The following post first appeared over at ClarkHoward.com.
Do you watch the HGTV channel and lament that you’ll never be able to afford the luxurious home accents featured throughout their programming? Worry not, as your local Habitat ReStore can get you that high end look for a fraction of the original price. These stores sell both new, used and leftover building supplies at extremely low prices which then go to fund Habitat for Humanity.
Get that House Hunters look:
It’s almost a cliché that the buyers featured on House Hunters walk into a home and rule out any house without stainless steel appliances. (As if the color white would somehow undo the functionality of the machinery.) So if you’re in the camp that feels that stainless steel is a must, you can source like-new appliances from your local ReStore.
Just check out this LG stainless steel microwave priced at $20!
Get that Flip or Flop look:
Watch even a single episode of HGTV’s Flip or Flop and you’ll quickly learn that a tiled backsplash is a pivotal component to every single kitchen makeover. From pre-arranged sheets to classic subway tile, it’s the polished look that California buyers (and HGTV viewers) have come to expect. However, you don’t have to pay $100/square foot if you’re savvy enough to shop the Habitat ReStore.
Check out these prices:
The variety might not be as extensive as what you’d find at Home Depot, but with all the money you’ll save, surely you can alter your design plan.
Seriously, check out at the subway tile choices from just a single ReStore shelf!
Get that Fixer Upper look:
If you’re a fan of this hit show, then you already know that no Fixer Upper house is complete without featured wood accents. Whether it’s shiplap or picture frame molding, it’s a necessary component for your remodel! Lucky you, as Habitat ReStores are bursting at the seams with wood, both new and salvaged. It might take a trip to two to get enough for your feature wall/headboard/kitchen island, but you’ll sleep better knowing how little you paid.
Get that Rehab Addict look:
HGTV’s Rehab Addict is already a pretty frugal show, as host Nicole Curtis is loathe to waste money on ripping out quality shelving or sending perfectly good building components to the landfill. An episode where she pulled a lighting fixture that someone had put into her dumpster comes to mind, as she was quick to repaint it for her entryway ceiling.
Although Curtis is quick to criticize those who paint over original stain on vintage furniture or house parts, she’ll still grab a paint roller and a gallon of re-tinted paint in a Detroit minute. Of course, paint can be expensive, but worry not as your Habitat ReStore has you covered.
For a couple of bucks, you’ll walk out with perfectly good paint or stain for your DIY project. I know this, as I repainted a Goodwill dresser last year featuring a $2 pot of ReStore Paint!
Whichever HGTV show sparks your personal remodeling inspiration, you can get that look for pennies on the dollar while supporting a worthy non profit. Throw in that you’ll be saving construction and remodeling supplies from the landfill? Perfection.
Click HERE to find your nearest Habitat ReStore!
Bonus Tip: Follow your local Habitat ReStore on Facebook to view their latest inventory for your own HGTV inspired home. Check out the Portland, Oregon’s ReStore page HERE!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Our previous house needed some repainting after we’d lived there for ten years. The budget for paint was small, so we went to Habitat’s ReStore and bought quarts of high-end Benjamin Moore paint, all in vivid, high-gloss dark colors like cobalt blue, khaki, hunter green, burgundy, dark gray, and pumpkin, for $1 each.
We mixed the bright paints with white or sand-colored flat paint from other projects around the house, and got enough beautiful satin-style paint to do the dining room in a rich deep yellow, the kitchen in terracotta, the laundry room in blue-gray, one bathroom in pale green and the other in a bright yellow-gold. Total cost for painting those five rooms was $20, with some paint leftover for other projects. ReStore rocks!
Great idea to mix your own colors!
Love this post! It is so true that one can rehab a house from the HR! I bought an abandoned historic 1900 Shotgun house that is within walking distance of a Habitat ReStore. I have already remodeled a bathroom with HR tile, sink, faucet, and other bits and pieces; the kitchen has items gleaned from HR and I have so many more items in the storage queue for when I get to those rooms. It takes a little patience and thinking ahead on the remodeling projects (like changing color scheme ideas to match a really great deal on perfect tile), but I heart HR so much! I also love how you tied in those popular shows from HGTV (pennies on the dollar is so right on).
Wow, super impressive!
DH volunteers at our local ReStore (after almost 40 years in various aspects of home remodeling and home energy, he knows how to sort stuff out, believe me). It’s a great institution.
When I lived in Portland, I loved the Restore, but living in a small town they are not as reasonable. $7 for a gallon of paint, whether it’s full or half empty
Now I have a reason to visit Portland again
Ooooh, thank you for sharing this!! Mr. Picky Pincher and I are gearing up to purchase our first home, and we’re anxious about how we can do it frugally. I hadn’t considered a ReStore; hopefully ours will have some great appliances we can score on the cheap!
Excellent reminder! We need to hit up the Restore (60 miles from us, unfortunately) any time we go to the city during the week. Our back door needs to be replaced, badly, and they just might have one. I’ve been looking around, but exterior doors aren’t something I see second-hand around our town at all.
I have always been amazed at these couples on HGTV who gut perfectly decent, if older, kitchens in their newly purchased homes. I guess paint and a little fix up are out of the question? And I love Katy’s comment about the must-have-stainless-or-else tribe– is the color white supposed to be harmful to food or shorten the appliance’s life-span or something? All of mine are white, and I love the way they look.
When we changed our appliances, one at a time when they wore out, we picked white (they were black) because we thought we better pick somethings very long term. We figured stainless would be passe before we got around to changing them again.
I used to love “Free style” on HGTV. There was a guy who went into people’s houses and emptied a room completely, than put furniture back following some basic design principles pulling only from what the family already owned. I loved it. It shows that whether or not a space is inviting has more to do with the way items are arranged than the items themselves. Whenever I want new furniture I just mix things up a bit.