Budget Home Theater - The Budget Breakdown {ORC Fall 2018: Week 5}

I think the word budget is very subjective/relative, especially in the interior design world. I grew up in a small  rural town where the average household income ran somewhere from dirt poor to lower middle class. I never really was aware of this until I entered college, because the one nice thing about living in an area where most people have a similar standard of living is you don't have a lot to compare to or to even be jealous of.  You don't know what you don't have because no one around you has it either. I was blissfully unaware of how the "other half" lived. I should also note: I had a GREAT childhood. Zero complaints. From graduating high school to now, I've bounced back and forth between NYC and surrounding areas and upstate New York. I've lived in a trailer in the woods, in walk up slums in shady Brooklyn and Bronx neighborhoods; I've lived in doorman buildings in Manhattan and very upper middle class suburbs in NJ, and everything in between.

All this is to say, I know I'm calling this a budget Home Theater, but let's be honest, we are still spending (or have spent) a pretty penny on some of these items. This is not a $100 or $500 or even $1,000 makeover. It's also NOT a $15,000 makeover. I was super inspired last week to pull back the curtain on what this is costing us after reading Michele's Week 4 post. So for anyone interested (and since all I've really done is poorly hem some curtains this week) I thought we could talk about the budget for this space. We didn't have a maximum amount we planned to spend, it was more of a fun challenge to see what we cobble together with a semi-frugal mindset. We didn't need a gut renovation job, frankly we didn't need any of this, but it was more of a personal challenge to create a "finished" space that is functional for us and pretty to me. Also guys, I'm too lazy to try to get sponsors, because that is a job in itself, so this is clearly all out of our own pocket. It's not my livelihood to provide pretty content.  I think there is a place for that, it just isn't here.

If you've landed here from the One Room Challenge, Welcome! We've just purchased an 80's contemporary home in Upstate NY that just needs a little TLC to bring her back to her former glory.  

Week 1   Week 2   Week 3   Week 4   Week 5   Week 6 - Reveal!

Here's a breakdown to the stuff we expected to spend money on:

Sectional $1239

Motorized screen $125

Projector $550

Universal remote $110

Paint $60

Artwork (no, we still didn't buy anything yet! FML) ~$150

The stuff we didn't expect to spend money on:

More paint $30

Cement and waterproof cement $20

Gutter extenders $20

Recessed lighting $120

Plumbing updates and electric labor ~$300 (this was baked into other odd jobs around the house)

The fun stuff we picked up/plan to pick up along the way:

Popcorn bowls $8

Snack tower $40

Beanbag chairs $60

Curtain rods & gold tassels $10
To buy/make: Pillows and blankets ~$60
To buy: Popcorn Maker ~$150 ???

The stuff we already had that convinced us we could do this on a budget (I made some best estimates for these because some of this has been around for a long time):

SONOS speaker system $1,700

Tables/counter $300 - $500

Microwave (that I don't even plan to use anymore) $50

Chandelier $150

Curtains $60

Paint supplies $20
Candy dishes and trays $40 - $60

So there you have it! Somewhere between $3,050 and $5,000 when this is all said and done. We went into this thinking we could do it for about $2,000, given the fact that we already had the speaker system and extra table on hand. We were somewhat close (this is also making me rethink the popcorn machine that I haven't pulled the trigger on yet) and the ~$500 and effort spent on making sure our foundation stays dry are clearly going to add YEARS of life to this house, but I wanted to include it be thorough.

As I'm doing this calculation I'm like "whoa" we really did spend that much! We don't often cram to design and decorate a room down to minute details that appear "pinterest-worthy" (<--sarcasm font) often.  If it wasn't for the ORC, we still would have eventually gotten to this room, but we probably wouldn't have spent all that money in a roughly 6 week period.  Everyone knows I'm a slow decorator, this normally would have taken us a year or two or three, but the benefit of this challenge is that you completely transform a room from top to bottom in a set time frame.  I'm definitely glad we decided to join in again for this space! It means we get to enjoy this area thoroughly for many more years to come and my mind won't drift to what else I could do to it while watching a movie with my kids. I will BE in the moment, dammit! Thank you ORC!

One week left - let's see how everyone else is doing!  My top picks for this week is to go check out the wallpaper Albertina is putting up and I am now in love with Bre and her blog in general. As a lover of blogs, it's fun to come across new-to-you bloggers whose voice you really enjoy.

Check 'em all out here! Featured and Guests.