I hired subcontractors for the stucco, concrete, kitchen countertops, and tile work. To cut costs, I did the prep work. Everything else, I did myself-electrical, water, everything.

My dad was a contractor, and growing up I worked summers for him, but I had never done anything by myself. Not a thing. I’ve learned everything from watching other people or by reading my collection of old Time-Life books. Friends and family also helped. A case of beer went a long way.

Overall, the limitations of our budget forced us to be creative. We spent $55,000 on the renovation. That’s taking everything into account, including the cabinets, all the appliances, fixtures, material, and labor.

We decided to spend more on the things we’ll use the most. We like to cook and having a Viking range was essential. Our range was used at a cooking demo show, so I got it online for half-price. The recessed lighting was a splurge. Each light cost about $40, and we got 27 of them instead of putting one light in the middle of the ceiling. We skimped on the flooring, which is bamboo laminate, and on cabinetry, which is from Ikea.

The house is extremely efficient. We use less energy than most homes on the street. We didn’t have the budget to go completely green, but we tried to wherever we could. The roof is recycled metal and we used scrap wood or compressed board when we could.

There are things we’d do differently if we did it again. We would have explored cork flooring. Also, it takes an insane amount of skill to do drywall properly, so I ended up doing this funky texture. I would have been more liberal with knocking things down, but
I was too scared. But again, our budget was limited, as was my skill and our time. I think it turned out pretty nice considering the money we spent.

In my delusional mind, this project was only supposed to take 30 days. I started work the week escrow closed. I’d leave our place at 5 a.m. to work on the house, then go to my full-time job at 9 a.m., get out at 5 p.m., grab fast food, and come here and work until midnight. It took three and a half months, and I only took two days off.

The house is very economical in space and keeps us honest. Like in the kitchen, most people have a couple cans of something, hearts of palm or whatever, that don’t get used and just sit there. We don’t have that luxury. There isn’t room for anything frivolous. The entire house is used all of the time.

I would love for someone to read this story and think, If these people could do it, I can do it. It seems so clichéd, like some weight-loss commercial, but it’s true: It’s doable, if you have the desire.

Since the couple wanted a modicum of privacy for their sleeping space, yet didn’t want to close off the area with a small traditional door, they decided to use a barnyard type partition for the room. A cheap plywood sheet like those found at any lumberyard became the door, which Lucky mounted onto a sliding metal track attached to the top of the wall. The result is essentially a wall that cleverly slides open to reveal the room inside.
mcmaster.com
It pays to bargain hunt online. In outfitting their home, Lucky and Kim relied heavily
on the Internet. While eBay was their source for half-price appliances and fixtures, the couple also found some handy furniture sites. The Eames-style chairs were bought online for $100 apiece. The Nelson lamps were bought from a dealer who keeps
a (cheaper) cache of modernica and Case Study goods.
inthome.com
Kim had always admired the deep hues
of an architecture studio that she regularly drove by, and she became obsessed with replicating the color for their home’s exterior. After sorting through dozens of paint chips at Home Depot, she finally found
an exact match: Sled, by Behr Paint. “The color lends itself to our sensibilities, but our neighbors constantly call our house black. We’re like, ‘It’s blue! Look at it!’” Lucky
says indignantly. behr.com
behr.com

Lucky and Kim wanted an open living space, but they couldn’t afford to knock down the load-bearing wall between the living room and the kitchen. “A compromise was to put in a wall you could see through,” says Lucky. They used Solexx, an inexpensive material made of polyethylene. It was delivered in four-by-eight-foot panels, which Lucky cut
to size, screwed directly onto both sides of
the wall frames, and finished with a quick coat of paint. The total cost? Less than $300.
farmwholesale.com
Smooth and slick-looking, the kitchen surfaces are also sustainable: They’re a material called Richlite, which is made of layers of compressed paper bound by resins with
a thin sheet of plywood underneath. Heat-resistant and difficult to stain, it’s easily mopped up with any basic cleaning solution. And it’s a far sight cheaper than concrete or stone. It was, however, one of the few things that Lucky needed professional help to install. richlite.com
richlite.com