No matter how long you’ve been living in your home, there may be a few aspects that you’re not completely happy with. If you’ve been hesitant to remodel because you’re worried it’ll take over your home for weeks, you shouldn’t have to be. There are a lot of ways to touch up your home in as little as a weekend.
A New Coat of Paint
For a house that’s looking or feeling a little drab, a fresh coat of paint can work wonders. Wash the walls with sugar soap, rinse and let them dry overnight, then you can start painting first thing in the morning. Lighter colors really open up a small space, so if you’re working with a room that feels pretty dingy, opt for lighter colors. Just remember, if you’re going from dark to light, you’ll probably need to do at least one base coat.
Fresh Flooring
A lot of flooring options are pretty easy to do yourself, rather than hiring someone. If you want to replace your old carpets or put in new ones, consider residential carpet tiles. They’re easier to fit into oddly shaped spaces and if they get stained or damaged, you only need to replace one or two squares, rather than your whole carpet. If you’re not up to the job, most companies will fit carpets and flooring for you, Carpets USA Floors and Now Carpets also offer a wide range and fitting.
Vinyl and laminate are also a lot easier to put in than tile, but laminate gets water damaged easily. Whatever flooring you go with, be sure to clean the floor properly before putting anything new down – don’t use anything oil based or your new flooring won’t stick.
Lights
Lighting is usually a quick and easy fix. For a dim room, put in some brighter bulbs or change the type of bulb. Cool white is a lot closer to natural light than warm white, so it really makes a room feel more open. For a work-room or office, cool white is a good choice, it keeps you awake and focused because it feels like natural light.
If you like a nice relaxing bath, keep to warm white so your bathroom doesn’t feel like an interrogation chamber. The same goes for bedside lamps, if they’re too bright they’ll likely keep you awake.
If changing bulbs isn’t going to cut it, you can add an extra light fitting. For rooms that are only really used during the day, a skylight is a perfect natural lighting option.
Shelves
Put up a few shelves – they can host your books, photographs, ornaments and even plants. They won’t take up floor space like a bookshelf or side table and you can change things around as often as you like.
If you’re feeling kind of tired of the place, but you aren’t sure where to start with a remodel, take a bit of time away. House sit, go camping for a long weekend or go stay with family. You might find when you get back, home isn’t so bad after all.