Our Coastal Farmhouse Paint Palette

Hi! Long time, no talk…. Kinda. I went on vacay and took a little time off of blogging. My first time attending the Kentucky Derby (and Thurby) was SO full of fun and excitement! I’ll share a couple photos below if you missed my stories on Instagram.

A couple of weeks ago a sweet stranger pulled into my driveway and asked me about our exterior color. That conversation progressed into talking about whole-home color palettes and all things home design + construction. She is building nearby and it was so much fun to hear her plans and I was so honored that she stopped in to chat.

Our conversation got me to thinking about sharing our current palette so I put together my most recent insta reel. But I wanted to actually list the paint colors out in written format since I know so many folks prefer that.

Here is what we have so far:

Exterior siding: SW Pure White

Exterior Doors: Minwax Early American

Porch ceilings- Clear coat on tongue-n-groove

Main living: SW Alabaster

All trim: Pure White

Hallway: top- SW Opaline

Bottom- SW Pure White

Powder bath- BM Hale Navy

I hope this helps if you’re trying to decide!

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Lots’o sunshine,

Summer

Building Smart: Part 3

HI, FRIENDS!!! 👋🏼 This is the last installment of my home building/renovation savings series. I did hours of research to put together these lists based on many, many current and recent home build experiences/stories. I surely hope these tips have helped you with your planning and preparation 🤞🏼

If you find yourself at the end of the process with a depleted bank account, these ideas are meant to help you limp to the finish line (and get your Certificate of Occupancy 🙌🏼). It’s a list of finishing ideas that will help to keep your costs as small as possible. I have heard so many stories lately of folks getting to the end of their build and not having the money to finish what they had planned for the spaces. We are just living in a C R A Z Y {home building} world! Hang in there, guys 🤗

Here’s 7 very specific ways to control costs with your finishes:

1. Use hollow core doors

2. Use 6’8” doors (instead of 8’)

3. Utilize prefab drop-in showers (instead of tile work)

4. LED disc lights (instead of can lights) (this is actually the more popular choice anyway)

5. Buy prefab vanities complete with tops (instead of custom cabinetry and countertop install)

6. Stained concrete flooring (instead of adding LVP or engineered wood, IF you are on slab)

7. Purchase formica or lower tier granite (instead of higher-end, pricey stones)

   Hollow core doors are less expensive and can be swapped out later for a different style if you so desire. Depending on how many doors, closet doors, etc you have, choosing the more standard size doors (6’8”) could save thousands. I hadn’t really considered this, but I’ve read multiple stories of homeowners who saved money in the short term by using a drop in shower instead of paying for custom tile work. It would be a renovation that can be done down the road, if you’re patient enough to wait. Disc lights are quickly becoming more popular than can lights and they are also less expensive. Purchasing pre-fab vanities with countertops already installed is almost always more budget friendly than doing custom cabinetry and countertops. (And I think it seems like a much faster + easier option, too!) I am seeing several current builds doing stained concrete flooring to save money with a plan of laying down their preferred flooring later on. Of course, this only works for a slab-built home. Lastly, many folks who have completely busted their home building budget and who are in the final stages have made the decision to use butcher block, formica, or lower tier granite for substantial savings on countertops in their new home. This is also something that can be upgraded down the road as your finances allow.

It’s not fun to talk about budgets and such, but in this current economy with rising inflation and costs of everything, it really is wise to save in every aspect that you can. We don’t know what the future holds, but you certainly don’t want to be upside down if this huge bubble bursts 😳

As always, feel free to email or DM or comment below! Thank you for being here! Follow my INSTAGRAM HERE

Building Smart: Part ✌🏻

As promised, here’s a follow up to my last blog post with my pointers on how to save money on your home build/reno. This time, we’re going to talk about the build process and interior plans.

Just a quick note on building contracts. If you are able to get a “fixed cost” contract with your builder, that will spare you the worry and stress over rising building costs. The “cost plus” type of payment is more common, but as supply/material costs inflate, so does your fee to pay the builder. With our cabin build we were able to secure a “fixed cost” contract and so far we haven’t had any overages to our original quote.
Another way to control cost is to avoid change orders during the build. Builders typically charge large extra fees to make any changes so as much as you can decide beforehand ( and stick to it), the better.

As far as interiors go, one quick and easy way to save money on your build/reno is to lower the ceilings. In most cases, there are significant savings with lowering to 9 ft. In a lot of places, 8 ft ceilings are builder-grade standard, so even going up to 9 ft can give the home a more open feel without busting the budget.

Cabinetry is a large part of the home build budget so when it’s feasible, eliminate upper cabinets and do open shelving. Or, eliminate some of your cabinetry altogether and add it later on (such as mudrooms, wet/dry bars, coffee bars, etc) in areas that aren’t in your main living spaces. We chose to do this in our coastal farmhouse build. One day, we will add some builtins to our laundry/mud room area, our living room, and little room we have upstairs that attaches to the kids’ playroom. This saved us roughly $25k on our build cost and as we add it we will just pay cash for it, which is pretty nice.

Along that same vein, if your budget is really tight, find ways to add trim, feature walls, tile walls, backsplashes, etc later on after your build is completed. Obviously, tile flooring and any tile that is required for shower/bathing needs to be completed before you move in and use those areas, but if you are using wall tile to add character, consider doing that upgrade down the road. Similarly, custom trim work, features walls and backsplashes are not usually functionally important so I would postpone as much of that as you’re able to save your dough. If you follow along our instagram journey you will see how we have been slowly adding custom touches and diy-ing these areas of our design.

In doing research for these blog posts, I read many stories of folks who made the budget friendly choice to use builder-grade plumbing + light fixtures, paint, appliances and then upgrade them over time to higher-end, custom choices. These swaps are easy and inexpensive to make so this seems like a great option if you are in a pinch. Pro Tip 1: let your plumber and electrician know what you plan to upgrade to in advance because you may not easily be able to go from a single mount faucet to a wide spread faucet after the home is completed. Pro Tip 2: buy builder grade appliances that are the same dimensions are your dream set, otherwise, your new set may not fit into your cabinetry/countertop spaces.

Let’s recap those tips:

1. “fixed price” contract will probably save money of a “cost plus” contract

2. avoid change orders

3. lower the ceilings

4. minimize your cabinet order

5. add trim, feature walls, backsplashes, non-functional tile later

6. builder grade fixtures at time of build and upgrade later

I sure hope your building/reno journeys are going smoothly and that your budget far exceeds your costs… but if not, I pray these tips help you reach the finish line. Feel free to follow me on instagram HERE

Happy Spring!