Budget Cape Cod Home Renovation DIY Ideas

cape cod remodel open concept layout changes

All the Cape Cod Home Renovation Inspiration You Need is Right Here

I completely fell in love with this 1950s cape cod-style house and was shocked when I was the only offer! My realtor, on the other hand, was not shocked, and if you look at these before and after pictures, you’ll start to understand why.

Taking on a Cape Cod house remodel takes vision. These houses are unique in their design because of the smaller room sizes, centralized staircases, and angled second-floor ceilings.

If you have a Cape Cod-style home and want an open floor layout and need inspiration and ideas on how to accomplish this, you’re in the right place. I’m sharing room by room a before-and-after remodeling in the hopes of giving you the vision and encouragement you may need to tackle this type of fixer-upper.

Welcome to my budget cape cod home renovation!

cape cod house remodeling removing load bearing walls

How would you like ideas and inspiration for your cape cod home renovation from someone who has mastered home updates that look like an HGTV dream home, but were actually the unbelievably simple and affordable combination of beginner DIY projects and refinished thrift store furniture.

Imagine how much less stressful and on-budget your home remodel would be if you knew exactly what to and not to do.

  • It doesn’t matter how inexperienced you are.
  • It doesn’t matter how small your budget is (Can you afford a sponge? Because this is all you’ll need for a diy accent wall).
  • It doesn’t even matter how big or small your house is.

These home renovations will turn your outdated house into the home of your dreams by arming you with a boat load of budget savvy ideas, newfound DIY confidence, and the best advice on how to do things the right way (the first time). 

As you start reading these first few lines you will find yourself curious if you could really renovate your home.

But Amanda, I don’t have any DIY or design experience.

Girlfriend, yes, that’s precisely why I’m confident these project ideas and inspiration will get you the results you are looking for!

But, before I share this super contagious home project bug, let me tell you a little story about what my divorce taught me about DIY home renovations. 

What My Divorce Taught Me About DIY Home Renovations

A 1960s dark brown kitchen cabinets with old white applainces . The kitchen is in the middle of a home renovation. The text reads "budget and beginner home renovations"

I know what you’re thinking, what can I possibly have learned about renovating a home from the end of a marriage and some of the darkest days of my life.

Shockingly, this tumultuous time of worrying about custody schedules, splitting assets, and throwing my life’s savings straight into the pocketbook of my lawyer, taught me this:

  • I don’t need a man or a lot of money to transformy my house into a designer looking home, 
  • I’m way more handy than that voice inside my head made me believe, and 
  • DIY projects are more healing than Prozac.

The lesson here is you can, stop relying on someone else to make your house to look like your Pinterest boards. Stop listening to those voices telling you, you can’t do it and it’s too hard. Stop thinking you need a lot of money or experience to do home renovations.

These home renovation ideas I’m about to share with you are beginner and budget friendly so you can stop worrying about money or making a mistake. 

And maybe the best part of all, is these are designed to allow you to move at your own pace, so you’ll be able to tackle projects when your free time allows, even if that’s only every other weened (split families know what I’m talking about!).

Have you noticed how excited you’re starting to feel about home projects? Maybe your mind has wandered to an accent wall in your living room, bathroom floor tile colors, or something really big like a complete gut of your home. 

Imagine how your life will change when you finally love your home. What would it feel like to have a space that reflects who you are, instead of despising it?

What would it feel like to cook for your family in a welcoming, modernized kitchen instead of your dreary outdated one?

Can you feel that rush of satisfaction looking around knowing you painted those cabinets, you hung that ship lap, you tiled that floor, you stripped the paint from that table you sit around every night making memories with your family.

Every day you’re not putting these home renovation secrets to work for you is another day your home is not living up to your expectations. Another day of struggling to be excited about having friends over. Another day with no progress on making things better.

Your doubt and fear about a cape cod home renovation is slipping as you finish reading this, right? Welcome to the DIY life, friend. Remember, I warned you this was contagious!

Chose to start now! Choose to say yes to your home renovation. Choose to say yes to every single one of your design ideas.

Get started now on any one these incredibly obtainable DIY cape Cod home renovation ideas!

The Story of an Outdated Home that Desperately Needed Updating

Updated cape cod layout to an open concept living room and entryway. There are white walls, a sponge paint accent wall, natural wood dresser, a white couch, and a black wood burning stove, a blanket ladder.

In 2020, the peak (or so we thought at the time) of the COVID housing market, I bought this absolutely adorable cape cod style home for myself and two boys. Fairly freshly divorced, this was the place where, now as a family of 3, I could build the life I knew we all deserved. 

The condition of the home was immaculate. That type of old person that keeps everything priteene once lived here. We’re talking the inside of the kitchen cabinets were as fresh as the day they were installed. 

Sounds dreamy, right? But not entirely. Because there was one problem, an orange one to be exact.

The interior of this house was not only outdated; it was like someone puked orange crush for days. 

Wall to wall orange shag carpet. Floor to ceiling orange paneling. Orange trim stretching as far as you could see.

Need I say more? I think you understand the issue with the interior of this home!

Ok, so I know I said there was one problem, but maybe there was a second. Money. 

Divorce is expensive, buying a house is expensive, raising two boys is expensive. 

I don’t tell you this for pity. Instead, so that you can understand what brought me to taking DIY head on even though the closest I had gotten to a home renovation project was during my latest Pinning session. 

I figured it out and poured my soul into sharing every detail with you so that you can completely makeover your home without needing a design degree, worrying about making a mistake, or relying on someone else to do it for you. 

Every idea is approved by and includes the expert advice of an industry pro who’s been at it for 40 years – and that is something you won’t find anywhere else!

Before you tour my “Red Cape House”, let me tell you the story of how this house got its name. 

Partly because it is red, but mostly because a few years after remodeling this home, I sold it. And because of how insanely inexpensive these projects were, I profited more than a quarter-million dollars with these home renovation ideas!

I then went on to purchase a smaller cape cod style home, which I call Little Cape. So, to prevent any confusion between my two homes, one goes by its color, and the other by its size.

Why I sold it is an entirely different story you can read about here!

Cape Cod Style House Tour Before and After Renovations

A red cape cod style home porch with a female raising her arm to welcome you to the home. The text reads "before and after house tour"

Let yourself soak up the details in every room of my Red Cape House, let the incredible before and after home renovation transformations inspire you to start now. 

Start planning the layout of your kitchen remodel. Start dreaming about the long soaks you’ll take in your remodeled bathroom. Start getting used to that feeling of your heart skipping a beat from the sheer self-satisfaction as you look around at the home you created.

Each post is packed with…

  • project ideas
  • how to tutorials
  • and of course sources so you can spend less time figuring out how to do it, and more time admiring your completed DIY projects.

Oh, and one last thing before you go down a rabbit hole of every project you’re going to do in your home. 

I want you to know you don’t have to tackle these things on your own. Become a member of the Sisterhood of the most incredible women who love DIY. Come ask honest questions and build friendships through our passion for projects.

All the Cape Cod Home Renovation Inspiration You Need is Right Here

Explore every room using these links (I’m working on getting these posts up!):

Once you’ve toured this house, a good next step is to get more inspiration from my Little Cape! Although smaller, the projects involved in renovating this cape cod style home were far more extensive.

Like down to the studs, completely changing the layout, re-wiring all of the electrical and plumbing, and more! 

Don’t miss the exciting renovation journey – more cape cod home renovation inspiration is waiting in here!