Making Money during the Remodeling.

I told Steve the other night, I felt like we had a laceration and the money was just bleeding out!  Well, I have found a couple of ways to stop the bleeding and have brought a little money back home.

1. I sold our old flooring.  Rather than just tossing the old flooring in the dump, I had Steve lift it carefully about three weeks before the remodel actually began.  I boxed it up and took pictures of it still in the room and then boxed up in the garage ready to walk off. I was able to sale it on Craigslist for $100. It was a total of 310 square feet of parquet wood flooring.

2. I had some furniture that is no longer going to fit into the new floor plan.  I sold my breakfast table and 5 chairs for $125 and my computer armoire for $90.

3. My cabinets were in great shape, I just though the color was a little dated.  Also, they were not going to be reusable in the new layout. I sold them to my painter for an $800 credit of painting.

4. The counter tops normally just go in the trash.  But, a friend from work is building a studio apartment on his parents property for he and his new fiance to move into while they save money for a house.  I traded the use of a counter top microwave to use during the remodel and some fresh organic eggs from his dad's farm for the old counters.

5.  I found a warehouse sale in Charlotte two months ago and scored on my appliances.  I bought our over the range microwave for $225(compared to the $400s), an under mount stainless sink for $100 (compared to about $275), and a stainless faucet to match for $75 (compared to $250).  All brand new Kitchen Aid that had been used in their show room. 

6.  The new floor tile was the biggest headache.  Everything I was pricing out was at least $3.00 a square foot.  The stuff I dreamed about was $5.00 a square foot.  I tried looking on Craigslist but could not find enough.  We needed 720 square feet for the new space.  Lowes got in a new shipment of designer tile that was in stock (not special order).  I really liked one that was $2.48.  Since we needed so much, we asked for the manager and were able to negotiate a pallet price of $1.90 a square foot.  I am so excited and its beautiful.  It is the new style of porcelain that is made to look like hardwood.  Stay tuned for the installed picture!!