New Home: Custom Look on a Budget

I'm not a big fan of the whole "builder grade" look, but I have a "builder grade" budget, and we are trying to put the bulk of our money towards the framework of the house (like the overall square footage) and things that will be hard to change later (like upgraded insulation in the exterior walls, roughed in bonus room above the garage), so I've had to get a little creative to be able to afford my dream finishes. Here are a couple ways you can save on finishes if you are building or remodeling

Buy your own finishes:
My builder is awesome. Yes, I know I say that almost every post, but he really is. Any finish I decide I want to "upgrade" (which has been almost all of them), he gives me the amount of credit or allowance that's in the total house quote for purchasing it myself. While I usually end up spending more than the builder grade option would be, I'm definitely saving money on the upgraded price I would have to pay if I just told the builder to go get it. The advantage to this is that I can shop for deals, watch for sales (like my hardwood floors purchased from Lumber Liquidators by my builder when I alerted him the ones I wanted were on sale) and get exactly what I want. Below are some of the finishes I have actually purchased online (I heart Amazon and Overstock and their free/low shipping costs!) My builder is still installing the finishes, but I had so much fun doing the actual shopping for them! I'm not sure how my parents are feeling about their "already-full-of-our-moving-stuff-garage" being piled even higher with this stuff (and I'm not quite sure if the shower will fit in there when it's delivered tomorrow...), but I love the deliveries! It feels like Christmas when the FedEx truck shows up...I don't even mind them ringing the doorbell during Isabelle's nap time...

Not only do I shop online sales but I also look at stores for sales and the best way to remember the price and look of all the different items you like? Take pics with your phone! I always take a picture of the item so I remember what it looks like, followed by a picture of the price tag with dimensions listed. This way I can show Charles and get his opinion, and compare prices/styles wherever I am.

Invest some "Sweat Equity":

If you have the time (and skills) you can do some of the smaller things yourself to save money...painting all our own trim saved us 2K...I could have saved another 2K by painting all the walls myself but that is a huge job and by the time I figured in the price of paint, materials and time I wasn't really saving that much. We are also tiling all the bathrooms and master shower ourselves, assembling and installing kitchen cabinets and painting the half bath walls (b/c it's so tiny and will take me 30 min to do since there will be nothing in there I need to tape and I'm only painting the top half of the wall) and installing the bead-board in the half bath. Next month is definitely going to be busy for us, but I think we are doing just enough sweat equity to save money but not overwhelm us (I will let you know if I regret that statement or not in August...)

Only about 2 more weeks, and I have to have paint colors finalized. Yikes! I'm still undecided on the guest room/bath and Isabelle's room so I'd better decide soon...I really hate painting so I want to make sure the colors I pick are ones I will want for a long time. This week the roof is being shingled and by the end of next week the sheetrockers should be ready to start. Not much longer till we can actually see the inside start to come together!