Merging Into Life: DIY Home Renovation Guide

[00:05:28] Sabrina Pierotti: What did your experience with that teach you?

[00:05:31] Kat Sanders: So, I know when I moved in, I definitely just sort of went gung-ho right into it, and I just sort of painted everything white. And even now, to this day, 10 years later, my hallway is still that same white, because I’ve just not got around to changing it. So, I do think living in a space for a period of time and feeling how you sort of live in that space is really important before jumping into making any sort of rash decisions and getting as much inspiration as possible from various sources. I will quite often come across a kitchen, and I think, oh gosh, I wish I did my kitchen like that. I love that. I wish I’d seen that before I did my kitchen. So, I don’t think you’re ever going to 100 percent get it perfect, but it’s got to be good enough, I think, good enough for you and how you live in your home. And for me, one of the most important things is feeling sort of a calm space in my home. I don’t want to come home and feel overwhelmed or overstimulated, because I’ve got three children, so that’s kind of how I sort of evolved my style was trying to create that in all the rooms in a cohesive way but trying to keep it muted and calm.

[00:06:30] Sabrina Pierotti: I like that you brought in like the emotion that you want to feel when you’re at home.

[00:06:34] Kat Sanders: I think that’s a really good place to start. Say, for example, in my living room, we’ve got like a really old fireplace. And so, I sort of had to, and that’s something you have to keep. It’s an original feature. You can’t get rid of it. So, you kind of have to build around what you’ve got. So, you’ve got to start taking what you’ve already got as well and try and build that into whatever it is that you want to create.

[00:06:50] Sabrina Pierotti: I love that. So, say somebody is like, OK, you’ve already sold me, like I am going to renovate my kitchen, or I am going to redecorate my whole home. A big issue is that people are very hesitant to just start.

[00:07:06] Kat Sanders: My mentality is, for most things, what’s the worst that can happen? What is the worst thing that can happen? Especially when you’re talking about minor things like paint. People are a bit scared, but we’ll put it on the wall. What’s the worst that could happen? It’s paint. Obviously, kitchens are expensive, so you do have to be pretty sure that you’re doing the right thing, but I think the kitchens are the hub of the home, and they can make such a difference to how you live in a space. So, we extended the house, and we now have, obviously, a bigger house. So, I mean, that would be my advice is what is the worst that could happen, really. And it will probably change the way that you live, in your home in a really positive way.

[00:07:42] Sabrina Pierotti: Yeah, absolutely. You just got to get started, and then it’s like, oh, this wasn’t that bad. Now, when walking into an empty, wide-open space that’s going to get renovated, it can feel very intimidating, which I think leads to that hesitation to just even get started. Do you have a formula, so to speak, of the best way to tackle a new space?

[00:08:04] Kat Sanders: Yeah, I would say that’s pretty similar to how I’d work. I would most likely pick a color, so it would be a color as a focal point, and then, I would build on there. So, like, you say, color on the walls, and then, perhaps flooring, and then, maybe, textures. But for me, a big thing is practicality as well, and I think it’s possibly because I’m a mum of three. Although I love beautiful interiors, I know that some beautiful interiors are just not going to be practical for me. I love marble, for example, but I’m not going get myself a marble worktop because I just know it’s not practical for me. So, a big thing for me is the colors and the textures, but also practicality. How are you going to use that space? So obviously it’s dependent on the room. But if you are, say, renovating a living room, where you’re going to put your TV. Don’t want the light shining on it from a window so that when you’re trying to watch the TV, you can’t see it, you can’t see the television. And if you’re talking about a kitchen, what things do you need in that kitchen in order for it to function? How far away do you want the sink from the cooker? All those sorts of things. And then, you’d slowly build up kind of an idea of where things are going to go in that space. But like you say, I think my starting point would be, if we’re talking things looking good, it’s always the color that I want to start with. And then I sort of build on that, yeah.

[00:09:12] Sabrina Pierotti: That’s such a good starting point. Do you have another, like, home reno hack that anyone can easily do just to like instantly elevate a space? If somebody just wants a quick refresh, what would that look like?

[00:09:25] Kat Sanders: So, if you wanted a really quick refresh, I think the quickest thing you could do to transform a room is a bit of paneling on the wall. And pretty much anybody can do it. It’s so easy. And actually, a lot of places now, a lot of places where you can buy the wood, they’ll actually cut it for you to size. So, you wouldn’t even necessarily have to have the right tools if you could measure the space and tell them exactly what widths and things you want it they’d be able to cut it for you, and then, all you’ve got to do is stick it on the wall, and it will it take you probably a few hours, and it would completely transform how a room looks. So, it’s a really good way to transform a space, but also, it’s quite traditional, I think. So, it’s not necessarily going to go out of fashion. There’s loads of wallpapers now that are paste-to–the-wall. So, I mean, I’m wallpapering at the moment. They’re paste-to-the-walls, and I’m just amazed at how quick it is. So, you just literally get it all over the wall, and then you can stick it right on.

