What happens when your design aspirations and your budget don’t get along??
Let me go ahead and say it…this spring, I just wanted to
paint my house.
Do you walk up and down the streets of Saratoga staring at
the gorgeous Victorian houses that make our town unique on a regular
basis? I do, in awe–and for the past 18
months, I’ve been fixated on the paint jobs, color schemes, and exterior
details. I’ve taken pictures, scribbled
notes, raided the paint chip sections of every supplier within a 10 mile
radius, and who knows what else building the perfect vision of what our house
could become. The only problem is that painting
a 3-story Victorian home with all its peaks and porches and accents costs about
as much as a family of five going to Disney World…twice.
When my family and I moved to Saratoga Springs, I was
thrilled at the prospect of decorating our home, inside and out–for months I
had been tearing out catalog pages, sketching floor plans, and collecting colors as if I were on a religious mission.
Nothing deterred me from dreaming of all the improvements I would be
making…until I started to add them up with a calculator. Even for those of us that consider DIY to be
a way of life, every project has materials that need to be bought, and possibly
experts that need to be hired, so unless there is a money tree growing in the
backyard (and believe me, I’ve looked), most of us do not have the HGTV budget
to do everything we want, exactly when we want it.
So how do we resolve this impasse? Sometimes it is a matter
of accepting Mr. Right Now when we are in pursuit of Mr. Right. We might not be
able to knock down those walls and refinish the hardwood floors, but other
minor changes can go a long way to achieving the ultimate goal. Can’t afford
the stainless steel appliances and new countertops for your kitchen? As opposed to sinking into deep depression
every time you go to make a sandwich, it might be time to spend $200 instead of
over $2,000 by changing the door hardware and painting the walls. The master
bath may be a gut job, but a good scrubbing and new towels may just get you
through until the bathroom budget is in the bank.
This fireplace is crying out for cararra marble and a restored antique mantel, but other home items are currently higher on the priority list, so I’ve settled for taking off the doors on the side built-ins and painting the back of the shelves a sky blue, and accenting the shelves and mantel with things that we love…favorite books, the kid’s pewter and silver baby cups, monogram letters, candles, and a beautiful photo from the track taken by our babysitter
Of course, even Mr. Right Now has some ground rules to
adhere to, because though we might convince ourselves to be satisfied with
simple changes, our ultimate goal is still the big reveal. In light of this, I like to keep these things
in mind:
1.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize. Even though you cannot currently afford to
make the big changes you’ve dreamed about, make sure the small changes you
start with are a step toward your final result.
For instance, if you are dreaming of the day you can paint the outside
of the house (like me!) but settle on decorating the front porch and painting the front door, do it in the
colors you inevitably want to paint the house in–that way you aren’t wasting
money on items that will be obsolete after your big plans go into effect, and
you are able to get a taste of what’s to come.
2.
The End
will not Justify the Means if You Cut Corners. In the pursuit of our home dec dreams, we are
all tempted to go the cheap route to quickly get the end result we want–but don’t do
it. Taking the lowest estimate even
though the contractor seems shady, buying the el-cheapo products instead of the
quality materials you need for the job, etc. will only end up in money misspent. Better to save up and do it right than have
to redo it later on…because in the end, if you cut corners, the bottom line and
the stress level will inevitably be higher.
3.
Make a
Strategic Plan and Try Your Best to Stick to it. Even though you don’t have the funds to do
what you want to do currently, you can attain your goal in the future –if you
plan for it. The only way that the Mr.
Right Now design is going to satisfy you for the moment is if you know deep
down that in a year or 5 years you will be able to make the major change. You need a concrete timeline as opposed to an
abstract idea of when you can do what you want, so budget, plan, negotiate, and
save for what’s to come…and give yourself a deadline for doing so.
This grey, white, and black color scheme with a pop of fire engine red will be on the rest of the house…soon!
So this year…no painting.
And although that is a disappointing reality, it is a sensible one,
especially when it comes to being smart with our money and not overextending
ourselves. But never fear…I’ll still be
working on the smaller exterior paint and design projects I can do myself (or
force my husband to do with/for me), and in 2 years, my master plan will come to
fruition. Patience may be a virtue, albeit
a very tough virtue to put into practice…the least we can do is make it a
little less painful by bridging the gap!
