Give it a New Coat of Color
A can of paint is a simple and inexpensive way to refresh your home. This is probably not news to you, but it is important to pay attention to the details when painting to get maximum value out of it. Firstly, try to select a neutral color that makes your home looks bright and clean. Good colors include light grey, beige, and shades of white. Stay away from extreme colors like bright red, bright yellow, or dark purple. If you can, pay for a professional painter, as they will be able to do a neat job and can help with removing hardware from walls, as well as patching up large holes or cracks. If you decide to tackle the job yourself, do purchase the right equipment and seek the advice of your local DIY or paint store to make sure you apply the paint correctly and don’t make a mess of your house instead.
Reface the Kitchen
Kitchen renovations can be extremely costly, time-consuming and difficult. However, if you wish to give your kitchen a new look without investing too much time, effort, and cash, consider simply refacing the kitchen. This is a great option if your kitchen cabinets are in generally good condition, but are looking dated or have worn-out surfaces. The simplest option is to re-paint or re-stain the cabinet doors, and change the counter-tops, sink and stove if required. If your cabinet doors are badly damaged, you may opt to change all the doors entirely. A good carpenter or kitchen refacing specialist will be able to help you on this, and they can paint or apply laminates or veneers to the exposed parts of your kitchen cabinets to match the new doors.
Refinish the Floors
If your floors are starting to show their age, a simple refinishing may help to restore them to their former glory, and you. For hardwood floors, have them sanded down, re-stained and sealed. It is highly recommended to hire a professional to due this, firstly for health and safety reasons. Wood dust is carcinogenic, and you don’t want to be inhaling it due to improper equipment or poor sanding technique. Secondly, sanding machines may be difficult to operate if you do not have the proper training. Pressing down too hard on the machine may cause your floors to become uneven. Furthermore, hardwood floors can only be sanded down a limited number of times before they get too thin to be further sanded, so you it’s not something that you can try and try again if you fail to get it right the first time. If you have marble or tiled floors, consult a professional to see if you can have them polished. It may be possible to grind down the topmost layer of the flooring to remove stains, small chips or hairline cracks.
Re-grout the Bathroom
Grey, moldy grout between the bathroom tiles is one of the biggest turnoffs in a space where you’re supposed to get yourself clean and feeling fresh. If your bathroom grout is in relatively good condition with no cracks or holes but perhaps looking a bit dirty, you can try cleaning it with bleach first to see if you can get a good enough result. This is the least expensive method as all you require is bleach (oxygen bleach is a more environmentally- and health-friendly alternative to chlorine) and a brush. If that doesn’t do anything for the grout, or if your grout is full of gaps, you should try re-grouting. Although this may sound daunting, it is actually not too difficult to do this yourself with the right tools. First, get yourself an inexpensive power grinder such as a Dremel-type grout remover. This will make your job much easier when you are removing old grout, compared to using hand tools like a grout saw. Next, re-grout using a grout float to push the new grout into the spaces between the tiles. Finally, wipe the excess grout from the surface of tiles with a damp sponge.
Spring Clean and Get Organised
When you have lived in a house for many years, it is typical to suffer from a build-up of clutter (unless you are super-neat and organised, in which case, well done to you!). It is amazing what simple but thorough deep-cleaning and organising can do for your home. First, identify all the things you no longer use, and are not likely to use within the next 12 months. Either throw or recycle it, or find someone to take it off your hands if it is in good condition (donating to charities, garage sales, eBay or Craigslist are some good options). Next, decide on a “home” for each object in the house. This means no toys lying on the floor, or books and magazines strewn on the dining table. Everything has to have its own storage area. If you don’t have enough storage space, consider adding some wall shelves, storage bins, or drawer and cabinet organisers to help you utilise existing storage spaces more effectively. Finally, now that everything is neatly put away, deep clean your house, going through areas that are not usually cleaned, for example the top of the fridge, door frames, inaccessibly high windows, behind large furniture pieces, and so on. While it can be time-consuming to purge your house of years of accumulated dirt, the results will definitely be worth it.