I Did It!

This fearless creative built a custom basement bar using stock cabinets for $5,000 less than a contractor’s quote. Here’s how.

- KATHY BARNES,,JEFF HERR

Erin Marshall and her husband bought their first home, an Atlanta property in foreclosure, back in 2011. Erin had no DIY experience, but she had a love for home makeover shows and a hunch that she could figure it out. Her first project was tiling a fireplace, for which she bought a wet saw and watched a lot of YouTube tutorials. Now, DIY is her full-time job, and this content creator’s favorite home projects use stock cabinets from the big-box stores, like the ones in the bar she designed and installed for just over $1,500. “You can paint stock cabinets, trim them out, and make them look totally custom,” she says. (Previous projects include a sideboard, a storage wall, a TV wall unit, an