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On this episode of The Better Buy , Kay Volmar discusses virtual house hunt and how to stay prescribed — and on budget — during a long - term home renovation .
The Better Buy , a novel podcast from Better Homes & Gardens , explores all things home — from decorate and DIY to renovating and budgeting . Each week , we ’ll talk with householder from around the country about the highs and lows of home possession , and parcel taradiddle , advice , and pragmatic tips you’re able to put to work in your own plate . We ’re on a foreign mission to invigorate and empower you to make your dream habitation . New episodes every Wednesday !
Credit: Photo: Courtesy of Kay Volmar
On This Episode
Host Mélanie Berliet talks with Kay Volmar ( @onceupona1912 ) about virtual sign of the zodiac search after discovering her dream town in Florida , move cross country , and embarking on a tenacious - term refurbishment ( seven years and counting ) fill with highs and lows . She deal her tips on where to splurge and save money to stay on budget , and how patience and positivity kept her going .
Meet Kay Volmar
Kay Volmar was on a family trip to Walt Disney World when she discovered the small Florida town that would become her home . After months of practical house hunt from her household in New York , she found a home built in 1912 and buy it sight unseen . " I ’m a firm worshiper in seek for a home based on your modus vivendi and the positioning , and not necessarily the home , " says Volmar . For the past seven years , she ’s been using her DIY expertise to restore it to its former glorification by carry on diachronic details while also modernizing blank with her signature advanced , round-eyed DIY expressive style – and documenting it all on societal media .
Advice from the Episode
Kay divvy up the important lesson she ’s learned while tackling her renovation project .
Kay Volmar
We still had a theatre in Long Island . The house in New York had not been sold yet . So number one , I was specify financially . Number two , I was n’t wholly certain what was going to fall out on the interior at that point . And telephone number three , I had not been able to find honest contractors to make with . So I make up one’s mind to approach it like that age one-time proverb , ' How do you eat an elephant ? One snack at a time . ' So the first measure was to influence on the front porch . After switching out the door to one that was a piddling mo bigger and doing a couple of other modifications on the porch , I decided to paint the threshold a very happy color ( seascape by Sherwin - Williams . ) . What that color did was give me hope . It kind of reminded me , every time I pulled up of what the mansion would finally become . … I know I wanted it to be a happy property , a vibrant place , and a very sluttish and Laputan place . And that ’s what the color represented . It represented felicity and hope .
Where to Start with a Home Renovation
I believe that respectable art is deserving splurging on . I think that there are certain statement pieces – preferably ones that are not voguish at all , matter that are a classic , that need to be splurged on . I adore artistry . I be in a very artistic Ithiel Town and I consider in endure local artists . If you find a good piece that ’s special , that resonate with you , I say splurge on it and it will brook the test of time . Comfortable seating room is number two , because I ’m a vainglorious fourth dimension lounger . Like , we lounge a lot at this menage . I have a really great fluffy sofa that I love to take naps on . couch and mattresses are things that absolutely should be splurged on because these things affect your life .
What Is Something Worth Splurging On
What make a space feel more welcoming is how you finger about your space . If I finger completely comfortable about my outer space , I imagine I ’ll give off that get-up-and-go to multitude who add up into my menage . It ’s all a affair of creating a welcoming space base on what you foresee to be welcoming for yourself . There are homes that I may go into that are what some people may not consider professionally plan , but , my goodness , the warmth is there . The vibration of the family , the cordial reception of the somebody who I ’m coming to see . I think that is more authoritative than what you do aesthetically .
