Please note that it seems some of the photos didn't turn out. They appear on the "Preview" and when I save the edit, but they don't seem to show up on the Hub once published. I've tried to fix this but I don't believe it's a problem with me - it must be with the Hub blogging software. Sorry about that!

My dear friend says her husband calls my type of renovation a "project creep." She explained that she laid carpet up her stairs and upstairs hallway. Then she realized - yuck! That brand new carpet up against all the other carpet in our bedrooms looks horrible. Next thing she knew - she carpeted all the bedrooms as well. Project creep.

I had a working, beautiful glass top electric oven. Our appliances were bought new when we moved into the house in 2004. While my husband deployed to Iraq I decided - it's time to get my dream gas stove. When you watch the cooking channel you never see any chef cooking on an electric cook top. So I read Consumer's Report and did more research on the internet. For what I wanted - a regular sized stove (not a commercial size) because I didn't want to change the size of the space - I found that GE Profile received some of the best ratings on Consumer's Report. So I started shopping on-line for the best price. Home Depot ended up being the best price at the time and thankfully, when I stopped into my local Home Depot, the clerk told me if I waited two more days and came in on Thursday, I'd get another 15% off.

I waited until Thursday and bought this top-of-the-line gas range and bought a matching REALLY cheap microwave. I don't think I went over $100 even with tax, but it looks like it matches and I didn't need a microwave that did anything other than essentially reheat.

I had to have a gas line installed - so that was $200. The price varies depending where the gas line is into your home etc. - I was fortunate enough to have the spot in our basement RIGHT beneath the kitchen area.

Well - after the easy install - I looked at my GORGEOUS range in my outdated wallpapered dated kitchen. I HATED the kitchen when I first saw it. In fact, that first photo is the day I came into the home to consider making the offer. The former owners were wallpaper HAPPY and there was so much wallpaper all over the place they must have bought the wallpaper store out.It was almost a deal killer.

Anyway I asked a young lady who has her own business - Tina Coyer - what she would charge to take down the wallpaper and then paint. I would of course, buy all supplies. She gave me the $300 price and the renovation began. So my first suggestion is - instead of going to a brick and mortar business, find someone who "freelances" this type of thing and you'll get a GREAT price like I got. And Tina did a WONDERFUL job. She worked so hard and I happened to be her first customer for renovation type work (she previously was only doing cleaning type of services).So she deeply discounted her labor.

While she was painting - I started looking for furniture to include a kitchen table - my first stop was our local Art Van furniture store and I went straight to their clearance section. Nothing jumped out at me that was a true bargain - so I kept my search going. I finally landed at our local flea market here in Lansing because I knew they had furniture as well.

Bingo. I found this amazing clock that was normally $200 - but there was a 1/2 off sale. I was going for a little of the Roman/Italian look for my kitchen because I'm Italian and wanted an Italian kitchen. Plus, my thought was to frame and display our photos we took during our Italy vacation.

I found this amazing "Potting table" someone had painted this terrific kelly green. I needed furniture to display my Polish Pottery (OK - so my kitchen is now Italian/Polish...) but I needed something that would allow me to use the pottery - because I cook with it and eat off of it every day.

That's the piece in the right hand corner of the photo. I had this old umbrella Longaberger basket that I kept this super tall "twigs" in. I put that behind it and found craft teeny, weenie lights to light up that area and wrapped the lights around the Potting table. Plus, HSN has these "twigs" that come with lights already on them, I bought those too and stuck them into the umbrealla stand now the twigs light up beind the "windows" of the Potting table!

I had an old black standing lamp I bought ages ago in Target and put it behind an old yard sale gun cabinet I brought into the kitchen for the other corner and put my polish pottery into it. Then I took that old lamp, hidden behind the gun cabinet that had two lights - the main light faces upwards. The other is on a movable arm I had facing into the room. This old gun cabinet that someone had turned into a nic-nac cabinet with shelves now had light from behind and now that other corner is lit up when I want it to be.

I bought another small cabinet that I also found in the flea market - you can see that piece in the photo from the angle with my back to the large window and Potting table. We call this "the desk." With delivery, the clock, and two pieces of flea market furniture I paid under $800.

The new green and white table was the only thing I bought retail, but I bought it on sale. When I first saw it - I KNEW it was the table I wanted, but I went home to think about it. The next time I came in to look again to be sure it was what I wanted (at that time the walls were painted) it was on sale, for 25% off.

I decided to get only two chairs because that was the best thing for my budget because I wanted to do cash for all of these transactions. Some day - I'll get more chairs. In the meantime, when we need more chairs, I have the old kitchen table chairs we use.

The table had to be special ordered. Every table like this they sell is made to order, so I had to wait three months to get the table after putting a deposit on it - the rest due when the table was ready for delivery. The table along with the range were the two most expensive things. With tax, the table cost a little over $1300. With tax AND delivery AND installation of both the range and microwave - I spent a bit over $1200

The "window" treatment happens to be three place mats! I thought it went perfectly! So there's a huge savings right there.

So here are my tips. Find a local handy-man or handy-woman to do the wallpaper and painting if you can't do it yourself. If you don't like the price they quote ask them to go lower. In this economy - ;you'll probably get the lower price.

Don't impulse buy anything. Wait, look around, go on the internet. Go into the store with something in mind - for any retail high priced items - walk out and think about it. I would have bought that table and two chairs (the chairs normally go for almost $300 a piece) at the retail price they had - I was able to do that. But by going home and thinking about it and coming back later - I got it on sale!

Use flea markets or second hand stores or Antique shops. Ask them if they'll take a lower price. Today - people are more apt to say yes. Dicker on delivery too. I did and I got two pieces delivered for the price of one to include a lower price on the furniture than originally posted.

Look around your house and reuse items or furniture you already have. Sometimes a piece you have sort of sitting in a corner just to get it out the way can look fantastic in your new renovated area. That's exactly what I did with that gun cabinet. It was stuck in an unseen corner of our dinning room.

I have NO taste. I can't look at a room and "envision" what I want to do for a renovation. I have to go bit by bit - the paint first - then piece by piece as far as furniture and nic-nacs and wall decorations.

Take your time and don't feel you have to do everything all at once. I used my old kitchen table for months before ordering and getting my gorgeous Amish made table.Start with something basic that makes a huge difference. For me - that was wallpaper stripping and painting. That alone transformed my kitchen.

My floor is the cheapest, whitest ugly vinyl I have EVER seen. The good news is - it's truly bright white and shiny. The bad news - it's crappy linoleum. But I'm not putting in hardwood floors until we have plenty of money to do it. What's wonderful is, nobody notices the ugly white vinyl floor when they see this kitchen. The eye is drawn to other things. Most people notice the Potting table or the huge wall clock first. No one has said anything about the floor. So I'm just going to live with it for awhile.

I believe this project turned out amazing and the price rounded out for the whole thing including the table,wallpaper stripping, painting, range and microwave etc. came to approximately $4015. And I didn't pay for all of it at once. It took months to put it altogether. With patience, a keen eye for bargains, dickering for a better price and shopping at second hand stores or flea markets - you too can have a bargain renovation!