a really good vision.
Not to say that there's not going to be curveballs
that happen in the process, but it can certainly help
(13:52):
when you've got the end goal in mind and for
you when it comes to kitchen remodels specifically, curious what
your perspective is on the places where you can get
the most bang for the least buck.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Yes, I've done five budget kitchen remodels in the past
four years because I love making over kitchens because it
does have such an impact because we are in our
kitchens all day every day, and we see it all
day every day, and the functionality of a kitchen is
so important. So the biggest bangs for your buck, I
(14:30):
love the power of painting. I think painting does not
get enough credit because simply changing the color of your
cabinets or changing the color of your walls can have
such a huge impact on how you feel about a space.
And so I definitely think if you are staring at
your wood cabinets and you have hated those wood cabinets
(14:50):
since you moved in, you need to paint them. Like
paint is such a quick, easy win that makes such
a difference, and it also it'll probably snowball. So once
you paint your kitchen cabinets, then you're gonna be looking
at and you'll be like, you know what, that backsplash
has got to go. It's time for a new one.
And because then you get to like make it your
(15:11):
own in kind of stages. So painting is definitely the
biggest But I also think that not enough people get
scratch and dent appliances. We saved hundreds and hundreds by
when we moved into our house, it was a nineteen
eighties house that had never had original appliances, so they
were all all dead. So we had to get a
fridge and a stove and a dishwasher and washing machines.
So we went to the scratch and dent place. Because
(15:33):
I had little kids, I knew they were going to
scratch them soon anyways, so I was like, great, So
we went to the scratching dent place for the refrigerator
and for the stove and such, and so I was
able to get the fancier refrigerator right like the French
door with the water on the front, but at a
less price because it had some scratches on the side
(15:56):
that you can't even see. The stove handle that pulls,
you know, the oven open. It had a debt in
the middle that you can't see when you hang a
towel on this, you know, like when you hang a
little handtwel on it, you can't see it. So anyways,
I would totally advise, like, you can go to a
scratch in dent place and they have the nice name
brand stuff that might just have a scratch on the
(16:17):
side that you won't even see, so that's my advice.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
I agree, that's where we got all of our appliances
from and saved a ton of money, especially if you
need kind of all new appliances as well. And even
as you're mentioning with the pool for the oven, those
are the types of things that are easily replaceable. You
can search for parts and you know, maybe get those
brand new. But if it allows you to save one
(16:42):
thousand dollars on the appliance itself, then worth it.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
That is so true. Actually looked up how much it
was cost to replace the poll and it was like
fifty dollars And I didn't care fifty dollars worth, but
I could, like, if I want to in the future,
I can go buy the fifty dollars handle and replace it.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Okay, I want to know all about painting cabinets because
I've heard horror stories of people painting cabinets and the
paint chips, it peels. Cabinets are so utilized in a
space they need to be durable. So what do we do?
What do we look for and what do we not do?
(17:19):
How do we paint cabinets?
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Well, I say, do not chalk paint them. That was
a huge trend for a while people just slap in
chalk paint on stuff. I think it works if you
have kind of more rustic feel. So if you have
like a rustic kind of farmhouse and you like the
chippy look, go for it absolutely. But if you want
a modern repainted kitchen, I do not advise chalk paint.
(17:43):
But all of these cab paint companies have developed really
good cabinet paints now. Benjamin Moore Advance is the one
I usually use. Bayer also has a cabinet and trim
paint that's great. Here's the thing. Cabinets require more steps
than just painting the wall, and so it will take
(18:03):
you longer, but it's going to be worth it. So
I tell all of my people who ask about painting cabinets,
I say, you're going to have to do some prep.
But the prep is what makes the finished product look amazing.
So I do advise scuff sanding, which is like just
getting the sanding block and running it over the surface.
I advise priming with an oil based primer because all
of these cabinets, you don't even know if they're solid wood.
(18:26):
Some of them are like pine, and the pine tannins
can sink through finish culvers of paint, and you don't
want that happening, so you have to prime with an
oil based primer, and then you do two coats of
either Benjamin Moore Advance or the bare cabinet and trim paint,
and then you don't have to top coat it because
both of those have a built in top coat. So
you do have to do a couple more steps to prep,
(18:48):
but it's not terrible once you once you get started,
and then you're going to have a beautiful pain in
the kitchen that's going to last for years and years
and years, and you're going to enjoy it for years
and years and years.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
I will add taking all of the doors off and
obviously the cabinet the drawer fronts off and labeling them before,
like having a way of labeling them, because I also
have alreadydone tons of kitchens and painted cabinets and every
single one of them, and that was one of the
things I learned the hard way on one of the
(19:21):
first three models is that not every cabinet is the same,
and the way the yeah and the ways that sometimes
it's like chiseled out for the hardware is very specific
and it needs to go back into that place. So
if you're pulling them down, which I would recommend, like
do it the right way, don't get paint all over
(19:41):
the hardware. And then having if you do have a
place to be able to lay out all of the cabinets,
that can really help. If it's in like a dust
free area even better. So those of my friends in
the north who have basements, perfect place to be able
to paint all of these cabinets. But labeling it this
is my extra tip.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
And before you paint if you're doing different cabinet like poles,
which is why the board is so important. Yeah, before
you get started. Then if you're going from like one
to two or from two to one, like screw wood filler,
like before you paint, so that you don't have to
(20:22):
worry about that. Yeah, that is a big thing I've used.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I'd be curious what tool you use, delancey, but like
a foam roller too, I found to be really helpful
with painting cabinet so that you get that really sleek,
kind of brushless finish on it. So sometimes the tools
you use make a difference as well.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Oh yeah, what kind of so true do you use?
I like to.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
I like to roll the cabinet bases. Actually, you have
found a quarter inch soft nap works better than a
pham roller for me with the kind of paints that
I usually use. So I like the quarter inch soft
naps to roll, and obviously the brush for like the
tiny corner, and then the cabinet doors since you're gonna
take them off anyways, I actually advise spraying them. There's
(21:06):
like a sixty dollars sprayer on Amazon that's worth its
weight in gold. I bought it four years ago and
then my sister stole it and I bought the exact
same one again because it's just a really good sprayer.
So I would advise spend the sixty dollars and then
you can spray all the cabinet doors. Uh. And that's
going to give you a really brushless look.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Oh, especially if you have any of those like fancy
whatever on the wood cabinets. They're all like, you know,
I don't know what it's called, but you can't see
me because I'm doing this weight with my hands.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
But that's like phil agree or whatever.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
They free.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
You're like, yeah, just super fancy, yeah exactly, Like you
could probably get away with just rolling it. But yeah,
some of especially the ones from the eighties and nineties,
they were a little bit more elaborate, So those it's
so much easier to spray.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
I did also, and this was maybe a bit of
a regret now painted already painted cabinets, so I stripped
the paint oho of the cabin To talk about prep work.
If you've already got painted cabinets and they weren't painted well,
(22:22):
I mean, and you don't want to spend the money
on paying somebody like it is worth it, but goodness,
that took a lot of time. But that is something
to think about too, Like if the cabinets were painted previously,
and it's a little bit shoddy work, that's a consideration,
I think, and whether or not you're going to repaint
them or you're going to strip them. So I think
we're primarily talking about painting when they've not been painted before.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Right, if they were like original, of course you could
also if you had that kind of thing where like
someone did a terrible job last time. There's also you
could also just get new doors. If your frames are
still secure and strong and like they're going great, you
can just buy new doors. You can go to home
depot online and like just put in your measurements. I
think it's maybe eighty ninety dollars a door, which I
(23:08):
mean adds up obviously if you have a huge kitchen,
but it would give you a whole new look, and
that would be a great way to go from. Like
if your other doors were very fancy and you wanted
a more shaker look, that would be a super quick win.
And then I think those you can get them painted
or they can come primed and then you can paint
them to the color you want.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Yeah, I love that middle of the road option for people. Yeah,
it's not a full gut, but is absolutely a visual upgrade.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
And I think that's where people get stuck so often
is we see these shows on TV where people gut
their kitchen and then they spend one hundred thousand dollars
to rebuild it. But that's not most people's life. Most
people don't want to live through a renovation like that.
They don't want to kitch like cook in the dining
room for the next four months of their life. Like,
(23:56):
I think, we want, what can I do that's that
middle of the ground, What can I do to prove
the space that I'm living in right now that I
can still live through that's not going to be too
much chaos, but that I'll love in the end. That
maybe is not going to be one hundred thousand dollars worth,
but that still is adding value to your home.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Yeah. I think it is really appealing too to be
able to say I can do this myself. Because when
we can cut the labor costs, I mean that's a
good majority of what a lot of these renovations cost.
So when we can find the types of things we
can do that we are capable of doing, then even better.
So speaking of some of those things, I'd be curious
(24:35):
what you've seen that people can actually diy where they
wouldn't have thought that they could. We've kind of talked
about cabinets. Is there anything else that you've seen you
actually really could make a big difference in your kitchen
with these things that your average person can absolutely implement on.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
I like encouraging women to learn how to tile, So
tiling is one of my favorite ways to data space.
I have tile in my launchy room and my kitchen
and obviously bathrooms, but also in my dining room as
an accent wall. I love the power of tile, and
people think it's hard until I show them the videos
of my three year old daughter tiling, and then they're like, oh, huh, okay,
(25:18):
maybe if your three year old can tile, then I
could learn how to do this. And so I think
learning how to tile is such a fun skill because
it's one of those that not everybody knows, like, oh,
most people are like, oh, I'm sure I could paint
a wall, so I could probably figure out how to
paint cabinets, But learning to tile is such a fun
skill that, like, people come over to my house and
(25:39):
my kids can say, oh, yeah, I tiled that are
a pantry, Like it's just such an interesting thing. So
and I think people think that tiling is scary as
you have to use a wet saw, but it's actually
one of the safest tools because you can touch the
blade with your hand and it doesn't cut you, and
because it's a wet saw and it just grinds the tile.
