I love when other bloggers share how much they spend on a room. Usually it makes me feel great….because I saved a whole lot….or frustrated….because I should have just bought the thing I REALLY wanted instead of the cheap knockoff. It’s a double edged sword. It’s Russian roulette but with your debit card and in the end, we all hope we come out with a room that we feel is comfortable and gorgeous and something we aren’t still paying off in 2028.
I’m back today to share our sitting room cost of makeover and also to give you another ‘save’ option since this space was a definite ‘splurge’. Also in full disclosure, we received the art from Minted, tile from Floor & Decor and the rug several years ago in exchange to be featured on this blog. I would have definitely still bought all the items I selected because they are WORTH EVERY CENT. The other items we did purchase. I’m including everything in the budget breakdown (at retail price, no coupons or codes) so we can have a realistic view of what is happening here. The space I’m talking about today is this sitting room….
So when it came to purchases, the budget breakdown looked like this….
- Paint – $250
- Tile & supplies – $760
- Shelving & supplies – $70
- Decor – $150
- Art – $580
- Leather Chairs – $1124 each
- Chandelier – $515
- Rug – $955
- Ottomans – $147 each
- Tripod light – $76
- Sideboard – $914
- Pillow – $35
- Bench – $300
- Curtains, rods and books, misc – already owned
GRAND TOTAL – $7,147
I gotta admit, I wasn’t super proud of that number at first….because it seems like A LOT. But the thing is…I love everything about this space. I want to take all my kids pictures in there because it’s so pretty. I spend each night in here detoxing from diaper changes and screaming. And each item is the exact item I would choose. I thought a long long time about each selection and the fact is…I’m 36….I am celebrating my 10th wedding anniversary this year….dang it…I am a grown up and I want to stop cheaping myself out and selecting the so-so items. I know that is a lengthy tangent that is completely unwarranted but I really do feel like I had a realization recently. As I mature (aka get more candles on my cake), my budget allows for more quality items and my style is evolving to include some bigger purchases. So yes, it is a splurge. And yes, it is probably gawk-worthy for some of you. But I’m sure others understand my spending a little bit better. All that to say….yup, it was dang expensive and yup, it was dang worth it. If you missed the reveal of the whole space with befores and afters, click here to see it!
But now for those of you that probably would love to see a little side by side, I put together a comparison board on areas that you could save. Obviously tile and paint aren’t changing prices drastically (especially since I got the paint on sale and the tile is price-guaranteed at Floor & Decor)…but other things are. So here is my splurging board with the items I got and put in my room….
PILLOW – $35
ART & FRAME – $580
CHANDELIER – $515
TRIPOD LIGHT – $76
SIDEBOARD – $914
BENCH – $300
LEATHER CHAIR – $1124
OTTOMAN – $147
RUG – $955
and here is a similar look with a tighter budget. It’s got a lot of similar elements and could really spruce up a space to make it feel warm and inviting.
PILLOW – $12
ART & FRAME – $129
CHANDELIER – $270
TRIPOD LIGHT – $76
SIDEBOARD – $371
BENCH – $168
LEATHER CHAIR – $364
OTTOMAN – $80
RUG – $344
What a savings right?! You could really get a big bang for your buck! And the biggest surprise was that I found that light gray bench and it had the same cute bolsters and a better price….but the more affordable one opens up for extra storage! Isn’t that a great? So then the question is….do I regret any of my purchases? Do I have buyers remorse? Or do I think I should have splurged on anything or saved on anything?
The answer is nope. Not even a little bit. Not even the bench because the darker one ties in the ottomans. I actually love the room so much that I think the only thing that will change in the future might be the addition of blinds (it’s very bright in the mornings) or maybe switch out the table that is between the chairs. I love the round shape but the one we have was a hand-me-down and I think something with storage would be more functional. Other than that, I am so glad we saved on the tripod lamp and used a lot of my decor stash…..and I could not imagine sitting in a more comfortable chair each night or having a more beautiful beaded light fixture. And that sideboard? FORGET IT. It’s still one of my favorite things and has so much storage!
And then my next question is….what is a space or an item you splurged on? Do you regret it? Jeremy bought a big screen TV back in 2002 and he still talks about how much he spent and how ridiculous it was. But he always says that he was the life of the party during the Super Bowl….just to watch the Patriots win…again 🙂
I checked my phone and you never asked to borrow money from me so I say spend away! Love e room! Super jealous of those chairs!!
It makes me sad how you have to defend some of your purchases. If people have time to sit online and complain about what you spend money on they have either time to get another job so they can worry about what they buy or have no life.
You do you!!
Amen, sister. I’m 38 and try not to cheap out on furniture any more. I’ve learned that “you get what you pay for” can really be true if you skimp out. I also enjoy crafts, but don’t want to necessarily make everything in my space any more.
I love those chairs so so much, I wish I could fit the small version in my living room, but it’d still be too big.
Katie, I think your sitting room is BEAUTIFUL and the most important thing is that you love it! I really like your save/splurge options – the save option is so pretty as well. I hate that you feel like you have to apologize or justify what you spend, but I know there are always trolls who target and berate bloggers. It’s your money, so it’s your business how you spend it. I also appreciate the acknowledgement of purchasing quality investment pieces; it’s something I’m realizing in my life as I mature, too – that buying cheaper pieces just to have ‘stuff’ doesn’t really benefit me in the long run. Great job on the room and thanks for your honesty.
