In September 2019, Kam and I purchased a new-to-us condo in downtown Chicago. At the time, Kam owned his own condo in the same building, but we were looking to upsize from a 1 bedroom / 1 bath to a 2 bedroom / 2 bath unit. The condo we purchased needed a ton of work, some that we categorized as immediate and other that could wait. In this post we’re going to detail out how we personally decided to phase our renovation and provide approximate overall budget percentages each phase took.
Phase 1A – 16% of the overall budget
We started Phase 1A with all major demo required in our plans. Our condo was actually a 3 bedroom when we purchased it, the previous owners had converted the dining room into that 3rd bedroom and we knew this was one of the first things we wanted to tackle. While we had a contractor on site helping us with demo, we decided to also tackle some additional things on our list that we did not want to DIY. This included installing can lighting in both the living room and the kitchen. In addition, we personally removed all of the existing carpet throughout the home along with the dated baseboards.
Phase 1B – 20% of the overall budget
Onto Phase 1B, where we would attempt to get most of the house put back together in and in order. Our projects included painting all of the walls and ceiling, installing engineered wood flooring, new baseboards, replacing all electrical outlets and switches, and blinds throughout. Once we wrapped up these tasks, we were able to start getting furniture delivered and live more comfortably through the rest of the projects.
Phase 2 – 40% of the overall budget
Phase 2 was personally the most exciting part of our overall condo renovation. It was time to tackle the kitchen. During demo, our contractor opened a wall up in the kitchen that was adjacent to the dining room, doing some partial demo of the existing cabinets. We also had them remove the existing pantry so we could expand the size of the kitchen into the eat-in-kitchen area. The kitchen project included installing all new cabinets, countertops, backsplash, and finishing touches. All of the details on our kitchen renovation can be found in this post.
Phase 3 – 9% of the overall budget
We took a few month break after completing Phase 2 so we could start to enjoy our condo and go back to some of the things we enjoy most – socializing with our friends and traveling. Phase 3 was renovating the guest bathroom. We would have preferred to renovate our primary bathroom first, but it was in better shape, and we knew we’d need at least one bathroom to use during the project. The renovation of the guest bathroom included demo of everything in the bathroom besides the existing tub and tile surround and then installing new tile flooring, vanity, toilet, light fixture, and hiring a company to refinish the existing tub and tile surround. All of the details on our guest bathroom renovation can be found in this post.
Phase 4 – 15% of the overall budget
Once we had the guest bathroom complete, we could start work on Phase 4, the last not renovated room in the house – our primary bathroom! The renovation of the primary bathroom included demo of everything in the bathroom besides the existing tub and tile surround and then installing new tile flooring, vanity, toilet, light fixture, and hiring a company to refinish the existing tub and tile surround. All of the details on our guest bathroom renovation can be found in this post.
After Phase 4, our house was completely renovated! Because of the pandemic, over the past year and a half we’ve spent 95% of our time at home and we are really happy with our condo.
