Remodel: The finances

As I sit here, at the beginning of a summer that I thought would be full of "extra money" and I'm now worried about making it through the summer, I thought I should actually take stock of where all that money went. (Scroll down for the grand total in red--the list is for my notekeeping)

Besides the basic remodel money, paid to the contractor, here's where money went since January (for the house, of course)

Title Company fees: $200

Plat of Survey: $300

Drywall in grandma's room: $150

Phone jack and wireless adapter for computer (no phoneline in grandma's room) and cordless phone with extra handset: $134

Track lighting and bulbs: $42

Extra smoke detector in grandma's room: $60

Threshold between bathroom and existing room: $7

Additional amt. for double shower: $200

Custom-made shower door: $720

Rug and towels and bathmat for new bath: $30

Medicine cabinet: $58

Hardware for bathroom (towel racks, toilet paper holder for new bath and back of bedroom door, toilet brush, drawer knobs in silver): $64

Materials for shelves in bathroom: $37

Accessories for bathroom (soap dispenser, toothbrush holder, garbage can, clock): $22

Overage for marble tile plus grout sealant: $85

Sheets, pillowcases, throw pillow, comforter, bedskirt, pillow (our room): $150

Accessories for bedroom (candle holders, photo): $66

Closet organizer: $90

Mounting hardware for TV and satellite: $80

Carpet overage (our room): $325

New air purifier: $60

Corner shelf for bedroom: $28

Upgrade to ceiling fan and switch: $43

Doorknobs (6 total) and doorstops: $66

Insulation and weather stripping for both attic doors: $31

Materials to run strings for lights in attics: $4

Comforters and shams for girls' room: $105

Accessories for girls' bedroom (letters): $16

Carpet (girls' room): $460

Materials for T's comforter: $12

New toilet, seat, and installation materials (downstairs): $418

New vanity, medicine cabinet and over-toilet shelf (downstairs): $346

New sink, sidesplash, faucet and plumbing supplies (downstairs): $237

New shower curtain (downstairs): $20

Blinds (kitchen): $25

New baseboard trim (kitchen): $10

New doormat in kitchen (trashed by water): $7

New light fixtures (outside bathroom and kitchen downstairs, top of stairs going up): $33

Curtain rods (our room, girls' room; T's room): $76

Curtains (our room, girls' room, T's room, valances for kitchen): $116

Shades (our room and girls' room and top of stairs) plus mounting hardware and handles: $70

Furniture (dressers for our room, C's lingerie chest, bedside tables, new couch): $942

Storage totes (big for storage areas; small for kids' rooms/closets): $40

Paint (drywall primer; gray paint; pink paint for girls' room; green paint for basement; white paint for stairwell; off-white to re-paint all ceilings) and supplies: $400

Stain, varnish, restor-a-finish: $50

TWO filters for wet-dry vac (changed after getting moldy vermiculite out): $30

Replacement prybar that disappeared when the drywallers were working: $8

For a grand total of just under $6500

That is not counting miscellaneous extra money spent on eating out and/or convenience foods because we had no time or ability to use our kitchen or because food was tossed out due to water damage--an unknown amount, but probably a couple hundred

And we still have to buy:

Paint and supplies to repaint rest of exterior of house: $200(?)

Gutters and downspouts to match new paint: $350(?)

Now the portion of these items that related ONLY to the upstairs remodel comes in at about $4140--without the things we still have to buy. That's amazingly close (when you add those things in) to the theory of expecting a 10% overage.

AND if you would have asked me beforehand, I'd have thought that several things were included in the price of the remodel. Things like doorknobs and bathroom hardware and a medicine cabinet seem to be part of the whole package, but what do I know?

At any rate, I guess I'd say that, if you're going to remodel, make sure you have at least 10% buffer, and you might not want to do any additional projects until you're sure the entire remodel is complete. (just my humble opinion!)