Home is where the heart is, but there are times when home is where the cost is. After years of wear and tear, there comes a point when your home needs a renovation whether for maintenance or to maintain its aesthetic value. Here are some tips on how to renovate your home cheaply.
The Bathroom
1. If you can, keep the location of the plumbing intact. If you can, do not move it because it is costly and tedious.
2. Try prefabricated shower stalls. They tend to be cheaper than tiled bathrooms, and they are also easier to install.
3. Save on certain services by doing it yourself. Typically, you don’t have much wall space to paint in a bathroom after installing the mirrors, shower, tiles, and bathroom cabinets. Try painting it yourself instead of hiring a painter. You can also install the tile flooring yourself if the floor area is small.
The Living Room
1. Try rearranging the furniture first to give the room a new look without spending anything.
2. Install new drapes. Choose a color that will go well with your furniture so that you do not need to buy new furniture just to make everything match.
3. Instead of buying a new couch or new upholstery, drape the couch with a nice blanket or purchase a slipcover. You can add new throw pillows too. Cheap throw pillows and blankets are easy to find.
4. Use framed photos to decorate bare walls instead of high priced paintings. Picture frames are cheap and photos make the room look homey. Framed photos can also liven up the living room when placed on the side table or console table. Add cheap indoor plants or flower vase with flowers instead of expensive art pieces to decorate the living room.
6. Painting the walls is cheaper than using wallpaper. Use light colors if the room is small to make the room look bigger.
The Bedroom
1. Buy new sheets or a new bed set. It does not have to be expensive to be fabulous. The bed covers can easily change the mood or theme of the bedroom since the bed is the center of the room.
2. Try organizing the room by putting knick knacks and other not-often-used items in organizer boxes. They are relatively cheap. Removing clutter can actually brighten the mood in a room without spending too much.
3. Rearrange the furniture. Placing the bed, table, or dresser in another place can actually do wonders in a room without you spending anything.
4. Try painting or putting wallpaper on your dresser to give the room a new look. It will require only a small amount of wallpaper to cover the exposed parts of the dresser. You can also do this with your cabinets. Use a design with colors that are easy to match so that you do not have to redo the whole wall paint just to make the colors blend well. You can install new hardware on your dresser and cabinets.
5. Always remember to pick a color or design for your walls that is easy to match so that the furniture will match.
The Kitchen
1. Survey the area for the things you can accomplish yourself because this can save you a lot of money.
2. If you need to hire a plumber, electrician, painter, or any other person for service, be sure that they are competent. Give them a list of exactly what want done and how you want things to turn out. Mistakes, adjustments, and redoing things can be costly and time-consuming.
3. Countertops, walls, and cabinets in the kitchen can all be painted instead of changing the whole material. You can even decorate them with your own artwork.
4. If you want to use wallpaper on the wall, you may want to use just wallpaper borders. They are cheaper and are easier to install, and they can really make your walls pop.
5. If your cabinets are too worn out to be masked with paint, you can reface them instead of replacing the whole cabinet.
It truly costs time and money to give your home a makeover. Although, you will have to spend some money, you should not spend more than you can afford. By doing some of the work yourself and planning out what you want to do, you can actually save a great deal of money.
What are some cheap renovating techniques that you can think of?
Hi Dominique, my wife loves painting the walls. Randomly I’ll walk in after work and the house has changed colour! My wife is brilliant and using old paint and redecorating furniture to give it new life.
I’ll be honest and say that I help save money in other ways around the house but home improvement isn’t one of my attributes 🙂
Renovating the bathroom is one of those things that can also increase the value of the house. As far as renovating, another way could be just to move furniture around. It offers a new look and doesn’t cost a penny.
We try and DIY as much as we can. We’re actually getting our master bath redone next week and are doing a good chunk of it on our own to keep costs down.
I just redecorated my guest bathroom and purchased discount gift cards to TJMaxx to offset the cost. I spent $80 for a $100 gift card and found a rug, art, shower curtain, towels, candles, decorative vases and curtain rings for about $150. I agree that using throw pillows, blankets and other accessories is the cheapest way to refresh your space!
Kitchens are usually such a huge money sink (so to speak…). The tips are much appreciated! I would just be worried about mold getting into the wallpaper near the sinks (versus tiling).
I’ve got so much I need to do but I am afraid to spend any money because I need to save, however I might paint the interior myself and that might perk it up enough!
You can usually use most of the old end tables and cabinets with some new paint or stain. I know someone who even just painted their light fixtures instead of getting new ones. If you want a more modern look you can paint something like an end table black, then lightly sand it. You can do the same kind of technique on metal items to give it that brushed metal look. All you have to do is be creative and crafty.
I have recently purchased a three bedroom house. It is an old house so i needed repainting. However, what i learnt from doing this is that it would be much cheaper and more professional if you used wallpapers instead of paint. There are great deals on wallpapers and sometimes you can buy the old stock with pennies. Pasting them on wall is easier and doesn’t require much technology. I paid a lot and in the end quality of paint was still not good. So my share of advice that go for wallpaper and renovate as ecumenically as possible and use varying styles and colors as well.
Home is where the heart is, but there are times when home is where the cost is. After years of wear and tear, there comes a point when your home needs a renovation whether for maintenance or to maintain its aesthetic value. Here are some tips on how to renovate your home cheaply.
I don’t own, but everyone always says a fresh coat of paint does wonders 🙂
Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.. 🙂
Hi Dominique, my wife loves painting the walls. Randomly I’ll walk in after work and the house has changed colour! My wife is brilliant and using old paint and redecorating furniture to give it new life.
I’ll be honest and say that I help save money in other ways around the house but home improvement isn’t one of my attributes 🙂
Renovating the bathroom is one of those things that can also increase the value of the house. As far as renovating, another way could be just to move furniture around. It offers a new look and doesn’t cost a penny.
We try and DIY as much as we can. We’re actually getting our master bath redone next week and are doing a good chunk of it on our own to keep costs down.
How much time are you using? What the cost of your time?
I would move furniture around first… no need to go fixing the bathroom up if your not selling the next day.
I just redecorated my guest bathroom and purchased discount gift cards to TJMaxx to offset the cost. I spent $80 for a $100 gift card and found a rug, art, shower curtain, towels, candles, decorative vases and curtain rings for about $150. I agree that using throw pillows, blankets and other accessories is the cheapest way to refresh your space!
Kitchens are usually such a huge money sink (so to speak…). The tips are much appreciated! I would just be worried about mold getting into the wallpaper near the sinks (versus tiling).
I’ve got so much I need to do but I am afraid to spend any money because I need to save, however I might paint the interior myself and that might perk it up enough!
You can usually use most of the old end tables and cabinets with some new paint or stain. I know someone who even just painted their light fixtures instead of getting new ones. If you want a more modern look you can paint something like an end table black, then lightly sand it. You can do the same kind of technique on metal items to give it that brushed metal look. All you have to do is be creative and crafty.
I have recently purchased a three bedroom house. It is an old house so i needed repainting. However, what i learnt from doing this is that it would be much cheaper and more professional if you used wallpapers instead of paint. There are great deals on wallpapers and sometimes you can buy the old stock with pennies. Pasting them on wall is easier and doesn’t require much technology. I paid a lot and in the end quality of paint was still not good. So my share of advice that go for wallpaper and renovate as ecumenically as possible and use varying styles and colors as well.