With our big move just a few months away, we’re busy getting the house ready to sell. This week we outline the projects on our list — some large, some small — including a fast-tracked refresh of our hall bathroom. John shares a new shopping challenge for 2020 that encourages us to buy more locally for certain items. We also explore whether a simple pen-and-paper budgeting method can actually save money. Oh, and there’s an accidental rant about The Bachelor.
You can also find this episode on your favorite podcast app, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, and Spotify.
What’s new
- If you missed our moving announcement last week, you can hear it in Episode #163 or read more in our blog post announcing the move, where we added extra details and answered frequently asked questions.
- We mentioned our “veranda” project from a few years back. We finished it in 2014, so it’s been nearly six years since its last full paint job (aside from that one brick wall we painted in 2018). The photo below, taken last fall before the leaves changed, doesn’t show all the wear, but some of the wood trim was flaking from longtime exposure. A few hours of priming and repainting made a huge difference.
- Here’s what our hall bathroom looked like when we bought the house. Aside from the wood vanity, everything was a creamy palette — walls, trim, counters, and even the yellow tile read as cream in that context.
- For our second book, Lovable Livable Home, we refreshed the space by painting the walls, trim, and vanity white. At that point we decided the yellow tile could feel vintage and charming — if we could clean and freshen it enough to not look worn.
- We referenced how we treated old yellow tile in our previous home’s guest bathroom and were able to make it look sweet with just $51 of materials — a reminder that small investments can yield big impact.
- The most exciting updates are the new countertop and cabinet fronts — they’re already looking great. We’ll share more progress and a budget breakdown on the blog, but you can follow along on Instagram for quicker updates. Our friends Teresa and Andrew’s kitchen inspired this direction when they installed custom inset cabinet doors by a local craftsman named Billy.
- Billy also worked on projects for our friends Carey & Jordan, including a rental home kitchen renovation where the same cabinet boxes received new doors, drawer boxes, hardware, and paint with dramatic results.
- Here’s the after photo — same layout and cabinet boxes, transformed by new doors, drawer boxes, hardware, and paint.
- Our hall bathroom is much smaller than a kitchen, but getting new inset fronts, new drawer boxes, and soft-close hardware — all painted and installed — cost under $750. That felt worth it to have a custom eight-foot double sink that fits wall to wall without demoing the old vanity.
Can We Just Talk About Kakeibo?
- I ran across a CNBC piece about the Japanese budgeting method called kakeibo and how it transformed someone’s finances. The article led me to several studies on the benefits of journaling and writing things down, which I found especially interesting.
- It connects to things we’ve discussed in past episodes about organizing life the analog way, including planners and bullet journaling. Kakeibo appears in various spellings and there are planners and printable versions for sale if you want a guided way to start.
We’re Digging
- I’m trying to find an old photo of myself from a high school “library parade,” but for now enjoy this picture from one of the most charming independent bookstores we’ve visited. We wrote a full post about it.
- I also mentioned Indiebound, a useful site for locating independent bookstores and finding local pickup options for books you want.
- And on the topic of guilty-pleasure TV, we discovered Love Is Blind on Netflix after watching The Circle — it quickly became a new favorite.
If you’re trying to find something we’ve featured in a past episode but don’t remember which show notes to check, see our master list of everything we’ve been digging from past episodes. You can also browse all the book recommendations on our Book Club page.
Finally, thanks to Universal Furniture for sponsoring this episode. Through April 1st they’re giving away a Shannon Chair recently featured in Traditional Home magazine to one of our listeners. Enter at UniversalFurniture.com/YHL to participate.
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