(26:00):
And so I think learning skills like that are so
fun and can add such an impact to a space
and you get to have the fun like I learned
a new skill that how many people on the planet
know how to tile? A backsplash I do.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Now you know, where do you find your tile like
affordably and how do you go about like deciding backsplas.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
That's a good point because tiles can range from a
dollar a square foot to fifty dollars a square foot, right,
so you could you could you could go either way.
I usually I love Florida Core, I love home Depot
for tile, I like the tile shop all of those.
I do prefer to see my tile in person, so
(26:45):
I have not had great luck of just like seeing
one online. I like to see it in person. So
if you have a store near you, the tile shop,
Floridacre or home Depot, I like to go to those
and see what options they have, and then you can
also you could do your mood board in person. Right
if you have your paint chip of what color your
cabinets are going to be, and you have your tile
of what you're thinking about, and then you go lay
it on in a piece of granite that's kind of
(27:06):
close to your countertops, then you can kind of make
your mood board in person.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Fun fact, we got our backsplash on Facebook Marketplace. We
didn't have a lot. We had like just one portion
of the wall for the backsplash. Not a lot, so
we could have gone with something you know, new, wouldn't
have been that expensive, but because it was so little,
(27:32):
like people will sell leftovers from their jobs and it's
not a high quantity, but I think we got two
or three boxes and that's all we needed. And yeah,
it's a fun like textured Like if you're far away
from it, it just looks like an oversized white subway tile,
but when you get close to it, you can see
(27:52):
each different tile has a different texture. And that was
what I was looking for, Like I wanted textured tile,
like not crazy color, but I wanted like a really
unique like texture.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
There's also a lot of places that will have like
renovation stores like Restore. Yeah, like recarch community. Oh yeah,
your Humanity has a place called Restore usually most most
states are going to have that. So even being able
to go and and check there first is kind of
the thing. It's not as if every time you're going
to find something that it fits into your mood board
(28:32):
or is the right quantity of things, But it's it's
surprising what can be found at places like that, even
sometimes sinks and faucets and different lighting fixtures, so we.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
We love all of the hat And again I'll go
back to your point on the mood board. It's make
sure you're buying in alignment with that and not just
because you can get it secondhand or a deal, because
that's how you waste money. You get a de something,
you get something on sale or secondhand, and.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
Then you have to work around it whether you love
it or.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Not, and then you don't know or you just have
that stuff and you buy the new stuff anyway. Yeah,
and you've wasted the money on the sale stuff.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Speaking of wasted money, I'm curious what you've seen are
some of the common mistakes people make that end up
costing them more in the long run, Like maybe things
that they thought would have been a good idea but
actually aren't. Like where are we seeing some of the
poor decision making with kitchen renos.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
The good news is is that I haven't found many
people who've regretted their kitchen renouts, like I haven't found
many people who've done it themselves. I've talked to a
lot of people who have hired out a kitchen reno,
and they regret different aspects. But the people that I
talk to the millions of women that have done their
own kitchen reno, they don't regret pieces of it because
(29:58):
I think when you're do at yourself, you're kind of
also on a different timeline. You're not bound by these
contractors and like, I need a tile picked by tomorrow,
so you get to maybe take it slower or just
put more time into thinking about each step. And then
I think when you get to the end, you are
so proud that you did it yourself that it kind
(30:22):
of covers over any little regrets. I mean, there are
some things like my first tiling jobs were not as
good as my most recent tiling jobs, but that's that's life,
you know, Like, of course, the first time you do something,
it's not going to be perfect, but I think it's
still a good enough upgrade that your brain doesn't dwell.
(30:43):
It's kind of like childbirth. You don't remember the terrible parts.
You just remember the like fabulous, sweet baby you're now holding.
And so I think sometimes we scare ourselves of like, oh,
I can't start this because I'll get in and it'll
be terrible and what if I mess it up? But ever,
everything is figure outable, and once you get in there,
(31:04):
you will find a solution to it. It might take
a little bit longer, or you might have to go
back to the go back to home depot for the
sixth time, but it's all figure outable, And so I
haven't talked to many people who regret things or say, oh, man,
that reno was a complete waste of money, because there's
always something to learn or to skill to grow, and
(31:27):
it all just I think each step makes your house better,
it makes you better.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
I think that that's the biggest barrier for people is
kind of assuming like oh, I don't know how to
do that. It's like, well, no one knew how to
do that before they learned, Like you're saying, right, everything
is learnable and skills are buildable now whether or not
you have the time to want to learn or build
that skill. But if you want a kitchen reno for inexpensive,
(31:56):
like it is possible to learn how to change how
to sink it is, the paint cabinets and install your
own new backsplash, maybe even do some under cabinet lighting.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
And it's all on YouTube.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
It's literally all on YouTube everything you could ever want
to know by people who are electricians, by people who
are plumbers, right. Gone are the days where you had
to have an apprentice to learn how to, you know,
learn how to be a tiler. You can go and
learn on YouTube. But the thing is so YouTube has
access to all of the tutorials you could ever want,
(32:30):
so you can you can bring in information all day long,
but the thing that makes you better is doing it
so you could. You can get stuck sometimes in the
watching stage of watching other people make over their kitchen cabinets,
and I'm just going to watch them. Well, maybe this
tutorial will tell me how to do it. Well, maybe
this tutorial has even better tips. But the thing that
(32:51):
will actually get your cabinets painted is you grabbing a
paintbrush and starting, and then you working through any things
you come up with. Okay, well now I'm painting and
it looks like this paint is chipping? What am I
doing wrong? And then troubleshooting from there. That a type
of approach is so much better than I'm just going
to take in information for months and months and months
(33:14):
and months instead of starting, because once you start, then
you can problem solve as you go, instead of thinking
I need every bit of information before I even start.
That's not real life.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Yeah, there you go. That's the biggest mistake people make
is just not starting.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
Yeah, so there's putting it off.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
There's one other category of a kitchen runner that we've
not covered yet, and that is countertops, and this is
it can be an expensive one. What would you say
for somebody who's like, Okay, I think I can tackle
all of these things, but what I really hate is
my countertops. What can be done?
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Eighties lambin It chipping countertops.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
Yes, oh my goodness. All of my houses have had
eighties lamin and kitchen auto tops. So I think you
get to decide. This is one of those like personal
decision things. I am fine with lamb At countertops. So
when I redid my kitchen, I got new lambin At
countertops because I had little kids and who were gonna
spill red kool aid, and I am not a marble
(34:13):
kind of person, like my kids would ruin it right away.
I didn't want the upkeep like, I just didn't, so
I got new laminate countertops. That the trick is is
not to get the included backsplash. The trick is to
just get the flat part and then you do a
tile backsplash so it looks like marble or quartz or whatever,
and people who've comment and be like, oh, you got me,
(34:35):
and I'm like, it's just laminate and it cost three
hundred dollars. But if you wanted to splurge on counters
I would hire those out. I would do all the
stuff you can do yourself. Painting the cabinets. If they're
like a good strong quality and they just need a
fresh en up, you paint them. You add the knobs,
and you add under cabinet lightings, and then you splurge
(34:58):
on getting If you want Courtz countertops, go get Kurtz countertops.
But I would get those professionally done because they're going
to come in and they're going to measure and they're
going to cut out for the sink and all that
kind of stuff. So I would that would be one
of the things that I would splurge on. If it
mattered to me that I had really nice countertops, I
would splurge on hiring that out.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
We've also had success on getting remnants from places like
we've hired out countertops, but there's been times where the
amount of countertop we need is not that large, and
so we're able to shop their remnants. Section so this
would be leftovers from other jobs that were done for
a fraction of the cost. Again, you're not guaranteed that
(35:40):
it's got to be all possible that they would have
the piece that you need.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Yeah, well, how do you feel about butcher block?
Speaker 4 (35:49):
I love butcher block. I have butcher block in my pantry.
It's not like I don't know if I would cut
on it, like I wouldn't use it as butcher block.
I think it, you know, because it's what right. So
like and have my children spilt kool aid on my
butcher block countertop in the pantry? Yes, yes they have.
But the nice thing about butcher block is you just
(36:09):
sand it off and then reseal it. You seal it
with like a butcher block oil. So I think it's
a great option. A lot of people get stressed out
and they're like, no, don't do it. It's just go
for it. If you want butcher block countertops, go for it, Like,
seal them with some oil, and like, will you ever
have to reseal them? Yeah, you'll probably have to reseal
them once a year. Is that the end of the world? No, Like,
(36:32):
I think people overthink things so much and they get
it so much in their head of like, oh, this
is the only way to do it when there's a
zillion different ways to make over your kitchen to a
kitchen that you love, and there's I think butcher block
is a great, budget friendly option that looks great because
it's real wood.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Yeah. I think so often we are renovating with resale
in mind, and to an extent, that is a good
thing if you are living in your house to resell it,
Like we just renovated a house to resell it, so
we renovated it for resale. If you are in your
forever home, then you don't have to think about the
(37:10):
next buyers. You just think about you, baby girl.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
And I really think that even because like, yeah, why
are you designing for some potential future buyer who you
have no idea what this person wants. So I think,
if you're going to be in your home for the
next three years, you do it how you want it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
I thought of one more thing, and this is the
last thing. I promise, flooring. If somebody wants to change
out the flooring in their kitchen, what's your go to
and what.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Do you mean my going is always? My go to
is always Lambin at floors or not lamin like LVP
Luxury vinyl plank, just because they're easy to install, beginner friendly.
