A mom-of-three has revealed how she added a staggering $650,000 onto the value of her $450,000 house by investing just $26,000 in DIY renovations.
Content creator and CEO Jenna Rutherford - from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada - poured her heart and soul into the renovation of her house, and added more than half a million dollars to the value.
After Jenna, 33, and husband Brock Rutherford, 39, welcomed their daughters Ashytn, now nine, and Tenley, now eight, into the world, the photographer decided to put the camera aside and take on the daunting task of transforming their house into a home.
And after three years of customizing the home to her liking, Jenna was able to increase the value by more than $600,000 by spending $26,000 on DIY updates, such as building new cabinets and adding light fixtures.
She explained: 'Once the doors and windows had been installed we started hanging drywall and doing all the finishing work inside the home.
'We made the bedrooms larger and gained an additional 1,000 square feet on this home from the previous by building forward and over the garage.'
The mom also revealed the family decided to transform the laundry closet into an 'open concept laundry room.'
Before diving into the renovations, the family paid $200,000 for the plot of land and framing of their home, then they invested another $250,000 to finish building the property, which spans over 4,200 square feet including the basement.
Having spent $450,000 on building the house, Jenna then set about working to update the interiors with her own unique touches - a move that she says has seen the property's value shoot up.
'So far, we have invested around $25,000 in transforming the house,' she explained. A home this size, if completed fully by a home builder in our city, markets for $850,000.
'We recently had our home appraised at $1.1 million.'
After they had third daughter Emersyn, five, and the COVID pandemic hit, the photographer and now-mom-of-three decided to get back to the drawing board when it came to elevating her home.
She explained: 'We had another daughter Emersyn, five, a few years later, and then COVID hit shortly after that.
'I found myself needing an outlet so I decided to take my husband's "honey-do-list" off his hands and into mine and start making our house a home, one room at a time.'
She continued by creating one of her favorite rooms in the home, the Murphy room.
'My favorite space in our house is the Murphy Bed Room, AKA The Retreat,' Jenna said.
'This was one of my first big builds and I only had eight weeks to complete it.
'This involved building four built-in cabinets with upper shelves, all made from scratch, a custom-made window bench, a custom-made Murphy bed, wall molding, custom made faux beams, and new lights.
'I love this space because I can easily retreat to it during the day for a quick nap on the Murphy bed, sit on the window bench with a good book, or lounge on the couch and get some work done on my computer.
'My two favorite spaces are the pantry, which was about $1,138, and the front room that we call the retreat with a Murphy bed for about $1,896.'
And while Jenna loved her time decorating her home, she did deal with her fair share of hardships.
'We have unfortunately dealt with basement flooding due to a sump pump failing. It was hard to see our hard work literally go down the drain but we were able to get insurance and fix it fairly quickly,' she added.
And while Jenna doesn't know exactly how much each space costs to renovate, she was able to give a rough estimate.
'I don't have an exact breakdown of each space, but they do range from $100 to $4,000 for each space/project,' she said.
She continued: 'If we are counting from the time we built, it has taken us eight years. However, I have been customizing it for three years now.
'We have a two-story home with three car attached garage, our footprint is 3,000 square feet plus a 1,200 square foot basement.'
Their home is now worth $1.1 million.
Jenna is proud of how her work turned out, noting that all of their guests are always shocked.
'I am absolutely in love with how it turned out. I feel like it is far more inviting and a place I can relax in,' she said.
'People are always amazed to hear that I did most of the work by myself and the cohesiveness between each space.'
The mom-of-three is also hoping that her home project helps to inspire her children, and show them they can do anything they put their mind to.
She explained: 'I have been able to teach my girls life skills and make our home more inviting and cozy for us and our friends.'
Jenna even offered her own advice for those who are looking to begin their own projects.
'Start small and gain your confidence but also don't be afraid to try new things,' she said.
'Expect things to go wrong sometimes but when they do, allow yourself to shift your mind and keep going.'