Some occasions call for a nice bubbly, and some for a brewski, amIright? Same goes for your home. There are so many places you can save, I mean really save, and others where you should splurge. You’ve probably heard a thousand times that kitchens and baths sell homes – mostly true. I’d like to add living space to the list, but that’s for another day. Today, let’s focus on your kitchen. I have a good friend who is about to undertake a major kitchen renovation and she asked me for my best piece of advice as she tackles this project. Here’s what I told her:

Pick one big splurge and go all out.

She looked at me a little crazy because I’m the budget conscious one…always finding the steal of the century and not going over my designated price point, especially for large purchases. But one thing I’ve learned in both real estate and selling our own homes is that people like to be impressed. They want to see a “wow” factor. And that goes back to the lipstick we talked about a while back. In our most recent kitchen gut, we were determined to stick to our budget since this house needed everything. We blew it all on the big ticket items like new mechanicals, roof, windows – the works. A homeowner’s nightmare all at once. So for the kitchen, we were down to our last dollar and had to make it stretch.

We chose ikea cabinets and let me tell you – they rock. We were able to cut them down to customize them for our layout and they had just the modern, clean feel we were vibing on in the space. Since we were going with an open concept design, we saved even more by not lining the back wall with upper cabinets. But with the entire kitchen open to the main living space, we needed to find that wow factor. I popped in to our local tile shop and immediately spied the most stunning hexagonal marble tile. It didn’t just call out to me, it sang. It was large (both in size, and in dollars). It was unique, the perfect shade of grey and the best part was, I’d never seen it before. In a complete role reversal Jon said there was absolutely no way we were spending $20 a foot on a backsplash. I played the happy wife happy life card and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

Not only is this wall a major focal point on the entire main floor, but it really is a piece of art in the space. The way the light plays off the tiles is just gorgeous IRL. The choice of using the hexagon shape adds dimension and also the luxe look we were after. As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one who’d never seen it before. When we listed it for sale, people said they had scheduled a showing based on the kitchen photos alone. (Jon, I won’t add an I told you so here. That would be wrong.)

Depending on your kitchen, the backsplash may not be where you should splurge. If it’s only a small area, that’s where you can save and perhaps put it toward a gorgeous slab on the island or that Wolf range you’ve been lusting after. My point is this. Your kitchen really is the heartbeat of the home. Pick one spot that sings for you and make it reach that opera octave.

What have you splurged on in your kitchen? Comment below!