They can go over a subfloor, they can go over tile,
they can go over if you have like a sixties
kitchen with that linoleum, it can go over linoleum. I
(37:58):
think that it's such an EA install. You can do
it in a day, and it makes a huge impact,
and it wipes up so easily, and they're all waterproof,
so and if you ever had to rip it out,
you rip it out in a day and replace it
with something else.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Yeah, that's what we use. Do you have a preference
on your LVP or like a thickness or a brand
or something.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
I do say, don't get the cheapest, Like you don't
have to get the most expensive that's like ten dollars
a square foot, but like, don't get the one dollar,
get get the middle of the road.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
I think we went with the ten millimeter thickness and
we did the three milimeter padding underneath. So those are
like they're nice. I would say those those are.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
If you're on a slab, you do have to have
like the underlayment. Yeah, we're on waterproofing something. Yeah, so
you do need to make sure and that's one of
those things that like, yes, that's the kind of thing
that you want to make sure you're doing the steps
in the right order. So that is great. Where like
you need to go to YouTube, you need to watch
somebody install luxury vinyl plank on a slab, so you
know the steps to take so you don't have to
(39:04):
rip up your stuff and then put down the underlayment.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
Oh wait, I have one more question too. How much
do you think so if someone's like, Okay, I'm feeling inspired,
I might be able to do my own kitchen myself,
what should they anticipate as far as tool costs because
your average person might not have all of the things
to be able.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Yeah, and there's rental tools, yes, but like, yeah, total costs,
that's a good one.
Speaker 4 (39:33):
Tools you will need, I mean yeah, it depends on
how like if you're just painting your cabinets by the
sixty dollars spray er and a couple of rollers, right,
if you're building something to add to it, like you will,
or if you're if you have to cut down lambin
at countertops yourself, you will need some tools. But it's
not going to be terrible. I mean five hundred dollars
(39:54):
maybe of tools. It's not like you need some giant
woodworking shop. You probably you probably need less than five
a drill of mitrosol, a circuit saw, a brad nailor,
and a sander. Like if you had those five you'd
be fine.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Yeah, And those there are things that you could always
find used on Facebook marketplace. You always resell them if
you need to buy them new. And it's just good
to have a power drill always. Man, you never you
never have to get carpal tunnel in your wrist again.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
But for some of these things, like the wet saw,
you could also rent from like home depot or see
if you can borrow it from a friend or there
are also tool libraries, yes, in different cities.
Speaker 4 (40:39):
Cities have them, yes.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Yes, in Saint Pete we have one. You can rent
out tools.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Oh that's amazing, they're so Surely there is surely a
dude somewhere that you can rent all borrow all these
tools because he bought them all and he usual and
he's he.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Might be able to rent the dude too, you know, dune.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
But you could definitely borrow his tools because he has
them because they are his trophies. And I know this
because I live with this. Dude.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
Do you know what's my trophy? And I will live
with every single day?
Speaker 1 (41:15):
With the week your resell the of the week.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
is Williams. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
car died and you're happy to not have to pay
that bill anymore. That bills Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this
is the bill of the week.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Oh wow, I just heard an echo in my headphones.
What a treat, all right, Delancey. Every week we invite
our listeners and our guests to share with us their
bill for the week, and we look forward to hearing you.
Speaker 4 (42:05):
Oh man. Okay, so my bill of the week has
to be shout out to the Bill who is on
my Facebook group, who likes to every time I post something,
he likes to tell me all the things I did wrong,
and he likes to be the guy that's like, actually
it's not a crow bar. It's actually called a pride bar.
(42:27):
But shout out to Bill, because for every one Bill,
I have ten katies who are like ignore him. He's
being ridiculous. This is what I needed to see. So
shut up, Bill, because this is amazing.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Oh gosh, he is in there purely demand's blain.
Speaker 4 (42:45):
Oh my goodness. Facebook is a cesspool of man's blaining.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
I mean, anytime that you're getting into something traditionally may
you're gonna have them want to come and tell you
how you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
He has all of his trophies, his tools around that
he probably doesn't use, but they are trophies.
Speaker 4 (43:08):
And he's too proud that he knows how to do it.
But the fact that now women are learning how to
do it it makes him feel less special.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
And I don't because you're using the tools more than
he is.
Speaker 4 (43:20):
And but I'm not doing it for you, Bill, I'm
doing it for Katie.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Man.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Usually when we get a person named Bill, Bill is
usually the salt of the earth.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
Yeah, this time around, Bill, he's the salt in myle.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
You gotta just calm down. You need to calm down, Bill,
And hats off to you Delancy for still doing it
because you know that it's just going to bring a
ton of haters.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
Or just for not blocking him.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
How he hime out of the group It's true.
Speaker 4 (43:54):
I only block them if they get super rude. But
the thing is this that, like I think sadly women
are just used to it, Like we realize that when
we put something out there that there will be haters.
But the good news is that, like there's so many
women who are loving it that it way makes up
for all the haters.
Speaker 3 (44:15):
Yeah, so true. All right, well that's fun. Glad you're
doing it for Katie. If you all listening and have
a bill that you want to submit, if it has
to do with Bill being a bad bill and we
need to we need to kick him out of the group,
or if it's a bill that you don't mind paying,
(44:37):
or a good bill. Bill's out here being a bigger
all En encouragement for friendspodcast dot com slash Bill. We
can't wait to hear it. And now it's time for.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
All right. It's that time of the episode where we
all answer a very vulnerable question and we always have
our guests go first.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
Oh, all right, super vulnerable.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Okay, what's a small appliance or gadget you use in
your kitchen that you think is very under rated that people.
Speaker 4 (45:14):
Are like, uh, why do you have that?
Speaker 3 (45:16):
What a waste, and if it feels too vulnerable to answer,
we can you can ask us to move on to
the next question. So there's no other question, this is it?
Speaker 4 (45:27):
I okay, So I'm a mom, so like, obviously I
have to say an air frier. But you know what
I was thinking, is actually my most used random part
of my kitchen. I got the stove that has the
flat top surface griddle in the middle, and I use
that every single day. I because you don't have to
get out a pan so grilled cheese. You just throw
(45:48):
the bread on that little griddle and then like you
wash it like at night or something, but like you
don't have to wash it every time. So that little
griddle in the middle of my stove is my favorite,
is my favorite upgrade of my whole kitchen.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
I love that answer, sir. I love that answer.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
That is I think a helpful one too, for anybody
potentially shopping for a range of what what kind do
I even want? How will it serve me to kind
of think about the types of things you enjoy cooking
And if.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
You have a stove and you don't want to get
another one with a griddle, they make griddles that you
can put over your burners. It turns it into a griddle.
Speaker 4 (46:26):
Four burners like you don't you don't mean all four
burners going at the same time, like never except on
like Thanksgiving, So like yeah, like leave on is a griddle?
Speaker 1 (46:33):
Mm hmm, all right for me? It's an electric can opener.
Speaker 3 (46:39):
Wow, I know crazy, I know I did.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
So Travis got this at a thrift store or somewhere
and I was like, what a waste, like get a
regular can opener like a rail man.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
And so we have used this.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
I mean I do. I primarily cook, and I use
this all the time. And now when I do have
to use a regular can opener, I'm like, oh, carble tunnel.
Speaker 3 (47:09):
Honestly, I never thought that I've had like arthritis or
carporal tunnel until I open a can manually. It like
morphs your hands and ways you're not.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
We have to hands.
Speaker 3 (47:22):
Cannot you do it.
Speaker 1 (47:24):
Electric can openers. We've become fragile women.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
It's so funny. I was laughing at this, But now
to think the last time I opened a can, I
was like.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
Why does this hurt so hot? Like I'm putting, I've
got the stance and I'm over it, and it's had
like an entire body movement to open a can.
Speaker 3 (47:44):
Wow, you're convincing me it is underrated.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
I mean yeah, it's just a little, you know, a
little electrically pleasing. Man.
Speaker 3 (47:54):
I love that. Okay for me, I'm gonna go with
some old school, ancient ancient pieces here mortar and pestle.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
Where are you from the eighteen hundred?
Speaker 3 (48:08):
Yes, no, I'm from fourteenth ninety two. I think it's nice.
First of all, out on it is partiful. I love
a good mortar and pestle out. Also, it is good
to like grind up herbs and spices. I don't I
don't always cook with fresh herbs, but one on new
(48:28):
mortar and pestle, and it really does elevate the dish. Garlic,
and I also use well which one is the mortar,
which is the pestle? The hand thing?
Speaker 1 (48:42):
I think that's the pestle.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Yeah, I will tenderize my chicken with that.
Speaker 5 (48:48):
That.
Speaker 3 (48:49):
Wow, I mean I cover the chicken right. So I'm
not like going raw chicken to fresh herbs when raw
with it, But I can, like it's really heavy and
I can bang out that chicken. So multipurpose, you know.
I love form and function, and I get both.
Speaker 1 (49:08):
That's beautiful. That is Delancey. Thank you so much for
coming on the show. Thank you for just like responding
to my email even though you thought it was spam.
Speaker 4 (49:20):
I did think it was spam.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
Hello here, So true. I have for seven years been
reaching out to guests because we very very rarely will
take a guest submission. I always like to go out
and find guests. But there it's hit or miss on
whether I get a response because there's a lot of
spam out there. So where can our listeners find the
(49:48):
real you? Where are your socials and where can they
just get more of your DIY kitchen red.
Speaker 4 (49:55):
Yeah, if you go to more dot delancydiy dot com,
you can find all about and I'm Delancy DIY on
all of the socials.
Speaker 3 (50:03):
Perfect cool, and we'll link to that in the show notes.
Thanks so much for being here with us.
Speaker 4 (50:08):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (50:10):
I am so grateful that we did not talk about
painting your countertops.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
I we were over them.
Speaker 3 (50:20):
I was afraid that that was going to be where
the conversation might go. We have the ability to edit,
but it didn't go there because Delancey Delancy gives the goods.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
Actually gave good tips tile seriously and when she said
I put tile in a random room in my house,
I was like, I don't know. Actually then I saw
it on her Instagram at Delancey dot diy and it
looks legit. Yeah, so like, maybe I'm not in love
with Tyle enough to do that, But it's the major hitters.
(50:56):
The heavy hitters are more accessible than you might think. Yeah,
and so you can really redo a kitchen without knocking
down walls, open it up for very little money, and
make it something that you love. And I think our
greatest takeaway is that stop designing for a family that
(51:16):
doesn't live in your house. Like design for your family
and your budget and your use, and then the next
family that buys your house can worry about that when
they get there. So yeah, do yours. Thank you so
much for listening. We hope that this inspired you and
helped you. If it did, we would love if you'd
leave a review on Spotify. That would be so helpful
(51:37):
to us. If you've read our book by What you
Love Without Going Broke, we would love for you to
leave a review for that on Amazon. It's where people
go to vet books before they read them, regardless of
where they buy them, like this one from Katie Joe.
