Bedroom Suite Renovation Updates (October 2020!)

This post is sponsored by Northwestern Mutual. As always, all opinions are our own.

It’s been a month since we first handed over the upstairs rooms of our home to our general contractor and told him to destroy it and rebuild it, and we’re happy to report it’s pretty much been a completely smooth and positive experience! Demolition went fast, as it’s supposed to, and was the most jarring part of this whole renovation process—even moreso then handing over our first big check for all the work to be done. One day the space looked exactly like it did when we first bought the home, and the next it was entirely gutted.

Once it was all cleared out the team began framing out the new bedroom suite, which includes a walk-in closet, a toilet closet, and a shower. We hit a few small snags in the exact layout along the way, but luckily we’re working with a team of professionals, including an architect, who can quickly and knowledgeably tackle any changes that come up. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: working with professionals is so key to the success of any project! Even if you’re knowledgeable in a field, having a third party professional on your side is worth every penny.

That’s one of the reasons we were so excited to discuss our current and future plans and expenses with our Northwestern Mutual financial advisor. In her conversation with us, she was able to lay out how much of our money we should make sure is secured away for an emergency fund no matter what is going on in our lives, and how we can think ahead to potentially putting money towards life insurance and investments. Given that we know the hard numbers of what is ideal for having in our savings, we’ve been able to do the math on our side to ensure we’re responsibly spending on our home projects. It’s so easy for numbers to quickly skyrocket when you’re already spending big (i.e. when we were like “maybe we do need skylights after all”) so it’s great to have a firm number to check our expenses against. It was also so helpful to have someone thinking in terms of big picture.

When you’re doing a project like a home renovation, it’s got your entire focus. During our conversation with her we kept redirecting to what’s right in front of us: this home project, but she was able to continually remind us to see this project as one piece of the big financial picture. Having someone keep in mind not just our immediate financial reality, but also our future financial realities, is incredibly helpful when it comes to making any financial decision, no matter how big or small.

We’ve got so much experience in home decorating and have been on design teams for larger renovation projects, but this is our first time we’re working with our own dollars which has made everything a bit more stressful (although, it’s actually a super useful experience for the next time we take on client work). We’re glad to have someone we can speak with about the money side of it all and we’re learning real tips that we can apply to all aspects of our lives.

This is just the first of many big projects in our home, so getting our feet wet in this world of budgeting, planning, and spending has kinda given us a sense of confidence going forward—and having a professional financial advisor through Northwestern Mutual makes it all the better.

If all goes to plan, the next few weeks will involve plumbers and electricians doing their magic, and then eventually wrapping everything up so we can get to decorating. We’re in the midst of all this work and to be honest it really does feel chaotic right now, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and we can’t wait to see it all done!

Thanks for stopping by the blog, and as always feel free to reach out with any questions, or leave your comments below :)

xoxo Beau & Matt