Spring is here and you might find yourself inspired to refresh and revitalize your home. Renovating doesn’t have to break the bank. There are plenty of budget-friendly renovation ideas to explore, whether you’re looking to enhance your space for your enjoyment or to increase its appeal to potential buyers.
1. Refresh Outdoor Paint and Landscaping
Elevating your home’s exterior has never been more straightforward than with a fresh coat of paint. It is the easiest and most cost-effective method to brighten your home, increase home value, and enhance curb appeal. Did you know it’s also an effective way to weatherproof your home? Consider painting anything from entryways, garage doors, to siding, gutters, and shutters. A HomeGain study showed that repainting your home’s exterior will, on average, yield a 51% to 55% return on your investment.
Revitalizing your landscape is another way to enhance the charm of your home’s exterior. Mulch is one of the quickest ways to refresh your landscaping. A simple new layer of mulch around trees and garden beds can brighten up your yard. Weeding can also help the exterior’s appearance. Tending to those small details can have a dramatic effect on your exterior aesthetics. If you want a healthy landscape this spring you’ll want to invite pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Try planting tubular flowers, like cleomes and day-lilies, to invite the butterflies and hummingbirds. Bees love a variety of flowers, fruit trees, and vegetables.
2. Polish Floors or Steam Carpets
Polishing your floors will add extra shine and a smoother surface while also protecting your floor from long-term wear and tear. Make sure to use the correct polish for your floors to avoid disappointing results. Before diving in with the polish be sure to clear and measure the room, vacuum, and clean. Then gently spread an even and consistent layer of polish across the floor. Work in small sections and make sure you don’t trap yourself in a corner!
If you have some visible scratches on your floor that you can’t get rid of, use a small detail paint brush and apply Old English Scratch Cover. This can work on most any worn and torn areas around your home. It is visible specifically on the edges of planks. Allow the scratch cover to dry for 24 hours before mopping or allowing it to get wet.
If you have carpet in your home, steaming or shampooing your carpets can have great benefits to your day-to-day life. Carpets can be magnets for dust, dirt, and various particles. Even with regular cleaning, it is common to discover lingering particles that settle into the fibers over time. Steaming offers cleaning that goes beyond the surface. It provides a deep clean that helps eliminate allergies like dust mites, pet dander, and pollen. The hot water used for steaming not only lifts and removes stains but also kills bacteria and germs making it a safer environment for you and your loved ones. It is much cheaper to invest in regular maintenance like this and extend your carpet’s lifespan than replacing it!
3. Change Cabinet Hardware
The kitchen is often referred to as the heart of the home and cabinets play a significant role in setting the tone and look of your space. Changing the hardware on all of your cabinets and drawers can be one of the quickest and most affordable ways to upgrade your kitchen. First, you find what suits your home’s function and aesthetic before making a plan. From knobs to pulls, there are so many options to personalize and make your kitchen unique! Adding the right handles and pulls for your cabinets, especially if they are white, can protect them from fingerprint damage. Cabinets occupy a significant portion of your kitchen’s real estate and a change like this can make a drastic impact without the need for remodeling or extensive construction.
4. Improve Your Lighting
Not satisfied with your home lighting? New light fixtures are a simple way to change the aesthetic in different rooms of your home. The enhanced lighting from your new fixture can cast shadows and light on unique areas of the room. This can allow you to see your space in a new light! Here are step-by-step directions on how to change out your lighting correctly.
Another thing you can do is upgrade your light switches. These can easily add a stylistic element to a home lighting system. Light switch covers should be neutral and blend into the wall serving their practical purpose. There are plenty to choose from and should consider looking at dimmable options! This can not only change up the lighting in your room based on time of day but also cut your electricity cost significantly.
5. Upgrade Your Home’s Thermostats
Just in time for the warm weather, upgrading your home’s thermostat is a great idea. New thermostats have control features that aren’t found in older thermostats. You can create prefixed heating and cooling schedules with programmable thermostats. It also can reduce your home’s heating and cooling costs. They are often more efficient and will maximize your heating and cooling power while minimizing energy consumption. Some thermostats even support mobile usage and you can adjust your settings from your phone. Companies like Amazon even sell thermostats that connect with their voice service, Alexa. This seems like a renovation that would be hard to pass by!