Money-saving Tips for a Retro Reno

Renovations are expensive. When it’s important to be true to a certain aesthetic—in our case Cliff May’s mid-century modern—you want to do things right. And when you’ve got champagne taste and a chardonnay budget, getting the biggest bang for the proverbial buck takes tenacity, savvy and creativity. A little dumb luck doesn’t hurt either.

Case in point: Not long after we bought our Rancho and moved into our rental nearby, we visited our local Habitat for Humanity “Restore,” which is essentially a thrift store for builders. And what did we see right out front? Seven pallets of polished terrazzo tile—my dream floor—for about $1.25 a square foot! We snapped it up. It’s installed and being ground as we speak.

That was luck. Now for tenacity. When we were at the appliance store choosing a wall oven, I was drawn to the only one on the floor that had actual knobs instead of a digital display panel. Seemed like a good fit for a 1953 kitchen, right? Turns out I’d found myself a Thermador “Professional” oven, and I wasn’t about to pay $4,000 for an oven when it was knobs, not performance, I was after. So I went on a hunt for something with a similar look at a more reasonable price. I spent hours on the Internet. I found a Kenmore that looked adorable for less than half the price, but the reviews were dismal. I found a handsome Viking, but it was still too pricey. I called appliance outlets on a daily basis. I got myself on email mailing lists. And then . . . success! An outlet in Torrance had a discontinued Viking model that looks just like the current one and cost about half as much as the Thermador. Even has a cute little retro-looking clock/timer. Mine! Should be installed next week.

We’re also installing reasonably priced, glossy-gray Ikea cabinets, which we think look great. Even though we’d missed a recent cabinet sale in the spring, we’d heard whisperings of another coming up in July. Could it be true? If it was, we had to wait to order ours until sale time, but we knew Ikea staff are forbidden from discussing upcoming sales before the company makes an official announcement. So again, I scoured the Internet. I found a blogger who seemed to be in the know who said a sale would begin on Independence Day. So I called the local Ikea’s kitchen department. It went like this:

Me: I’m calling about the sale that starts July fourth.

Sales Clerk: Uh-huh?

Me: Do we know yet what the discount structure is for cabinets?

Sales Clerk: Not yet.

Me: Do we know if the sale will be both in-store and online?

Sales Clerk: Probably both, but we don’t know yet.

Me: When will you find out?

Sales Clerk: They don’t usually give us any information until a day or two before the sale starts.

Me: So, like, July second or third?

Sales Clerk: Yes.

Bingo! So we waited until July 4 to order and saved 20 percent on our already reasonably priced cabinets. Sometimes it pays to be patient. And sneaky.

Another super-deal came about because of my good friend Tom, who knew I was on the lookout for a Dishmaster M76, perhaps the coolest faucet ever made. (Our babysitter had one of these babies when I was a kid. It fascinated me, even then.) Tom sent me a text letting me know that OSH had them on sale, marked down from $189.99 to $98.88! We high-tailed it on down there, and when we made our way to the cash register, the sales clerk behind the counter slid a 20-percent-off coupon to us! Ca-ching! Hello, bargain! What’s not to love?