It happens to be five stars. If you struggle with
shame and overwhelm because your finances are so off track
(51:58):
you don't even know where to start, no matter how
much I try. The math just does it math for
my income versus expenses When you swipe your debit card
after another impulse purchase, this is the book for you.
The shame and judgment free tone and approach of this
book was just what I needed to get kind and
curious with myself about what's working and what's really not
(52:21):
when I approach my finances. The action items at the
end of each chapter it gave me a practical step
to take that could be accomplished right then, not at
some nebulous point in time, as part of a five
year plan. I took several pages of notes from this
book and look forward to reading it again to see
what else I can pull from it. Overall, a fairly
easy read that was not overly dense and met me
(52:42):
write where I am to help me move forward?
Speaker 3 (52:45):
Oh, I'm so this is it? Thrilled to hear that
this is what we were going for, what we wanted
it so cool. When you hear you did do it,
you at least did it for Katie Joe.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
I promise I did not read this, I write this.
I am not Katie Joe.
Speaker 3 (52:59):
I'm not Katie exactly what I wanted to hear you.
Thank you, Thank you all so much for being here,
for listening. If you enjoyed the show, please take a
minute to leave a rating and a review. It really,
really really does help us. It's free for you to do.
Hopefully it will only take you like sixty seconds. If
you read the book, please leave us a review for
that too. We are so thankful, See you next time. Bye.
Speaker 1 (53:23):
Rugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 3 (53:37):
Okay Jen. Yes, what is a power tool or no
even maybe just like a skill, a reno skill that
you built throughout your renovations that like surprised you, that
like you didn't think you would would ever do or
never even knew that it would be a thing you
(53:57):
were doing.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
I mean, laying flooring, putting up tile using power tools.
Speaker 3 (54:05):
I am not.
Speaker 1 (54:07):
Handy. I'm not DIY girl. I don't like DIY.
Speaker 3 (54:12):
I do not do that.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
I don't enjoy it. So I was forced into so
much of this and yeah, there's skills I don't want
to have that I do now not really have, but
I did do them. Travis did so much. I helped
him carry fencing yesterday and that was miserable. I hated that.
(54:41):
How about you, Jill?
Speaker 3 (54:43):
Yeah, oh, I mean, yeah, all of it. I suppose
I am. I'm the I'm the cock girl. You are you?
I am cock queen.
Speaker 1 (54:54):
I never cocked. I didn't, I didn't do any cocking.
Speaker 4 (54:58):
Yeah. All of the.
Speaker 3 (55:00):
Finish work is my responsibility, and it's a skill that
I've built. Now over years, I mean, Eric and I
have renovated every place we've ever lived. I actually was
surprised to realize I've actually renovated as I think a
few more kitchens than Delancey has.
Speaker 1 (55:17):
I know, you were like, why are you bringing in
a renovation expert. I'm a renovation expert.
Speaker 3 (55:21):
I was like, you are not this kind of no, no, no,
I am not, and I yeah, I don't have the
platform that she has. I've not like recorded all of
the renovations that we've ever done, but yeah, we've done
a lot, and through that time, I've built like the
finishing skills. Eric hates painting, absolutely hates it. Turns out
(55:43):
I'm good at it, so I do get to a
point where I feel so done with it. I wouldn't
say that, like I love it, but I don't hate
it to the same degree that he does.
Speaker 1 (55:54):
There are some areas in our house that I just
didn't finish painting, and I know where they are and
I can see them. Leave it for the next person
to solve that, and that's the next families problem. Not nine.
Speaker 3 (56:10):
But I used a hammer drill, I think for the
first time. This is a new thing for me, a
new tool this past weekend. Wow, And that was both amazing,
both one of my favorite experiences and exhausting.
Speaker 1 (56:28):
Yeah, Travis bought this big. It's the size of a
trash can drill. The thickness is like the size of
my head. And he bought it for doing the fence.
And I actually held on to that baby, and I
was like, I could I could do damage with this, yeah,
(56:48):
and I don't want to, so please let me put
it down. And uh, yeah, that was one of those
things he bought and he's planning to He didn't actually
use it a lot, so he might return it, but
he I was planning to sell it. Okay, but yeah,
I don't want any of the renovation skills, and you.
Speaker 3 (57:10):
Know I don't have marketing. I don't want marketing skills
and I do have it, and you're forcing it on me.
Speaker 4 (57:17):
I know.
Speaker 1 (57:17):
I'm sorry, but it's so more people like get the message.
Speaker 3 (57:22):
It's gonna be good for you.
Episode five oh six, How to Save money on a
kitchen remodel with Delancy Carson.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
save money, embrace simplicity and life. Here your hosts Jen
and Jill.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Welcome to the Frugal Friends Podcast. My name is Jen,
my name is Jill. And the kitchen might bring you
some negative thoughts if you are in a house or
your kitchen is not as aesthetically pleasing as the ones
you see on social media. But fear not, you don't
have to live with it. You don't have to endure it.
(00:46):
You can because your kitchen doesn't have to look like
the ones on social media, but there are affordable ways
to update it. And I am so excited to share
Delancey diy with you because we had a great convo
on budget renovation.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
But first, this episode is brought to you by clear
in the Crap. Okay, you know what I'm talking about.
Oh gosh, We're not dealing with any crap anymore. We're
clearing it out.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Save the drama for your lama.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
So if you if you also are tired of the crap,
you're ready to clear it, clear it out, get it
gone by means of a declutter. We are here to
help you. We just wrote a declutter challenge, a thirty
day declutter challenge. We actually do challenges like this every
month for people in our membership, our Monthly Money Membership Challenge,
(01:48):
and this month in May is a declutter challenge. So
thirty days walking you through kind of tangible, bite size,
attainable things you can do every day for thirty days
to clear the crap, get yourself into a more decluttered space,
maybe even to help yourself see what kind of remodels
(02:09):
could happen from there, or just the declutter is your
version of a remark.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
You don't need to remodel your Maybe you just need
to like clutter ahead of some stuff. So why don't
you try that first? Yeah, and then take these tips
with you.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
So this is launching in May, so I know we're
listening to this. At the end of April, we are
offering a discount. So if you use code declutter, it
will get you fifty percent off that declutter challenge, or
to be honest with you, it'll get you fifty percent
off an annual subscription. So you want all of the
(02:44):
challenges that we're giving you this year, then get the annual.
But if you just want the Declutter Challenge, there you
go fifty percent off for it. That deal ends May
first at eleven fifty nine pm Eastern Standard Time. Plash
Sale back fast do it Now code is Declutter. Go
to Frugal friendspodcast dot com Slash Challenge and declutter fifty
(03:07):
percent off.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, and if so, we're going to be offering this
challenge all month long. But if this isn't what you
want to do, or if you ever find a challenge
that you don't want to do, we offer the last
three months of challenges too, so you can grab those
and so there's always going to be something you want
to do, even if it's not with the rest of us.
Because challenges are a great way to drive intrinsic motivation.
(03:30):
If you're looking to reach a financial goal, it can
be really monotonous. We've both done it, and gamifying the
process really helps, and so that's what we design every
money challenge to do. So we look forward to seeing
you in there. All right, So we love talking about renovations,
don't we, Jill. We love renovating.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
We apparently love doing We love it.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
We've never stopped renovating in the last three or four years,
just always renovating. So what we do over haul renovations,
and not everybody can do an overhaul renovation. So Delancey
actually helps women just hey, ditch the fear of power
(04:14):
tools so that they can do more DIY friendly renovations
in their homes, so transforming outdated spaces to things that
they love with out blowing the budget. So we have
loved hearing from her and seeing her on Instagram. At
Delancey Diy she has renovated about five different kitchens affordably.
(04:38):
So we we're talking about where to go, go in
on where you can save, and the best tips for
doing the most with the least. So without further ado,
let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Delancy, Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. We're so excited
to have you here.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Thank you so much for having me on. I am
so frugal and so this is right up by Ali.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
We've noticed, Yeah, you do some really amazing renovations for
low cost and a lot of times when people do
that for low costs, you can see it you can
really sell. But yours look really great. So I'm excited
to hear what you have to say.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
I love frugal, but like high impact, so that is
what all of my renovations are. They're like, how can
I spend the least amount of money and make this
look the most different awesome?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, And we like to say we're frugal not cheap.
So absolutely we like to save money, but we bougie,
so we like to look good and we like our
things to look good and be good quality. Yeah all right,
So our first question is what do people waste the
most money on? And where should you not? So I
(05:56):
guess it's two questions. What do people waste the most
money on? And then what are those things?
Speaker 5 (06:03):
Like?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
What are the things that are not a waste? What
should they not skimp on?
Speaker 4 (06:07):
This is such a good question. So I actually think
that the thing that people waste money on is they
don't start like a DIY project with the end in mind.
So sometimes we get so distracted by the little things
that we forget to take into account the whole picture.
