Where We Saved $ on Our New Build

We’re just three weeks away from moving in to our seventh house, and I’m getting so excited! Today I thought I’d share the money-saving decisions we made so that we could afford the things we’ve always wanted. Budgets are very real…..unfortunately. 😉 And it’s super important, whether you’re building or renovating, to prioritize your budget based on what matters most to you.

What matters most to me may not be what matters most to you. But I thought it might be helpful, especially for anyone who may be considering a build or a renovation project to hear about where/how we saved/reduced costs.

Small Laundry Room with No Cabinets

A large luxurious laundry room has never been on my personal wish list, so saving money here made a lot of sense. (Especially because I’m planning to add a stackable set to my closet in the future.) But while this laundry room is small in size, it’s big on style. A small foot print means less material. And combining that with a low cost tile kept the overall cost way down.

Cabinetry can be one of the largest expenses in a new build or renovation project. Because the laundry room isn’t high on my priority list, and I don’t store much in the cabinets in our current laundry room; I opted to go without cabinets in here. Instead I plan to DIY some shelves in the near-ish future.

Lower Cabinets with Doors Instead of Drawers in the Bathrooms

Speaking of cabinetry, base cabinets with doors are less expensive than those that house drawers. So while I chose to go with all drawers for the base cabinets in the kitchen, I opted for doors in all of the bathrooms.

And in terms of bells and whistles, I chose soft close drawers throughout but only the kitchen has soft close doors.

Corian Countertops Everywhere But the Kitchen

I selected quartz for the kitchen countertop (I’ll share more details soon), but all of the bathrooms and the pantry were done in white Corian which is a fairly affordable option.

Corian is typically similarly priced to granite and sometimes even a little less. The beauty of it is that it comes in a lot of options. And for the bathrooms I knew I wanted something relatively low maintenance, stain resistant and solid white. I also liked that Corian could be built up in thickness without raising the price too much.

To save even more with regard to countertops, I’ve opted to have our contractor use the leftover scrap wood pieces from our hardwood floors to create a counter on the dry bar in the library/media room. I can’t wait to see how this turns out!

Classic, Affordable Tile Throughout

I made simple, classic tile selections not just for budget-friendly purposes but because I believe they’re timeless. Subway tile will never go out of style regardless of whether or not it’s “on trend”. Because this house has tall ceilings I wanted the tile surrounds of every shower to go all the way to the crown, which meant I needed a lot of tile.

So opting for classic, affordable subway tile not only helped me to stay under budget, but is something I’m sure I’ll love for a very long time. I plan on writing a separate post with all of the tile selections and sources. Here’s a peek at the guest bathroom shower.

Schlüter Trim Instead of Bullnose Tile

I also saved on tile by opting for a schluter trim on the edges rather than bullnose tile. Bullnose is typically more expensive than straight edge tile. And because I wanted the tile surrounds to go all the way up to the crown I would have needed quite a bit of bullnose tile. Opting for the schluter trim saved us quite a bit of money. And I think it’s also a much neater finish. Plus against the white subway tile it’s hardly even noticeable!

The schluter edge was maybe a quarter of the cost of the bullnose option.

Here’s a look at the schluter edge on the kitchen backsplash.

And here’s a peek at the black schluter edge on the master bathroom shower. The tile I selected for the shower walls didn’t have a matching bullnose, so the schluter edge was my only option here.

Tile Shelves Instead of Niches

Last but not least, I chose tile shelves instead of niches for every shower except the master. The shelves are a fraction of the cost involved with a niche, and they require less labor as well.

So those are the main areas where we saved/reduced costs. It was really helpful for us to prioritize what mattered most to us before making selections. Having a game plan made the process so much more enjoyable.