Love the room. And I agree… as we get older, it makes more sense to spend the money to get what we really love and will use for years.
Love your room so much. And thank you for this reminder. I need to buy new furniture soon and it’s so tempting to go the cheap route-something I only kind of like and something that will likely need to be replaced in a year or two. It’s so important to remember that I’m in the very fortunate position in being able to buy something something that I love and something that will last.
I think the room looks like a relaxing “adult” space and it seems like you are really enjoying it for that use. But I’m curious since in the past you seem to have used that space as a “mini-nursery” type space for the boys during their first year or so. Do you have different plans about co-sleeping or a nursery for the soon-to-be-born Bower girl?
The most expensive thing in my living room is a $10 bookshelf from a garage sale lol, I couldn’t spend that much on a vehicle! Hope someday to have that kind of success, it’s beautiful:)
Nope…nothing different. We still co-sleep and have the baby with us in the room for the six to eight months. We plan on still doing that 🙂
xo – kb
I love it an am quite the same about furniture purchases (like the leather sectional for our living room http://heim-elich.blogspot.de/2015/12/neues-sofa-wohnzimmer.html, no way I would have bought something that expensive a few years back).
One additional thought: I feel I now know better what I like an will still like long term, so the investment pieces make more senses since I am sure they are here to stay not only quality wise but also me continously liking them wise.
Also: when I started out I just needed many things quickly so the needed to be affordable, while now it is more about replacing things so it’s easier to wait for “just right” before making the switch.
Hope that makes sense 😉
Greetings from Germany
Jenn(ifer)
I love I too Katie and thinks it looks so beautiful! I think it would be beneficial to at least share the coupons you were able to use and the final tally after those. Some people never bother looking for coupons which I can never understand when you have sites like Retail Me Not. Sometimes with a coupon the “high” gets pretty dang close to the price of the “low”. Anyway, I love this room. Ever since you did the reveal, I have been wondering if we could put an addition on so our master could have a sitting area!!! Love the idea of one!
Absolutely LOVE this space! I can’t drop that in flipping a room quickly, but I probably spend similar amounts acquiring piece by piece over time! Jealous of that space to destress—adding this to my to-do list!
I was virtual window shopping at World Market online yesterday and saw that chandelier in the trending items. Katie Bower, setting the trend!
I feel like I’m slowly getting to the “save up and buy what you ACTUALLY want” mindset. I think before, I would buy something cheap because I didn’t have the patience to wait till I had the cash to buy the more expensive item. Now, I realize that buying a cheap item I don’t really like is a worse purchasing decision than the more expensive item because I end up buying stuff twice.
we spent five years and $4.2m designing, building & furnishing our home ourselves. we purchased items all over the world and waited as they made the slow boat trips across the oceans in shipping containers. it was a lot of paperwork, frustrating at times, life threatening (a scorpion in a crate of hand painted tile from beruit!) & obviously more expensive. 36,000 sq ft of airplane hanger space, used to store it all arranged in aisles. we even used a w.a.s.p. inventory barcode system to keep it all logged. but every fixture, finish and furnishing has a story that you cant get at the neighborhood furniture store or chain home improvement store. zero regrets.
Sounds like you will have a story for everything floating around your house! That’s awesome!
xo – kb
Same here. I think it might have something to do with my age….as I am getting older, I feel like I have lived with those regrets and hated that I spent money in the first place on something I always knew I didn’t LOVE. I guess that they call that experience 🙂
xo – kb
I promise this story is on-topic! My father’s greatest joy was to go out for a nice dinner every Saturday night. Obviously this was rather expensive and family members always commented. However, these same family members would scrimp and save up all year and go for a fancy 10-day vacation and think nothing of it. My Dad would say he didn’t like to travel and would rather take that same money and spread it out over the year and enjoy each week. So…everyone spends their money their way. I am thoughtful about how I spend my money, but while I agonize over a $3 purchase at the craft store (do I REALLY need this?), I thought nothing of spending $100 to ship a $100 cabinet that was the perfect size. If you love your room, the only thing people should be saying is “It’s beautiful..enjoy!”
Katie, you did an absolutely amazing job on the sitting room per usual and the things you purchased are going to stand the test of time. That said I think it makes much more sense to buy quality items you love instead of cheap items that will be trashed within six months. Definitely the smarter choice in my opinion!
That’s a great idea. I know that some of the coupons I used were limited time items…or certain sales…or gift cards from family…so that would make it a little hard to share because it isn’t fair across the board. But I could add it up and see what I actually spent.
xo – kb
I totally get wanting nicer things as you get older, but I feel like that kind of “I deserve it!” mentality is what gets people into serious financial trouble. I’m not saying this is the case in your situation, Katie, since you guys are obviously doing much better financially now than you were when you were younger in the earlier days of this blog…but I think in most people’s cases who haven’t seen a fairly drastic increase in income over time, they can’t actually justify going from spending hundreds on a room to many thousands just because they are older.
No…that is true. Age doesn’t determine budget!
xo – kb