So like, if you're making over your kitchen, you need
(06:28):
to have a vision of what is this all going
to look like together? Because if you don't, if you
just start with like ooh, I would like green cabinets
and ooh, I would like a fun backsplash. If you
don't have a vision of them all together, you might
get to the end of the project and be like,
oh man, I spend all this money, but now I'm
(06:49):
looking at this backsplash and I hate how it looks
with the cabinets. So I think one way to avoid
all that is at the beginning before your project, take
a look at all all the things you want to change. Okay,
do I want to update cabints? Do I want to
add a backsplash? Do I want to change the countertops
or work with what I have? Do I want to
change the cabinet knobs? And then put it all together
(07:09):
in a mood board. Making yourself a mood board is
going to save you so much time and hassle, and
it's going to guarantee that you actually like the finished
product when you're done. So you can make a mood
board online with like Canva or PowerPoint. You just bring in,
you literally bring in let's see what green cabinets look
like with gold knobs, and what look like with this backsplash,
(07:33):
and then you can kind of see, oh, actually, the
green and the backsplash. Those don't go together. What if
I change it out for a marble backsplash? And so
I think people waste money by doing renovations and then
getting to the end and being likeugh, you know, if
I just spent like three hundred more dollars, I could
have had a backsplash I actually like, instead of being
stuck with this one for the next ten years.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I think part of that issue comes from I hear
so many people say, oh, I can ever picture something
at the end, you know, Like my husband and I
have done renovations on literally every place we've ever owned,
and that's one of the number one comments that we
get is, man, how did you guys imagine this from
the beginning? I just can't see it, Like when I'm
(08:15):
in my space, I can't see something different. And so
I love what you're describing about a mood board, but
I'm also curious how you feel about if you've seen
it be helpful for yourself or others to even utilize
like AI tools of like uploading pictures of your space
and being able to like put that color cabinet over
top to like help the people who visually they don't
(08:38):
totally know they typically just kind of make decisions as
they're going.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Yeah, And in fact, that's such a good point too.
You're talking about your husband, because I think mood boards
are the exact way to explain your project ahead of
time to your husband who cannot read your mind. And
so I find that AI doesn't help a ton. I
think my best advice is usually to go to Pinterest
(09:03):
and to look for keywords that you like classic kitchen,
timeless kitchen, Nancy Meyer's kitchen, and then you're going to
save all of those things to a board, right, And
then you go through and you look at your pens,
and then you have to think for yourself, what do
these have in common? What common themes am I seeing
(09:23):
throughout here? I'm actually seeing that all of these cabinets
are creamy. Okay, if I like creamy cabinets, That's what
I'm drawn to in each of these things. What pairs
well with creamy cabinets? Maybe I want to do a
island that's a wood tone? Okay, do any of these pictures?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Actually, look, a lot of these islands have a wood tone.
Is it a dark wood tone or a light wood tone?
And you can kind of see Pinterest is so good
about showing you things that go together well. And so
once you can kind of start seeing the common thread
through all of the things that your eye is drawn to,
then you can kind of bring them into a mood board. So,
(10:00):
for example, Canva, you can like remove the background, so
you can take a picture from Pinterest with cream cabinets,
remove everything except the cream cabinets, and then stick it
on your mood board. And then you can go find
a backsplash you like, stick it on there, remove everything
else from that picture, and then you can kind of
see the finished what the finished look will look like.
And it also helps so much when you try to
(10:22):
tell your husband, so I want to build this like
rock on the side of the refrigerator and it's going
to hold cutting boards, and he's like, what on earth
are you talking about? But then you can show him
the mood board and be like, do you see how
this person had it? Theirs is white, but I'm going
to do mine in green because it's going to match
the cabinets kind of thing. So I think I think
(10:43):
just really utilizing Pinterest and then utilizing making your own
mood board is really the way to visualize what the
project will be before you start.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, I think that's such a good tip. And I
think where AI could be useful is that once you've
found that mood board and you're trying to find a
similar thing or even identical, uploading that and being like,
hey find this where I can buy this online?
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Yeah? I think also AI would is great for like
adding a couple more things. It's not really good at
like generating the whole project. But I think if you
could say, hey, I want cream cabinets, and I want
a colored backsplash, and I want a wood tone island.
What else am I missing? Then AI could totally be like,
you know what you need? You need a statement island
(11:32):
lights over your island. And you'd be like, oh, I
do need island lights. You're right, I wonder what color
I should do? And then it would kind of lead
you on your next tangent. So I think if you
could feed in or you could also say to AI, hey,
I have a living room and it's dark blue, my
laundry room is like a cream What color would a
kitchen go with this? So I think the more that
you can feed AI, the more the better it will
(11:54):
give you a.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Response yes, okay, and then what is that thing people
shouldn't be skimping on.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Oh man, see I I okay, see. So I've done
a couple of bathroom remodels as well, and a couple
of regrets I have is so bathrooms sometimes you have
to take it to the studs, right, If you're going
to be taking something to the studs, I do think
it's worth to splurge on things that you will love.
(12:24):
I wish I had added that radiant heating under the
floor of our bathroom because our bathroom is like on
the side of the house and it gets the coldest.
So I should have spent the extra I don't know,
five hundred one thousand dollars to add radiant floor heating.
So I think things like that, if you're going to
be destroying a space anyways, is it worth the extra
(12:47):
ten percent to make it a space you truly truly love.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Yeah. So it sounds like it's going to be individualized
for each person on like what's the luxury item that
you really think is going to like elevate the way
you're going to use the space?
Speaker 4 (13:02):
And yes, And I think figuring out what that luxury
item is to you a lot For me, A lot
of it is functionality, like I don't want cold feet,
but like so I'll skimp in other areas to be
able to splurge on. So, if you want marble countertops,
great lovely marble countertops, are there ways that you can
(13:23):
save if you don't care about what the backsplash is
pure marble or if it's ceramic, you could save in
other ways and then splurge on the items that you
truly do love.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yeah, I mean it sounds a lot like how we
approach meal planning and creating our spending plan. Like we're
not going to know. We're not going to get to
where we're going if we don't know where we want
to go. So having some of these ideas ahead of time,
creating the mood board, knowing having a really good vision.
Not to say that there's not going to be curveballs
that happen in the process, but it can certainly help
(13:52):
when you've got the end goal in mind and for
you when it comes to kitchen remodels specifically, curious what
your perspective is on the places where you can get
the most bang for the least buck.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Yes, I've done five budget kitchen remodels in the past
four years because I love making over kitchens because it
does have such an impact because we are in our
kitchens all day every day, and we see it all
day every day, and the functionality of a kitchen is
so important. So the biggest bangs for your buck, I
(14:30):
love the power of painting. I think painting does not
get enough credit because simply changing the color of your
cabinets or changing the color of your walls can have
such a huge impact on how you feel about a space.
And so I definitely think if you are staring at
your wood cabinets and you have hated those wood cabinets
(14:50):
since you moved in, you need to paint them. Like
paint is such a quick, easy win that makes such
a difference, and it also it'll probably snowball. So once
you paint your kitchen cabinets, then you're gonna be looking
at and you'll be like, you know what, that backsplash
has got to go. It's time for a new one.
And because then you get to like make it your
(15:11):
own in kind of stages. So painting is definitely the
biggest But I also think that not enough people get
scratch and dent appliances. We saved hundreds and hundreds by
when we moved into our house, it was a nineteen
eighties house that had never had original appliances, so they
were all all dead. So we had to get a
fridge and a stove and a dishwasher and washing machines.
So we went to the scratch and dent place. Because
(15:33):
I had little kids, I knew they were going to
scratch them soon anyways, so I was like, great, So
we went to the scratching dent place for the refrigerator
and for the stove and such, and so I was
able to get the fancier refrigerator right like the French
door with the water on the front, but at a
less price because it had some scratches on the side
(15:56):
that you can't even see. The stove handle that pulls,
you know, the oven open. It had a debt in
the middle that you can't see when you hang a
towel on this, you know, like when you hang a
little handtwel on it, you can't see it. So anyways,
I would totally advise, like, you can go to a
scratch in dent place and they have the nice name
brand stuff that might just have a scratch on the
(16:17):
side that you won't even see, so that's my advice.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
I agree, that's where we got all of our appliances
from and saved a ton of money, especially if you
need kind of all new appliances as well. And even
as you're mentioning with the pool for the oven, those
are the types of things that are easily replaceable. You
can search for parts and you know, maybe get those
brand new. But if it allows you to save one
(16:42):
thousand dollars on the appliance itself, then worth it.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
That is so true. Actually looked up how much it
was cost to replace the poll and it was like
fifty dollars And I didn't care fifty dollars worth, but
I could, like, if I want to in the future,
I can go buy the fifty dollars handle and replace it.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Okay, I want to know all about painting cabinets because
I've heard horror stories of people painting cabinets and the
paint chips, it peels. Cabinets are so utilized in a
space they need to be durable. So what do we do?
What do we look for and what do we not do?
(17:19):
How do we paint cabinets?
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Well, I say, do not chalk paint them. That was
a huge trend for a while people just slap in
chalk paint on stuff. I think it works if you
have kind of more rustic feel. So if you have
like a rustic kind of farmhouse and you like the
chippy look, go for it absolutely. But if you want
a modern repainted kitchen, I do not advise chalk paint.
(17:43):
But all of these cab paint companies have developed really
good cabinet paints now. Benjamin Moore Advance is the one
I usually use. Bayer also has a cabinet and trim
paint that's great. Here's the thing. Cabinets require more steps
than just painting the wall, and so it will take
(18:03):
you longer, but it's going to be worth it. So
I tell all of my people who ask about painting cabinets,
I say, you're going to have to do some prep.
But the prep is what makes the finished product look amazing.
So I do advise scuff sanding, which is like just
getting the sanding block and running it over the surface.
I advise priming with an oil based primer because all
of these cabinets, you don't even know if they're solid wood.
(18:26):
Some of them are like pine, and the pine tannins
can sink through finish culvers of paint, and you don't
want that happening, so you have to prime with an
oil based primer, and then you do two coats of
either Benjamin Moore Advance or the bare cabinet and trim paint,
and then you don't have to top coat it because
both of those have a built in top coat. So
you do have to do a couple more steps to prep,
(18:48):
but it's not terrible once you once you get started,
and then you're going to have a beautiful pain in
the kitchen that's going to last for years and years
and years, and you're going to enjoy it for years
and years and years.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
I will add taking all of the doors off and
obviously the cabinet the drawer fronts off and labeling them before,
like having a way of labeling them, because I also
have alreadydone tons of kitchens and painted cabinets and every
single one of them, and that was one of the
things I learned the hard way on one of the
(19:21):
first three models is that not every cabinet is the same,
and the way the yeah and the ways that sometimes
it's like chiseled out for the hardware is very specific
and it needs to go back into that place. So
if you're pulling them down, which I would recommend, like
do it the right way, don't get paint all over
(19:41):
the hardware. And then having if you do have a
place to be able to lay out all of the cabinets,
that can really help. If it's in like a dust
free area even better. So those of my friends in
the north who have basements, perfect place to be able
to paint all of these cabinets. But labeling it this
is my extra tip.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
And before you paint if you're doing different cabinet like poles,
which is why the board is so important. Yeah, before
you get started. Then if you're going from like one
to two or from two to one, like screw wood filler,
like before you paint, so that you don't have to
(20:22):
worry about that. Yeah, that is a big thing I've used.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I'd be curious what tool you use, delancey, but like
a foam roller too, I found to be really helpful
with painting cabinet so that you get that really sleek,
kind of brushless finish on it. So sometimes the tools
you use make a difference as well.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Oh yeah, what kind of so true do you use?
