I’m sure you’ve heard this before. It’s called the Iron Triangle and the idea behind it is that when it comes to goods or services, you can’t have all three – good, fast and cheap – but you can only choose two. If you want something done well and quickly, it won’t be cheap. And if you want something quick and cheap, the quality will suffer.
The third combination is the one I live in most often as a DIYer. If you want something to be done well and it’s cheap, it’s going to take a lot longer. That’s the world of home improvement in a nutshell. Ask any DIYer to tell you the number one motivating factor for completing projects themselves, and it will most certainly be “saving money.”
That’s not to say that saving money is the only reason I DIY. I also do it because I love it. I enjoy building things, making things with my own hands, being able to give our home a completely customized look that is one of a kind, and feeling the satisfaction of looking at a finished project or room and being able to say, “I made that with my own two hands.”
But in the end it comes down to money. I could very easily get a completely custom house, one that is completely unique to me and doesn’t look like anyone else’s house, and I could get that without ever having to pick up a power tool or break a sweat if I were willing to pay a lot to have someone else do it for me. But that’s not me. Because I’m cheap. I want the completely custom look at the lowest possible price, so I DIY. And because I DIY everything I can, it takes a lot longer. You can’t have good, fast and cheap. You can only choose two.
So why do I mention this? Well, I started thinking about this last night when I read your comments on yesterday’s post about my upcoming storage room project. Many people have recommended The Container Store’s Elfa system. There were other similar suggestions, but after looking at and comparing the other systems, the Elfa system seemed to be the highest quality with the most options. For example, I really like the option of having solid shelves instead of wire shelves. I also love the wire mesh drawers that integrate easily into the system.
But many of you warned, “It’s expensive!” I first looked at the individual components (which are currently on sale for 25% off) and they didn’t seem too expensive. The top rail on which the entire system hangs costs just under $30. The rails that hang from this top rail cost just under $40 each. The largest mesh drawers are $60 each. These are all current retail prices and they seemed pretty reasonable to me, so I started planning what I would need for my storage unit.
Then I noticed that there are complete, pre-built systems that you can purchase in various configurations. So I clicked on the model that I thought would be suitable for one of the walls of my storage room and the price shocked me. Yes, all those little components you have to buy to build a whole wall (or in my case, not quite a whole wall, so I’d have to add them) add up really quickly!!
For example, this 6-foot-wide pantry, which would fill about 18 inches less than a wall in my storage room, costs $3,120.75. And that is the current selling price. Regular price is $4160.00.
Yes, you weren’t kidding when you said it was expensive. It is very nice! And if I were to buy a wall system, I would want it to look exactly like this. But even this one pre-made package wouldn’t even cover an entire wall in my storage room. While the second wall would be arranged differently in my storage room, I would still need about twice that amount for the two walls, plus additional components to cover the additional width of each wall.
So at a bare minimum, I’d be looking at around $7,000 for the storage components alone for a room that’s just under 8 feet square. (I think, if I remember correctly, the room is about 7.5 by 8 feet.)
Just for comparison, my entire walk-in closet, including one room of it…
…and turn it into this…
…cost me a total of $10,698.88. And that price includes everything – new floors, all cabinets, the center dresser island, the new lighting, the wallpaper, all the hardware. Everything. And this room is about 11′ x 15′. (From memory, this may not be the exact size, but it is close.) The plywood, lumber, and trim for the closets and center island came to $3,141.80.
I got exactly what I wanted in this room. I got the custom look I wanted as cheaply as possible, but it took a long time from start to finish. This trio of good, cheap and fast was not an option. I had to sacrifice one of these things to get the other two, so “quick” had to be done. And looking back, I’m so glad I took this route. I love going into my closet and seeing the results of my hard work. I love knowing that I have a beautiful and unique walk-in closet tailored just for me. And the icing on the cake is that Matt said to me the other day, “Every time I walk by that room, I’m amazed at what you’ve done in there.”
All of this is to say that I feel like “quick” will always be the option I want to pass up. And that will probably be the case when I tackle the storage room. Sometimes I would like to live in a world where I could always choose the “good + fast” option, but for someone like me, who is not only a true DIYer at heart, but also lives with a very realistic budget and always has to think about the end result in the many projects I want to do, I will probably never be able to live in that world of “good + fast”. It’s fun to follow people on social media who have this opportunity. Sometimes I’m a little jealous of her. But at the end of the day, I’m completely happy and content in my world of good + cheap, even if it takes me a little (or a lot) longer to get to that end result.
