#151: When Is It Worth It To Splurge?: a house log

Today we are sharing how two recent treat yourself moments in our house turned sideways on us and how it shed some light on when to splurge and when to make like Elsa and let it go. One even involves a feature in our bathroom reno that we have dreamed about for years, but suddenly cannot seem to justify in actual practice (although it sounds strong in theory!). Also after nearly 11,000 people took our “Side Of The Bed” survey, we have some surprising insights about why people sleep where they do. Plus there is been another Paint of the Year development and we find the silver lining to a recent personal event that shook us up.

You can also find this episode on your go-to podcast listening app, like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, and Spotify.

What is New

• That picture above is a sneak peek of the wallpaper and board & batten treatment we have been working on in the middle bedroom of our beach house. You can catch up on why and how we planned the project in this post from a couple of weeks ago.
• We are working on a post with more details about installing the wall treatment & the wallpaper (both are fully doable for a beginner!), but in the meantime you can find the wallpaper in NUMEROUS places online – like Target, JoAnn Fabrics, or even Home Depot. It was the cheapest at JoAnn at the time that we ordered thanks to a 25% online sale they were running, but you may want to shop around to see which store is the best deal right now.
• And here is where you can catch up on the Real Plain room that partially inspired us to go for wallpaper (we used this Serena & Lily paper for that space and it brought in a ton of interest & texture).

• Oh, and since Sherry promised some details on her sore throat remedy experiment, here is a shot of her “laboratory” the night before we recorded the episode. Does it look crazy? Yup. Did she have zero voice and then wake up with a voice again to record the podcast? YUP! So it is safe to say that something worked.

• Some of it is likely fairly straightforward to see (peanut butter, cough drops, salt to gargle in warm water, lemon for tea, etc) but one of her go-tos was the Throat Coat Tea – yes, the original kind with “slippery elm” which she drank a few times that evening and again in the morning. She also had a “medicine ball tea” from Starbucks which felt strong too.

Updates

• As you heard, Sherry gets to take a second victory lap about her prediction that the Paint of the Year would be a “soft blush color, not as dark as Millennial Pink, perhaps it’ll be called First Blush” after Benjamin Moore declared First Light their 2020 Paint of the Year.
• You can hear all of our original predictions back in Episode #147 and in Episode #149 we shared how HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams also picked a similar blush color for 2020, called Romance.
• Also, if you enjoy a chart as much as I do, here is the breakdown of the 11,000 responses we received for our Side Of The Bed survey that we discussed in Episode #148.

Splurging On Heated Floors

• Here is the heated floor system (it is $1,125) that we were considering using for our heated floors in our bathroom, since it was recommended by the pro at Floor & Decor, we are likely using the Schluter underlayment anyways, AND we have seen others like Chris and Julia use it (there is was $3600 including labor according to their budget breakdown post and we think ours would be around $1500 to 1800 if we DIYed it & got that dedicated circuit that it requires brought in by a pro).
• That is a kit linked above, but we would’ve likely picked up it a la carte so we could customize exactly how much underlayment we need (our bathroom + closet is about 140sf) and how much coil we’d need to in fact heat the areas where our feet would go. But again, none of that cost would include having our electrician set up the dedicated circuit and there are other things the pros suggest getting to Hands-on it – like a wire tester thing that beeps wildly if you cut the wire before you tile over it (after that there is no going back).

• And here is the floor mirror that I have watched Sherry put into her cart about 16 times. She cannot shake the idea of flanking it with wall to wall closet built-ins, and the arched top and brass color feel ideal for softening things in there.

We are Digging

• Not much to show or say about our little car accident last week (again, simply grateful everyone is safe!) but if you see us bopping around Richmond in a rental car it is because our Highlander’s getting its backend repaired.
• Here is more about Songland, the songwriting competition show we have lately been enjoying as a family (it is on NBC and Hulu). Here is a clip of one week’s winner performing his song for Macklemore, which gives you a taste of what the show is like.

• And here is where you can listen to the final song Shadow, which is on the radio and everything.

If you are looking for something we have dug in a past episode, but do not remember which show notes to click into, here is a master list of everything we have been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we have recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Agility Bed for sponsoring this episode. They are giving away a whole new sleep suite valued up to $2,480 at AgilityBed.com/YHL now through November 3rd. You can win 2 Cool Foam pillows, a 4-piece sheet set, and a hybrid mattress in the size of your choice. And you can still use the code YHL to get $200 off a hybrid mattress of any size.

*This post contains affiliate links*