I like to.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
I like to roll the cabinet bases. Actually, you have
found a quarter inch soft nap works better than a
pham roller for me with the kind of paints that
I usually use. So I like the quarter inch soft
naps to roll, and obviously the brush for like the
tiny corner, and then the cabinet doors since you're gonna
take them off anyways, I actually advise spraying them. There's
(21:06):
like a sixty dollars sprayer on Amazon that's worth its
weight in gold. I bought it four years ago and
then my sister stole it and I bought the exact
same one again because it's just a really good sprayer.
So I would advise spend the sixty dollars and then
you can spray all the cabinet doors. Uh. And that's
going to give you a really brushless look.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Oh, especially if you have any of those like fancy
whatever on the wood cabinets. They're all like, you know,
I don't know what it's called, but you can't see
me because I'm doing this weight with my hands.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
But that's like phil agree or whatever.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
They free.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
You're like, yeah, just super fancy, yeah exactly, Like you
could probably get away with just rolling it. But yeah,
some of especially the ones from the eighties and nineties,
they were a little bit more elaborate, So those it's
so much easier to spray.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
I did also, and this was maybe a bit of
a regret now painted already painted cabinets, so I stripped
the paint oho of the cabin To talk about prep work.
If you've already got painted cabinets and they weren't painted well,
(22:22):
I mean, and you don't want to spend the money
on paying somebody like it is worth it, but goodness,
that took a lot of time. But that is something
to think about too, Like if the cabinets were painted previously,
and it's a little bit shoddy work, that's a consideration,
I think, and whether or not you're going to repaint
them or you're going to strip them. So I think
we're primarily talking about painting when they've not been painted before.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Right, if they were like original, of course you could
also if you had that kind of thing where like
someone did a terrible job last time. There's also you
could also just get new doors. If your frames are
still secure and strong and like they're going great, you
can just buy new doors. You can go to home
depot online and like just put in your measurements. I
think it's maybe eighty ninety dollars a door, which I
(23:08):
mean adds up obviously if you have a huge kitchen,
but it would give you a whole new look, and
that would be a great way to go from. Like
if your other doors were very fancy and you wanted
a more shaker look, that would be a super quick win.
And then I think those you can get them painted
or they can come primed and then you can paint
them to the color you want.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Yeah, I love that middle of the road option for people. Yeah,
it's not a full gut, but is absolutely a visual upgrade.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
And I think that's where people get stuck so often
is we see these shows on TV where people gut
their kitchen and then they spend one hundred thousand dollars
to rebuild it. But that's not most people's life. Most
people don't want to live through a renovation like that.
They don't want to kitch like cook in the dining
room for the next four months of their life. Like,
(23:56):
I think, we want, what can I do that's that
middle of the ground, What can I do to prove
the space that I'm living in right now that I
can still live through that's not going to be too
much chaos, but that I'll love in the end. That
maybe is not going to be one hundred thousand dollars worth,
but that still is adding value to your home.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Yeah. I think it is really appealing too to be
able to say I can do this myself. Because when
we can cut the labor costs, I mean that's a
good majority of what a lot of these renovations cost.
So when we can find the types of things we
can do that we are capable of doing, then even better.
So speaking of some of those things, I'd be curious
(24:35):
what you've seen that people can actually diy where they
wouldn't have thought that they could. We've kind of talked
about cabinets. Is there anything else that you've seen you
actually really could make a big difference in your kitchen
with these things that your average person can absolutely implement on.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
I like encouraging women to learn how to tile, So
tiling is one of my favorite ways to data space.
I have tile in my launchy room and my kitchen
and obviously bathrooms, but also in my dining room as
an accent wall. I love the power of tile, and
people think it's hard until I show them the videos
of my three year old daughter tiling, and then they're like, oh, huh, okay,
(25:18):
maybe if your three year old can tile, then I
could learn how to do this. And so I think
learning how to tile is such a fun skill because
it's one of those that not everybody knows, like, oh,
most people are like, oh, I'm sure I could paint
a wall, so I could probably figure out how to
paint cabinets, But learning to tile is such a fun
skill that, like, people come over to my house and
(25:39):
my kids can say, oh, yeah, I tiled that are
a pantry, Like it's just such an interesting thing. So
and I think people think that tiling is scary as
you have to use a wet saw, but it's actually
one of the safest tools because you can touch the
blade with your hand and it doesn't cut you, and
because it's a wet saw and it just grinds the tile.
(26:00):
And so I think learning skills like that are so
fun and can add such an impact to a space
and you get to have the fun like I learned
a new skill that how many people on the planet
know how to tile? A backsplash I do.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Now you know, where do you find your tile like
affordably and how do you go about like deciding backsplas.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
That's a good point because tiles can range from a
dollar a square foot to fifty dollars a square foot, right,
so you could you could you could go either way.
I usually I love Florida Core, I love home Depot
for tile, I like the tile shop all of those.
I do prefer to see my tile in person, so
(26:45):
I have not had great luck of just like seeing
one online. I like to see it in person. So
if you have a store near you, the tile shop,
Floridacre or home Depot, I like to go to those
and see what options they have, and then you can
also you could do your mood board in person. Right
if you have your paint chip of what color your
cabinets are going to be, and you have your tile
of what you're thinking about, and then you go lay
it on in a piece of granite that's kind of
(27:06):
close to your countertops, then you can kind of make
your mood board in person.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Fun fact, we got our backsplash on Facebook Marketplace. We
didn't have a lot. We had like just one portion
of the wall for the backsplash. Not a lot, so
we could have gone with something you know, new, wouldn't
have been that expensive, but because it was so little,
(27:32):
like people will sell leftovers from their jobs and it's
not a high quantity, but I think we got two
or three boxes and that's all we needed. And yeah,
it's a fun like textured Like if you're far away
from it, it just looks like an oversized white subway tile,
but when you get close to it, you can see
(27:52):
each different tile has a different texture. And that was
what I was looking for, Like I wanted textured tile,
like not crazy color, but I wanted like a really
unique like texture.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
There's also a lot of places that will have like
renovation stores like Restore. Yeah, like recarch community. Oh yeah,
your Humanity has a place called Restore usually most most
states are going to have that. So even being able
to go and and check there first is kind of
the thing. It's not as if every time you're going
to find something that it fits into your mood board
(28:32):
or is the right quantity of things, But it's it's
surprising what can be found at places like that, even
sometimes sinks and faucets and different lighting fixtures, so we.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
We love all of the hat And again I'll go
back to your point on the mood board. It's make
sure you're buying in alignment with that and not just
because you can get it secondhand or a deal, because
that's how you waste money. You get a de something,
you get something on sale or secondhand, and.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
Then you have to work around it whether you love
it or.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Not, and then you don't know or you just have
that stuff and you buy the new stuff anyway. Yeah,
and you've wasted the money on the sale stuff.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Speaking of wasted money, I'm curious what you've seen are
some of the common mistakes people make that end up
costing them more in the long run, Like maybe things
that they thought would have been a good idea but
actually aren't. Like where are we seeing some of the
poor decision making with kitchen renos.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
The good news is is that I haven't found many
people who've regretted their kitchen renouts, like I haven't found
many people who've done it themselves. I've talked to a
lot of people who have hired out a kitchen reno,
and they regret different aspects. But the people that I
talk to the millions of women that have done their
own kitchen reno, they don't regret pieces of it because
(29:58):
I think when you're do at yourself, you're kind of
also on a different timeline. You're not bound by these
contractors and like, I need a tile picked by tomorrow,
so you get to maybe take it slower or just
put more time into thinking about each step. And then
I think when you get to the end, you are
so proud that you did it yourself that it kind
(30:22):
of covers over any little regrets. I mean, there are
some things like my first tiling jobs were not as
good as my most recent tiling jobs, but that's that's life,
you know, Like, of course, the first time you do something,
it's not going to be perfect, but I think it's
still a good enough upgrade that your brain doesn't dwell.
(30:43):
It's kind of like childbirth. You don't remember the terrible parts.
You just remember the like fabulous, sweet baby you're now holding.
And so I think sometimes we scare ourselves of like, oh,
I can't start this because I'll get in and it'll
be terrible and what if I mess it up? But ever,
everything is figure outable, and once you get in there,
(31:04):
you will find a solution to it. It might take
a little bit longer, or you might have to go
back to the go back to home depot for the
sixth time, but it's all figure outable, And so I
haven't talked to many people who regret things or say, oh, man,
that reno was a complete waste of money, because there's
always something to learn or to skill to grow, and
(31:27):
it all just I think each step makes your house better,
it makes you better.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
I think that that's the biggest barrier for people is
kind of assuming like oh, I don't know how to
do that. It's like, well, no one knew how to
do that before they learned, Like you're saying, right, everything
is learnable and skills are buildable now whether or not
you have the time to want to learn or build
that skill. But if you want a kitchen reno for inexpensive,
(31:56):
like it is possible to learn how to change how
to sink it is, the paint cabinets and install your
own new backsplash, maybe even do some under cabinet lighting.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
And it's all on YouTube.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
It's literally all on YouTube everything you could ever want
to know by people who are electricians, by people who
are plumbers, right. Gone are the days where you had
to have an apprentice to learn how to, you know,
learn how to be a tiler. You can go and
learn on YouTube. But the thing is so YouTube has
access to all of the tutorials you could ever want,
(32:30):
so you can you can bring in information all day long,
but the thing that makes you better is doing it
so you could. You can get stuck sometimes in the
watching stage of watching other people make over their kitchen cabinets,
and I'm just going to watch them. Well, maybe this
tutorial will tell me how to do it. Well, maybe
this tutorial has even better tips. But the thing that
(32:51):
will actually get your cabinets painted is you grabbing a
paintbrush and starting, and then you working through any things
you come up with. Okay, well now I'm painting and
it looks like this paint is chipping? What am I
doing wrong? And then troubleshooting from there. That a type
of approach is so much better than I'm just going
to take in information for months and months and months
(33:14):
and months instead of starting, because once you start, then
you can problem solve as you go, instead of thinking
I need every bit of information before I even start.
