Low Cost/Big Impact Home Improvement Ideas
These days everyone is looking to save a $$$. Many home owners are opting to stay put and spruce up their homes rather than sell them. Home owners opting to sell are often stretched financially already and feel improvements to promote the sale of their home will be too costly. Whatever the circumstance, home improvement doesn't have to be costly to have a BIG IMPACT. Try some of these affordable home improvement ideas.
1. INVITE PEOPLE IN -Spruce up the exterior front entry! Consider a new front door and/or window. Clean the glass around the entry, polish the doorbell, paint the door a fresh color, sweep the step, remove cobwebs, add a plant to the step and make sure the porch light is functioning, clean and attractive. Buyers wait on your front door step 30-45 seconds while an agent unlocks the home and THEY NOTICE everything in that time!
DO -Feel free to add a bit of color to the door to make it POP!
DON'T forget to clean up after the dog that uses this area. (I'm begging you!)
2. PAINT - It is amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do. Try it, you'll like it. If you are selling your home choose neutral colors. The warm grey family is becoming more popular than the beige family.
DO - Use a variety of paint shades in the home or it looks too boring in your listing photos.
DON'T - Paint everything white. This produces very bland online photos
3. CLEAN - It is also amazing what a good, completely thorough cleaning job can do for a home. Polish the brass accents, dust the light fixtures and clean the bugs out, degunk the door knobs, get all of the paint drips off the woodwork, fix all of the painting "oops" on your ceilings.
DO-Make everything SPARKLE!
DON'T- Forget the closets and garage.
4. UPDATE THE KITCHEN - this is an update that is never wasted. Some inexpensive updates include adding a backsplash. One of my favorite backsplashes is a rolled sheet of stainless steel which applies with adhesive. This is so easy to clean, looks fresh and you can apply magnets to hold your recipes while cooking. Changing the cabinet faces is another inexpensive update. Your local home improvement store has many options in stock or to order. You may also be amazed at thein-stock countertops at the home improvement store. If you install these yourself the cost may be as low as $300. If you can't replace the cabinet doors think about updating the cabinet hardware. Clean the cabinetry and use a wood oil to make them shine!
DO-Update your kitchen curtains with something contemporary.
DON'T forget to pour baking soda or lemons down your garbage disposal and clean inside your dishwasher and oven.
5. REPLACE LIGHT FIXTURES - We forget about our light fixtures so easily but light fixtures, curtains and flooring are the items which date a home quickly and efficiently. It is nice to have a consistent look in fixtures throughout the entire house. If you can't change the fixture, see if you can change just the glass globe. This works especially well with ceiling fans.
DO - Make sure all fixtures within your view match.
DON'T forget to make sure the fixtures compliment door hardware and other colors in the home.
These are just a few of the very affordable things you can do to make your home look and feel updated and appealing. Feel free to share your great ideas with a comment on this post!
