I totally agree. It seems that the bigger the budget, the greater the fear that something won't come out looking perfect. When the investment is small, you don't really mind taking decorating risks.

Ok, you have my attention. I have priced countertops. IMO they are all pricing the same. I am now challenging my creativity and DIY history. I am planning to decrease the countertop budget!

I always get creative when I'm making my own home decor! I always get my fabrics on sale and that saves me lots of money.

L W, somewhere here on houzz, over the winter, there was the cutest kitchen and the owners were on a budget. They made their counter tops from left over hardwood flooring. I'll see if I can find the story.

Thank you JudyG. HGTV I Hate My Kitchen used wood floor boards for a countertop. I like wood countertops. Started looking to price. They are available locally.

A creation or two:

$5 chair, $50 fabric, $30 spray paint.

Knock off for less than $10. Tub from Florida.

@LW--I like what you did with that chair! Just so everyone knows, you can sometimes find remnants of very decent fabric for almost nothing on eBay. I've re-upholstered my four dining chairs twice for less than $15 each time. The first time, I did it in a leopard-skin print because I wanted to see if "trendy" suited me. It didn't, so I bought a remnant of velvet in a navy print that was more my kinda thing. My point is that if you do things cheap enough, you minimize the regret that comes with making a lousy choice.

This has been my mantra for quite a while. Best furniture deals are pre-sale at my church's rummage sale. I put in two weeks work on the sale so I get first picks.

I got these two wicker chairs, that I love, for $20.00!

Habitat's ReSale shop is fantastic for good buys. I know the day my Grosse Pointe neighbors have pick-up and check the spoils out the next day.

I have a fairly expansive fabric warehouse store near me, all I have to do is be willing to go dig through the flat fold area(s) or even the remnant bins (I've been waist deep in remnants more times than I can recall, the store employees gave me funny looks the first time but once they knew I always put the fabric I'm not going to buy back in the bins the strange looks stopped, lol.) to save money on fabric.

Over the years I've found that some companies located abroad have great deals for excellent quality items, others...not so much. A general example; if I'm looking to buy kimono, other traditional Japanese apparel and/or home goods I'll buy from Ichiroya, not a local business with suspiciously cheap prices. I know that Ichiroya spends a large amount of time on their hunt for the items they sell - textiles/apparel antiques, antique decor, and new textiles/apparel - but it's precisely this that makes it worth it to give my business to them despite the shipping cost to get my order from Japan to where I live in California.

Putting up a closet organizer system can work out fine for the DIY who knows what they're doing and is attentive to all details involved; conversely it can go very badly resulting in many holes which need to be patched before hiring a pro like they should of done to begin with. It's not saving any money when you attempt a project beyond your skill set, botch it royally and have to hire a pro to fix the mess *and* do the project. People shouldn't feel ashamed to need help or having to hire a pro - it may take longer to be ready to start a project because you have to have the means or financing to pay someone to do the job, but most people need to practice accepting delayed gratification is part of life. Demanding or expecting to get the really expensive thing immediately is the adult version of a kid throwing a tantrum in public because they want that toy/not to go to bed/to be allowed to do something *now* (like the spoiled rich girl in Willy Wonka "I want an oompa loompa NOOOOOOOOOWW!")

Setting aside funds to budget the pricey things many want to do when they own a home (kitchen reno, flooring, painting, bathroom reno - or if you're my neighbor, gutting the entire inside of their home and rebuild it all with the desired configuration of walls/kitchen/stairs etc...) is good, but try to decide what will be the most important things you want done in case you have to choose only a couple of those because the job ran over budget or is near that point.