That's not real life.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Yeah, there you go. That's the biggest mistake people make
is just not starting.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
Yeah, so there's putting it off.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
There's one other category of a kitchen runner that we've
not covered yet, and that is countertops, and this is
it can be an expensive one. What would you say
for somebody who's like, Okay, I think I can tackle
all of these things, but what I really hate is
my countertops. What can be done?
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Eighties lambin It chipping countertops.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
Yes, oh my goodness. All of my houses have had
eighties lamin and kitchen auto tops. So I think you
get to decide. This is one of those like personal
decision things. I am fine with lamb At countertops. So
when I redid my kitchen, I got new lambin At
countertops because I had little kids and who were gonna
spill red kool aid, and I am not a marble
(34:13):
kind of person, like my kids would ruin it right away.
I didn't want the upkeep like, I just didn't, so
I got new laminate countertops. That the trick is is
not to get the included backsplash. The trick is to
just get the flat part and then you do a
tile backsplash so it looks like marble or quartz or whatever,
and people who've comment and be like, oh, you got me,
(34:35):
and I'm like, it's just laminate and it cost three
hundred dollars. But if you wanted to splurge on counters
I would hire those out. I would do all the
stuff you can do yourself. Painting the cabinets. If they're
like a good strong quality and they just need a
fresh en up, you paint them. You add the knobs,
and you add under cabinet lightings, and then you splurge
(34:58):
on getting If you want Courtz countertops, go get Kurtz countertops.
But I would get those professionally done because they're going
to come in and they're going to measure and they're
going to cut out for the sink and all that
kind of stuff. So I would that would be one
of the things that I would splurge on. If it
mattered to me that I had really nice countertops, I
would splurge on hiring that out.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
We've also had success on getting remnants from places like
we've hired out countertops, but there's been times where the
amount of countertop we need is not that large, and
so we're able to shop their remnants. Section so this
would be leftovers from other jobs that were done for
a fraction of the cost. Again, you're not guaranteed that
(35:40):
it's got to be all possible that they would have
the piece that you need.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Yeah, well, how do you feel about butcher block?
Speaker 4 (35:49):
I love butcher block. I have butcher block in my pantry.
It's not like I don't know if I would cut
on it, like I wouldn't use it as butcher block.
I think it, you know, because it's what right. So
like and have my children spilt kool aid on my
butcher block countertop in the pantry? Yes, yes they have.
But the nice thing about butcher block is you just
(36:09):
sand it off and then reseal it. You seal it
with like a butcher block oil. So I think it's
a great option. A lot of people get stressed out
and they're like, no, don't do it. It's just go
for it. If you want butcher block countertops, go for it, Like,
seal them with some oil, and like, will you ever
have to reseal them? Yeah, you'll probably have to reseal
them once a year. Is that the end of the world? No, Like,
(36:32):
I think people overthink things so much and they get
it so much in their head of like, oh, this
is the only way to do it when there's a
zillion different ways to make over your kitchen to a
kitchen that you love, and there's I think butcher block
is a great, budget friendly option that looks great because
it's real wood.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Yeah. I think so often we are renovating with resale
in mind, and to an extent, that is a good
thing if you are living in your house to resell it,
Like we just renovated a house to resell it, so
we renovated it for resale. If you are in your
forever home, then you don't have to think about the
(37:10):
next buyers. You just think about you, baby girl.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
And I really think that even because like, yeah, why
are you designing for some potential future buyer who you
have no idea what this person wants. So I think,
if you're going to be in your home for the
next three years, you do it how you want it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
I thought of one more thing, and this is the
last thing. I promise, flooring. If somebody wants to change
out the flooring in their kitchen, what's your go to
and what.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Do you mean my going is always? My go to
is always Lambin at floors or not lamin like LVP
Luxury vinyl plank, just because they're easy to install, beginner friendly.
They can go over a subfloor, they can go over tile,
they can go over if you have like a sixties
kitchen with that linoleum, it can go over linoleum. I
(37:58):
think that it's such an EA install. You can do
it in a day, and it makes a huge impact,
and it wipes up so easily, and they're all waterproof,
so and if you ever had to rip it out,
you rip it out in a day and replace it
with something else.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Yeah, that's what we use. Do you have a preference
on your LVP or like a thickness or a brand
or something.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
I do say, don't get the cheapest, Like you don't
have to get the most expensive that's like ten dollars
a square foot, but like, don't get the one dollar,
get get the middle of the road.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
I think we went with the ten millimeter thickness and
we did the three milimeter padding underneath. So those are
like they're nice. I would say those those are.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
If you're on a slab, you do have to have
like the underlayment. Yeah, we're on waterproofing something. Yeah, so
you do need to make sure and that's one of
those things that like, yes, that's the kind of thing
that you want to make sure you're doing the steps
in the right order. So that is great. Where like
you need to go to YouTube, you need to watch
somebody install luxury vinyl plank on a slab, so you
know the steps to take so you don't have to
(39:04):
rip up your stuff and then put down the underlayment.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
Oh wait, I have one more question too. How much
do you think so if someone's like, Okay, I'm feeling inspired,
I might be able to do my own kitchen myself,
what should they anticipate as far as tool costs because
your average person might not have all of the things
to be able.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Yeah, and there's rental tools, yes, but like, yeah, total costs,
that's a good one.
Speaker 4 (39:33):
Tools you will need, I mean yeah, it depends on
how like if you're just painting your cabinets by the
sixty dollars spray er and a couple of rollers, right,
if you're building something to add to it, like you will,
or if you're if you have to cut down lambin
at countertops yourself, you will need some tools. But it's
not going to be terrible. I mean five hundred dollars
(39:54):
maybe of tools. It's not like you need some giant
woodworking shop. You probably you probably need less than five
a drill of mitrosol, a circuit saw, a brad nailor,
and a sander. Like if you had those five you'd
be fine.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Yeah, And those there are things that you could always
find used on Facebook marketplace. You always resell them if
you need to buy them new. And it's just good
to have a power drill always. Man, you never you
never have to get carpal tunnel in your wrist again.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
But for some of these things, like the wet saw,
you could also rent from like home depot or see
if you can borrow it from a friend or there
are also tool libraries, yes, in different cities.
Speaker 4 (40:39):
Cities have them, yes.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Yes, in Saint Pete we have one. You can rent
out tools.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Oh that's amazing, they're so Surely there is surely a
dude somewhere that you can rent all borrow all these
tools because he bought them all and he usual and
he's he.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Might be able to rent the dude too, you know, dune.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
But you could definitely borrow his tools because he has
them because they are his trophies. And I know this
because I live with this. Dude.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
Do you know what's my trophy? And I will live
with every single day?
Speaker 1 (41:15):
With the week your resell the of the week.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
is Williams. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
car died and you're happy to not have to pay
that bill anymore. That bills Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this
is the bill of the week.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Oh wow, I just heard an echo in my headphones.
What a treat, all right, Delancey. Every week we invite
our listeners and our guests to share with us their
bill for the week, and we look forward to hearing you.
Speaker 4 (42:05):
Oh man. Okay, so my bill of the week has
to be shout out to the Bill who is on
my Facebook group, who likes to every time I post something,
he likes to tell me all the things I did wrong,
and he likes to be the guy that's like, actually
it's not a crow bar. It's actually called a pride bar.
(42:27):
But shout out to Bill, because for every one Bill,
I have ten katies who are like ignore him. He's
being ridiculous. This is what I needed to see. So
shut up, Bill, because this is amazing.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Oh gosh, he is in there purely demand's blain.
Speaker 4 (42:45):
Oh my goodness. Facebook is a cesspool of man's blaining.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
I mean, anytime that you're getting into something traditionally may
you're gonna have them want to come and tell you
how you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
He has all of his trophies, his tools around that
he probably doesn't use, but they are trophies.
Speaker 4 (43:08):
And he's too proud that he knows how to do it.
But the fact that now women are learning how to
do it it makes him feel less special.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
And I don't because you're using the tools more than
he is.
Speaker 4 (43:20):
And but I'm not doing it for you, Bill, I'm
doing it for Katie.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Man.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Usually when we get a person named Bill, Bill is
usually the salt of the earth.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
Yeah, this time around, Bill, he's the salt in myle.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
You gotta just calm down. You need to calm down, Bill,
And hats off to you Delancy for still doing it
because you know that it's just going to bring a
ton of haters.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
Or just for not blocking him.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
How he hime out of the group It's true.
Speaker 4 (43:54):
I only block them if they get super rude. But
the thing is this that, like I think sadly women
are just used to it, Like we realize that when
we put something out there that there will be haters.
But the good news is that, like there's so many
women who are loving it that it way makes up
for all the haters.
Speaker 3 (44:15):
Yeah, so true. All right, well that's fun. Glad you're
doing it for Katie. If you all listening and have
a bill that you want to submit, if it has
to do with Bill being a bad bill and we
need to we need to kick him out of the group,
or if it's a bill that you don't mind paying,
(44:37):
or a good bill. Bill's out here being a bigger
all En encouragement for friendspodcast dot com slash Bill. We
can't wait to hear it. And now it's time for.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
All right. It's that time of the episode where we
all answer a very vulnerable question and we always have
our guests go first.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
Oh, all right, super vulnerable.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Okay, what's a small appliance or gadget you use in
your kitchen that you think is very under rated that people.
