Budget Breakdown: The Biggest Saves and Splurges of 2021

Though Toronto couple Nicole Spiteri and Blair Johnson were content with their newly renovated downtown condo, the duo stumbled across an old Victorian "with laneway potential" that was too good to pass up. After buying the home, they went about knocking down a detached garage and in its place built this new laneway unit, putting their DIY skills to the test. Part of the impetus for being so hands-on was to stay within budget. "We identified what we were capable of doing, and just didn’t hire people to do those parts," says Blair. In the case of the siding, for example, pre-stained cedar was just too pricey, so they stocked up on cedar from the lumber yard and got to work on it with Home Depot paint themselves.