Take care of functional areas

An old saying is that kitchens and bathrooms sell a home, but what about other spaces? When you’re considering parts of your home to renovate, you can step away from the kitchen and bathrooms and see what else can be done. Kitchens and bathrooms are a high-cost renovation, and you may need trades and several weeks of work to take care of them. Also, these rooms can cost a pretty penny to makeover, with some experts saying 5-15k for each!

If you’re looking for parts of your home to makeover, it may be best to get started by doing a complete walkthrough. Grab a notepad and a few pens, remove those ruby coloured glasses and have a stroll through your home. Look at each room and area and consider what could make these areas more functional.

The entry to a home is often overlooked, but it can be an excellent place to start. What do you need just as you enter your home? If you like to keep your keys on hand, you may need a place to hang them. Is there somewhere to hang coats or place shoes? What do you like to do after passing under the transom to your home? The hidden extras for this part of your property are near endless, but it can be the perfect place to add some much-needed functionality.

The entrance is a great place to start planning because residents and builders often overlook it, so you’re more likely to find a blank canvas. After you finish with the entrance, you can walk through the rest of the home. Don’t forget that while we all want our homes to look nice, if they don’t work to fit in with our lives, then it could be a little pointless. Home improvements are a great way to add value, but your home should also work to fit with your life.

Consider first impressions

The first impressions can set the mood and create a general feel for your home. When people first walk into a home, what they see (smell and feel) will considerably impact their thinking.

While it’s easy to think about others having a first impression, you will also have the first impression every time you arrive home. If your home makes you feel welcome, you’ll feel happy and content when you walk in.

Small changes can make a big difference to the space you live. If you’ve visited other homes and properties, what items stood out that made that place feel good? Scents play a massive part in any home, and if you can create a cheerful scent in your home, you’ll naturally feel welcomed. You can use oils on door frames, dried flowers, candles, and demisters to add intriguing aromas to any indoor area.

Make a note of the low cost, high impact projects

Any projects that are low cost should be at the top of your list. However, you can also rank these projects by their overall impact on your home. One of the high cost-effective projects is painting. You can paint a room for the cost of a few materials, and a paint tin in the colour of your choice. In a standard room, you’ll only need 4lt of paint and a few brushes and rollers. You can set a budget of $150 per room, provided you’re doing most of the painting yourself. Fresh paint is the perfect way to liven up your home!

Taking on minor projects keeps the costs down, and it is an excellent way to improve your skills. Teaching yourself new skills is as easy as watching a few videos or reading some blogs. The more information you take in, the better prepared you will be to complete the jobs. When you start working on projects, you’ll find your skills improve and then you can move on to more involved projects. As you’re doing the work yourself, you can also take as much time as possible, allowing you to keep going until you get the best finish!

Prioritise your home improvement projects

Having a massive list of all the things you want to be done can be overwhelming, so make sure you prioritise each project. Consider what offers you the most value and what can be completed quickly. If you have a job that needs tradespeople, those jobs will need to wait until people are available.

In addition to prioritising your jobs, try to nominate some tasks in different rooms that can be completed simultaneously (e.g., painting). You can also find many minor jobs that can be placed in between larger ones. Organising jobs in this manner can help you relax between the larger tasks. Getting a few wins in a short amount of time can help inspire you to keep going!

Decluttering can make a space seem much larger

Decluttering your home is an excellent way to improve a space, and it’s free! If you’re looking for an excellent low-cost way of improving a space, getting rid of any old or useless items can be a brilliant choice.

The longer we live in a space, the more stuff we tend to accumulate, and this is a natural side of living in modern society. When you look around your home, are there things you haven’t touched in more than twelve months? These items can likely be sold using an online marketplace, repurposed into other items, or you can throw them away.

Decluttering can be challenging for many people, but once you start and set your goals, you’ll find it quite enjoyable. As with many home improvement jobs, you can start in a small area and see what a difference it can make. If you are stuck choosing where to start, the kitchen cupboards are an excellent starting point; you may find a collection of pot lids and no matching pots!

Setting and sticking to your budget

Not all home improvement jobs need to have a monetary budget. Setting a budget for each task is a great way to see the costs. For example, if you’re clearing out your wardrobe, set a timer for an hour and see how much you can get done. Then you can set a financial budget for the room, which may include a cost for paint, new rails, or light fixtures.

Once you start knocking over small projects, you’ll soon move through your entire home, and the next thing you know you’ll be finished!