[00:10:13] Sabrina Pierotti: Now, renovation can rarely go as planned, and I’m sure in your 10 years of experience, you have seen your fair share. Can you share a moment or two that something just did not go the way you planned, and what did you learn from it, and most importantly, how did you recover from it?

[00:10:30] Kat Sanders: One of the things that definitely didn’t, that didn’t kind of come out as how I envisioned was the lighting in the kitchen. I think when you’re renovating, you get really overwhelmed with just all the decisions that you have to make. And you just sort of end up with decision overwhelm and you sort of can’t make any decisions. And I remember the electrician turning up in our kitchen to put the spotlights in and I hadn’t thought about where they were going to go or how many they were gonna be. And I just sort of said, oh, you can decide. I thought, as the expert, the electrician, he’ll know how many lights to put in. He even does it every day and he just put way too many lights in. And sometimes I turn them on, I think, God, why did I do that? Why didn’t I think a little bit more about the lighting? It’s such an important thing. But again, at the time, I was overwhelmed. It’s something that I wish I had thought about and I wish I’d done it a bit slower. But when you are in the midst of a big renovation, it’s very difficult to keep on top of all these decisions all the time. But I would say, don’t forget your lighting. It’s a really important part of any room is how you’re going to light it and really doing that with intention, because I definitely didn’t do that. I have way too many spotlights in my kitchen. We’ve had a few instances with plumbing where I just laid in an oak parquet floor, and we had a plumber around for a reason, I can’t remember. And he for somehow there was a leak, and I hadn’t sealed this floor, and it had only been down a few days, and it just went all over this oak. It soaked because it wasn’t sealed it just soaked right into the wood, and I was pretty gutted about that but I had to just spend hours sanding, hours sanding it back to try and get the color back, and and try and remove some of the spots of water. And it didn’t do a perfect job. There are still spots of the water on there, but again, it’s not perfect but realistically it’s fine. No one else would notice but me.

[00:12:16] Sabrina Pierotti: Oh my gosh, I can only imagine how I would be. I want to talk about analysis paralysis and decision overwhelm. Have you learned how to be more decisive with your decision making over the past 10 years?

[00:12:29] Kat Sanders: You’ve got to have lists. You’ve got to have lists somewhere like on your phone or written down, because you do. Otherwise, you’re just going to miss something. Because, like you say, there’s just so many decisions to make. But yeah, I definitely think I’ve become a lot better at decision making. I’ve definitely become a little more confident in that kind of aspect.

[00:12:43] Sabrina Pierotti: Now, I want to talk about money, specifically a budget. Like, this is always a huge factor, as it should be. What are some ways that you’ve learned to structure your budget without compromising on style and quality? And is there a way somebody can figure out a good budget for a home rental or even just like a quick refresh of a room? Like, what’s a good starting point?

[00:13:07] Kat Sanders: Yeah, it depends how big you’re talking, but if you’re talking on a big scale renovation with extensions and things, the best thing you can do is get multiple quotes from multiple different companies. Don’t just get one and think that’s how much it costs, because the costs can vary hugely. It’s going to vary depending on area. It’s obviously going to vary depending on spec, but you’ve got to get multiple quotes, and then, once you’ve got multiple quotes, you’ve got to have a certain amount saved up but it is not part of that budget, because you will overspend in some way. There’s just, it always happens. Something will happen, something will go wrong, or you will decide on a change, and it will cost you more money. So, you’ve got to have that kind of safety net, I would say. But in terms of trying to stretch your budget, things that you can do yourself, you should do yourself. Even though it’s hard work and some of it’s boring. Like painting, obviously dull, it takes ages. If you’re painting white, it’s even worse, but you can save so much money doing it yourself. And one of the things that I’ve definitely got more into is getting sort of second-hand furniture. Because you can get really good, solid, good-quality furniture that is so much better than what you’d get like in a flat pack that you get delivered from the internet. Second-hand furniture can bring a lot of character, and it’s a really good way of stretching your budget, and charity shops are incredible for artwork and things like that. Most of my artwork is second hand from charity shops.

[00:14:25] Sabrina Pierotti: Now we kind of touched on this earlier, but one of the biggest takeaways of just doing something yourself is the confidence and just being proud of yourself. And one of my favorite projects that I’ve done here is I just bought like a basic bookshelf, and it just looked like very like bland. And so, I bought this like very pretty blue mosaic tile wallpaper, and I put it behind the shelves and like on front of the cabinet drawers. And it brought so much personality to it. And that’s one of the biggest things people compliment me on. They’re like, it’s such a good little hack. And that’s really the only, one of the only DIY things I’ve done in our home, but I’m so proud of it. How has DIY or just home renos and just the home that you’ve created for your family over the past decade, how has that shifted your confidence and just your overall mindset?

