DIY

I spent thousands renovating a 2,000-square-foot home — but these 5 cheap upgrades actually made the biggest difference

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Stone fireplace with wood leather couch and gray chair next to it and white walls
Renovating our rental home cost thousands, but some of the cheapest upgrades were the most effective.

Jessica Ulysses Grant

We're budgeting $400,000 to flip 5 train cars into Airbnbs. It all started with a 1970s caboose we bought on Facebook marketplace.

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Newly yellow painted Chessie Systems caboose
Nightly stays in a historic train caboose from the 1970s will be available soon..

Courtesy of Ray and Karen Devite

This couple's DIY 'Skoolie' bus conversion took 4 years and cost $20,000. See inside their 'mid-century' dream home.

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Joshua Beaman and Anna Morgan in front of the school bus, with an image of the interior of the converted
Joshua Beaman and Anna Morgan in front of their school bus, and the interior of their converted "Skoolie."

Courtesy of Joshua Beaman/ The Haus Moves

2 friends spent less than $50,000 to start up an off-grid tiny home. Here's how they're funding the lifestyle.

Tech Insider : Economy
Savannah is on the left and holds a chicken. Casey is on the right and holds a rake.
Savannah, left, and Casey, right, live in the Southeastern US.

Hey Wanderer

We bought a house with an indoor pool. We thought it would be awesome but $30,000 later we wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

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A man and woman sitting at the edge of an indoor pool in their home.
Kaitlin and Josh Chmil bought a home with an indoor pool in 2020.

Courtesy of Kaitlin Chmil.

A software engineer built a tiny home for his mom and now he has a full-blown business selling DIY plans

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The Tiny Retirement home which has large windows
Dan Louche set up Tiny Home Builders in 2009.

Tiny Home Builders

A millennial couple lives debt-free in a house they built by hand in Montana. Now, they're teaching others how to do the same in workshops that cost less than $1,000.

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Daniel and Katherine Ray standing in front of a pile of hay.
Daniel and Katherine Ray run Spiritwood Natural Building, a business that offers workshops teaching people how to build sustainable cob houses.

Daniel Ray/Spiritwood Natural Building

A Montana couple spent $20,000 building a 2-bedroom house, and now they're debt-free. There's just one catch: The house is made of clay, sand, and straw.

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A house made from earth and dirt rises from the ground in the distance, behind a lush, green vegetable garden.
The exterior of the completed cob house and the garden.

Daniel Ray/Spiritwood Natural Building

A mom spent $41,000 on a rundown cottage and transformed it into an Airbnb rental. Now she's quit her job to run it.

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Ebonn stands in her completed kitchen in a pink stripped shirt and white pants
Ebonn Twilley inside the 85-year-old South Carolina cottage she spent two years renovating into an Airbnb.

Courtesy of Ebonn Twilley

A Tennessee woman turned a millionaire's private 55-acre playground into an Airbnb empire with a replica Noah's ark and a treehouse mansion where guests can stay from $97 a night

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The wooden ark
The Ark rents for $170 a night on Airbnb and sleeps up to four people.

Courtesy of Kelly Marie

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