A well-designed, cozy home can uplift one’s spirit. When you’re tired, all you think about is to rest in a clean, soft bed. When you’re stressed, all you think about is a weekend stay-cation at home. If a lot of fixing needs to be done, you can’t have peace of mind at home. Your house needs improvement.
The current pandemic situation forced companies to allow work-from-home setups. An orderly can significantly improve the way you work. If your house is disorganized, you can’t focus on your work because you’re distracted by the clutter. Your house needs to be organized.
It’s crucial to stay at home because of the coronavirus. Americans spend more time at home today. According to the American Time Use Survey, people now spend 42% of their time at home, compared to just 22% before the pandemic. When you’re at home, you can’t help but notice stuff that needs upgrading.
Home upgrades, improvement projects, beautification, renovation — call it what you want, but it will only mean one thing. You have to spend money on it. You don’t have to, though. Here are four ways you can give your house a face-lift without breaking the bank.
Update Cabinets and Entryways
One of the simplest and cheapest ways to improve your house’s look is to update cabinet and door hardware. They’re an easy fix. You can even do the repairs by yourself.
Check out all cabinets and doors in your house. Take note of which ones need updating. Change the handles, doorknobs, and hinges if needed.
To take your updating a notch higher, examine the finish and paint. You can re-finish natural wood doors and cabinets or re-paint them. Re-painting kitchen cabinets, for example, can bring light into your dark kitchen. You can do the same for all the doors in your house to invite light in. A fresh, eye-popping color for your main door will also allow it to stand out, like a light in a dark street.
Don’t forget the drawers, too. Check the pulls, hinges, and slides. Change dangling and lopsided hardware.
Consider a New Paint Job for Your Exteriors
Did you know that a freshly painted exterior can increase the value of your house by 2 to 5%? Consumer Reports said so. In fact, this increase is much higher compared to when you’ll only change the interior paint.
Considering this, you might need to get a new paint job for your home’s exteriors. If the paint is peeling and there are many cracks, a pressure wash will not be enough to freshen your home. You’ll need a professional company to do the exterior home painting. Check the internet to find one in your local area.
But if there are simple painting jobs around the house, you can do them by yourself. Just use the right kind of paint for each room.
Your kitchen needs durable, easy-to-clean paint. You should use high-gloss or semi-gloss paint for it. Your living room needs paint that can withstand high foot traffic. A satin finish paint would be perfect for it. For your dining room, a smooth finish like eggshell paint will do. As for your bedroom, matte or flat paint is more appropriate to induce sleep.
Fix Damaged Floors
You walk on them all the time, so it’s not a surprise that you’ve barely noticed any problems with them. This time, however, you should take a closer look. Damaged flooring can impact the way your house looks like a whole on the inside. Check for any damaged areas that need fixing.
If you have wooden flooring, consider refinishing them. Wood flooring is expensive. It’s not practical to have them redone. A simple refinishing will do the trick. If you want to change your flooring and imitate the wood flooring look, laminates are an inexpensive option. If you still want to stick with original wood flooring, choose rooms where you can install them to save money. Living areas like the living and dining rooms are your best choice.
Another cheap option to improve your flooring is to add carpets and rugs.
The Final Touch
For the final touch, freshen up your bathroom. It gets moldy pretty quickly compared to any other room in the house. Schedule a deep clean to get into those dingy corners. As you do, you’ll notice a brown tinge along the edges of many of your tiles. It simply needs re-caulking. You can also do this by yourself. Just re-apply bathroom caulking to make the tiles look new again.
Check all the fixtures and hardware as well. Make sure lighting on the shower, vanity, and toilet is working well. Change handles, knobs, faucets, and even the shower curtain, if necessary. You can update the look of your bathroom by simply changing any of these items.
Major renovations can improve the overall look of your house. It’s expensive, though. By changing, fixing, or upgrading small items in your house, you can already make it look beautiful again as a whole. It doesn’t need to be costly.