Speaker 4 (45:14):
Are like, uh, why do you have that?
Speaker 3 (45:16):
What a waste, and if it feels too vulnerable to answer,
we can you can ask us to move on to
the next question. So there's no other question, this is it?
Speaker 4 (45:27):
I okay, So I'm a mom, so like, obviously I
have to say an air frier. But you know what
I was thinking, is actually my most used random part
of my kitchen. I got the stove that has the
flat top surface griddle in the middle, and I use
that every single day. I because you don't have to
get out a pan so grilled cheese. You just throw
(45:48):
the bread on that little griddle and then like you
wash it like at night or something, but like you
don't have to wash it every time. So that little
griddle in the middle of my stove is my favorite,
is my favorite upgrade of my whole kitchen.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
I love that answer, sir. I love that answer.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
That is I think a helpful one too, for anybody
potentially shopping for a range of what what kind do
I even want? How will it serve me to kind
of think about the types of things you enjoy cooking
And if.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
You have a stove and you don't want to get
another one with a griddle, they make griddles that you
can put over your burners. It turns it into a griddle.
Speaker 4 (46:26):
Four burners like you don't you don't mean all four
burners going at the same time, like never except on
like Thanksgiving, So like yeah, like leave on is a griddle?
Speaker 1 (46:33):
Mm hmm, all right for me? It's an electric can opener.
Speaker 3 (46:39):
Wow, I know crazy, I know I did.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
So Travis got this at a thrift store or somewhere
and I was like, what a waste, like get a
regular can opener like a rail man.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
And so we have used this.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
I mean I do. I primarily cook, and I use
this all the time. And now when I do have
to use a regular can opener, I'm like, oh, carble tunnel.
Speaker 3 (47:09):
Honestly, I never thought that I've had like arthritis or
carporal tunnel until I open a can manually. It like
morphs your hands and ways you're not.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
We have to hands.
Speaker 3 (47:22):
Cannot you do it.
Speaker 1 (47:24):
Electric can openers. We've become fragile women.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
It's so funny. I was laughing at this, But now
to think the last time I opened a can, I
was like.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
Why does this hurt so hot? Like I'm putting, I've
got the stance and I'm over it, and it's had
like an entire body movement to open a can.
Speaker 3 (47:44):
Wow, you're convincing me it is underrated.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
I mean yeah, it's just a little, you know, a
little electrically pleasing. Man.
Speaker 3 (47:54):
I love that. Okay for me, I'm gonna go with
some old school, ancient ancient pieces here mortar and pestle.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
Where are you from the eighteen hundred?
Speaker 3 (48:08):
Yes, no, I'm from fourteenth ninety two. I think it's nice.
First of all, out on it is partiful. I love
a good mortar and pestle out. Also, it is good
to like grind up herbs and spices. I don't I
don't always cook with fresh herbs, but one on new
(48:28):
mortar and pestle, and it really does elevate the dish. Garlic,
and I also use well which one is the mortar,
which is the pestle? The hand thing?
Speaker 1 (48:42):
I think that's the pestle.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Yeah, I will tenderize my chicken with that.
Speaker 5 (48:48):
That.
Speaker 3 (48:49):
Wow, I mean I cover the chicken right. So I'm
not like going raw chicken to fresh herbs when raw
with it, But I can, like it's really heavy and
I can bang out that chicken. So multipurpose, you know.
I love form and function, and I get both.
Speaker 1 (49:08):
That's beautiful. That is Delancey. Thank you so much for
coming on the show. Thank you for just like responding
to my email even though you thought it was spam.
Speaker 4 (49:20):
I did think it was spam.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
Hello here, So true. I have for seven years been
reaching out to guests because we very very rarely will
take a guest submission. I always like to go out
and find guests. But there it's hit or miss on
whether I get a response because there's a lot of
spam out there. So where can our listeners find the
(49:48):
real you? Where are your socials and where can they
just get more of your DIY kitchen red.
Speaker 4 (49:55):
Yeah, if you go to more dot delancydiy dot com,
you can find all about and I'm Delancy DIY on
all of the socials.
Speaker 3 (50:03):
Perfect cool, and we'll link to that in the show notes.
Thanks so much for being here with us.
Speaker 4 (50:08):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (50:10):
I am so grateful that we did not talk about
painting your countertops.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
I we were over them.
Speaker 3 (50:20):
I was afraid that that was going to be where
the conversation might go. We have the ability to edit,
but it didn't go there because Delancey Delancy gives the goods.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
Actually gave good tips tile seriously and when she said
I put tile in a random room in my house,
I was like, I don't know. Actually then I saw
it on her Instagram at Delancey dot diy and it
looks legit. Yeah, so like, maybe I'm not in love
with Tyle enough to do that, But it's the major hitters.
(50:56):
The heavy hitters are more accessible than you might think. Yeah,
and so you can really redo a kitchen without knocking
down walls, open it up for very little money, and
make it something that you love. And I think our
greatest takeaway is that stop designing for a family that
(51:16):
doesn't live in your house. Like design for your family
and your budget and your use, and then the next
family that buys your house can worry about that when
they get there. So yeah, do yours. Thank you so
much for listening. We hope that this inspired you and
helped you. If it did, we would love if you'd
leave a review on Spotify. That would be so helpful
(51:37):
to us. If you've read our book by What you
Love Without Going Broke, we would love for you to
leave a review for that on Amazon. It's where people
go to vet books before they read them, regardless of
where they buy them, like this one from Katie Joe.
It happens to be five stars. If you struggle with
shame and overwhelm because your finances are so off track
(51:58):
you don't even know where to start, no matter how
much I try. The math just does it math for
my income versus expenses When you swipe your debit card
after another impulse purchase, this is the book for you.
The shame and judgment free tone and approach of this
book was just what I needed to get kind and
curious with myself about what's working and what's really not
(52:21):
when I approach my finances. The action items at the
end of each chapter it gave me a practical step
to take that could be accomplished right then, not at
some nebulous point in time, as part of a five
year plan. I took several pages of notes from this
book and look forward to reading it again to see
what else I can pull from it. Overall, a fairly
easy read that was not overly dense and met me
(52:42):
write where I am to help me move forward?
Speaker 3 (52:45):
Oh, I'm so this is it? Thrilled to hear that
this is what we were going for, what we wanted
it so cool. When you hear you did do it,
you at least did it for Katie Joe.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
I promise I did not read this, I write this.
I am not Katie Joe.
Speaker 3 (52:59):
I'm not Katie exactly what I wanted to hear you.
Thank you, Thank you all so much for being here,
for listening. If you enjoyed the show, please take a
minute to leave a rating and a review. It really,
really really does help us. It's free for you to do.
Hopefully it will only take you like sixty seconds. If
you read the book, please leave us a review for
that too. We are so thankful, See you next time. Bye.
Speaker 1 (53:23):
Rugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 3 (53:37):
Okay Jen. Yes, what is a power tool or no
even maybe just like a skill, a reno skill that
you built throughout your renovations that like surprised you, that
like you didn't think you would would ever do or
never even knew that it would be a thing you
(53:57):
were doing.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
I mean, laying flooring, putting up tile using power tools.
Speaker 3 (54:05):
I am not.
Speaker 1 (54:07):
Handy. I'm not DIY girl. I don't like DIY.
Speaker 3 (54:12):
I do not do that.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
I don't enjoy it. So I was forced into so
much of this and yeah, there's skills I don't want
to have that I do now not really have, but
I did do them. Travis did so much. I helped
him carry fencing yesterday and that was miserable. I hated that.
(54:41):
How about you, Jill?
Speaker 3 (54:43):
Yeah, oh, I mean, yeah, all of it. I suppose
I am. I'm the I'm the cock girl. You are you?
I am cock queen.
Speaker 1 (54:54):
I never cocked. I didn't, I didn't do any cocking.
Speaker 4 (54:58):
Yeah. All of the.
Speaker 3 (55:00):
Finish work is my responsibility, and it's a skill that
I've built. Now over years, I mean, Eric and I
have renovated every place we've ever lived. I actually was
surprised to realize I've actually renovated as I think a
few more kitchens than Delancey has.
Speaker 1 (55:17):
I know, you were like, why are you bringing in
a renovation expert. I'm a renovation expert.
Speaker 3 (55:21):
I was like, you are not this kind of no, no, no,
I am not, and I yeah, I don't have the
platform that she has. I've not like recorded all of
the renovations that we've ever done, but yeah, we've done
a lot, and through that time, I've built like the
finishing skills. Eric hates painting, absolutely hates it. Turns out
(55:43):
I'm good at it, so I do get to a
point where I feel so done with it. I wouldn't
say that, like I love it, but I don't hate
it to the same degree that he does.
Speaker 1 (55:54):
There are some areas in our house that I just
didn't finish painting, and I know where they are and
I can see them. Leave it for the next person
to solve that, and that's the next families problem. Not nine.
Speaker 3 (56:10):
But I used a hammer drill, I think for the
first time. This is a new thing for me, a
new tool this past weekend. Wow, And that was both amazing,
both one of my favorite experiences and exhausting.
Speaker 1 (56:28):
Yeah, Travis bought this big. It's the size of a
trash can drill. The thickness is like the size of
my head. And he bought it for doing the fence.
And I actually held on to that baby, and I
was like, I could I could do damage with this, yeah,
(56:48):
and I don't want to, so please let me put
it down. And uh, yeah, that was one of those
things he bought and he's planning to He didn't actually
use it a lot, so he might return it, but
he I was planning to sell it. Okay, but yeah,
I don't want any of the renovation skills, and you.
Speaker 3 (57:10):
Know I don't have marketing. I don't want marketing skills
and I do have it, and you're forcing it on me.
Speaker 4 (57:17):
I know.
Speaker 1 (57:17):
I'm sorry, but it's so more people like get the message.
Speaker 3 (57:22):
It's gonna be good for you.
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