Thanks to a busy summer, we didn’t do a long vacation but we did manage to get a house project done that will give us that “just back from vacation” relaxed feeling for years to come. (But first, sorry for the before picture. It’s a bit like one of those beauty makeovers where it feels rigged but my pic disappeared so I dug through the kids’ camera and — lo and behold! — the before picture with what looks to be a chair fort in progress.) Anyway, back to the project. We thought we’d need to save up $5-8k. Not happening. So we looked to Ikea. However, add up two large Liatorp shelves at $325 a pop, the Liatorp television base, a Liatorp hanging shelf, and the wood and trim needed to alter them, and we were looking at $1,000+ and a lot of work. So on a whim we called a remodeler we had used in the past and with drawings and inspiration photos in hand, got a quote. A very low quote. A quote so low, we booked the guy on the spot. Click to see the rest of Sarah’s living room makeover!

How’d we save? Most of it probably has as much to do with the general economy as where we live. Costs are low in this part of the Midwest. But the other part is that we knew exactly what we wanted and had fairly precise drawings to hand off. It not only meant we’d get exactly what we wanted, it also meant all our guy had to do was build and install. I’m sure I’ll be moving books and stuff around for awhile yet and eventually I’d like to paint the back of the shelves and spray the baskets a darker brown, but the whole space feels complete now. My favorite part (besides my books)? Hanging an antique English watercolor on the front of the shelves to balance out the television opening. Although we made sure all the vertical lines were the same, having another area of interest helps. — Sarah L.