[00:15:18] Kat Sanders: Yeah, I definitely think it’s massively increased my confidence. I think I just sort of got to the point where I thought, well, there isn’t any actual reason why I can’t do this, that I can do this. So, and if I don’t try, then I’ll never know. And I grew up watching my dad do DIY. So, I sort of been in my life since I was little. And that’s how I suppose I learned a lot. And he did all the DIY in our home. And he is the person that I will ring if, you know, I don’t know how to approach something or has he ever done this? I’ll speak to him and ask whether he’s done it, and he’s helped me with loads of projects. But I think it’s also empowering. I’ve got two daughters, and I want them to see that women are able to do these things. There’s no reason why you’re not capable of doing these things, but it’s important for me that they see that as a role model, I suppose. Because I want them to feel confident that they can do anything that they set their mind to, regardless of their gender. But yeah, it’s definitely given me so much more confidence, and more than that, it’s actually given me a business as well. So, when I see my Instagram and the content that I create for other businesses and that’s given me a massive amount of confidence in myself as well, sort of standing in front of a camera, because I’m talking about something that a couple years ago would have been quite intimidating, but now it’s sort of like water off a duck’s back, I do all the time. But yeah, so my confidence is massively increased, my confidence. And I’m just really pleased that I actually picked up that paintbrush for the first time and did it, really.

[00:16:44] Sabrina Pierotti: That is so cool. How did your online community, which is very impressive by the way, kudos to you on that because that is so hard to build, how did that happen? Was it something that just organically you started to share and people started to be really interested in what you were creating or was it more intentional?

[00:17:04] Kat Sanders: It definitely started off organically, and then it just sort of spiraled and grew. And then, when I was on maternity leave with my third child, about 2½ years ago, I just thought, I’m going to take this really seriously, and I’m going to treat it like a business, which is what it is. And that was the point where I really started to really intentionally thinking about what I was doing and what I was posting. And that’s when I started making content for not just myself, but for other brands as well, which I don’t post, they post. So, that’s, when it was really sort of 2½ years ago, and I just thought, if I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it properly. And that’s when I thought, I think I also started putting myself in front of the camera rather than just perhaps my projects in front of the camera. And I think that probably helps perhaps with the algorithm and things like that, if they see a face there. But yeah, I was really, I mean, I’ve had it for years and years, so it’s been a sort of a slow build, but it’s really taken off for me as a sort of business project in the last sort of 2½ years. Because that’s when I decided I was going to like knuckle down and do it properly and actually take it seriously. Yeah. And I’m really proud, and it’s something I’m very proud of as well.

[00:18:05] Sabrina Pierotti: You absolutely should be. I see a future HGTV show in your future.

[00:18:09] Kat Sanders: Oh, imagine.

[00:18:11] Sabrina Pierotti: Now, as we start to wrap up the show, if there’s someone right now that’s listening that wants to start their first home project this weekend, what is the simplest advice that you can give and leave them with today?

[00:18:24] Kat Sanders: The simplest advice is, and I said it before, what is the worst that could happen? What is the worst that can happen? Very little things can be not fixed really. So, I would just give it a go. And if you’ve never done anything before, though I slated it a minute ago, flat pack furniture is a really great place to learn, because it’s a nightmare to put together, but you will learn a lot, because you’ve got to use a lot of tools, and then, like I said before, another sort and like you were saying wallpaper but wall paneling. They’re all really good starting points for really transforming a space if you’ve not done anything like that before. But the best advice I can give is what is the worst that can happen just give it a go really.

[00:19:01] Sabrina Pierotti: So good, Kat, where can people go and find you if they want to check out your space and learn from you?

[00:19:08] Kat Sanders: OK, so mainly, I’m mostly on Instagram. So, my Instagram handle is @thebarnrenovation. I am also on TikTok with the same handle, and you can find me at www.thebarnrenovation.com as well.

[00:19:19] Sabrina Pierotti: Amazing. Thank you so much. This has been amazing. And I am feeling motivated already to just to move and get this French countryside theme underway. Thank you so much for listening to Merging Into Life. If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, leave a review, and share it with a friend who’s ready to tackle their next home project. And since this is our final episode of the season, we just wanted to say thank you so much for joining us on this journey. We really hope that these conversations helped you feel more confident navigating everyday life one step at a time. If you enjoyed the show, do us a very quick favor, hit that like button, leave a review, and share it with a friend who’d love it too. It helps more than you know, and it keeps the good stuff coming your way. Thanks for being part of the ride.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are not necessarily the views of AAA Northeast, AAA and/or its affiliates.