To improve your home and present it at its best, you need to take your time and practice deliberation. After all, the pieces in a home look better when they’re collected over a period. But not all of us have the luxury of time, not to mention budget. The pandemic has exhausted our savings and resources and left our abodes cluttered and busier than ever.
But instead of resisting that change, let’s embrace it. Work-from-home may become the new norm even after the pandemic, so we’ll be staying in our homes longer than before. But more importantly, improving your abode will boost its value. If you plan to move out and sell your home this year, the improvements you’ll make can translate into profit.
That said, here are some quick makeover ideas that can increase your home’s value in a few days:
1. Repainting
Changing your interior and/or exterior paintwork can make a huge difference. If your current color palette is on the warm side, changing it to neutral or cool tones will significantly alter your space’s ambiance. Warm colors represent warm things like sunlight, heat, and some natural elements, while cool colors represent water, skies, ice, and snow. So if you transform a warm room into a cool one simply by repainting, you’d feel like you’re in a completely different place because of the altered representations.
Painting is an easy job that most people can DIY, but if you’re also repainting your exteriors, call a reliable painting contractor for help. They’re equipped with PPE and safety tools that’ll spare you the trouble of going up heights unprotected.
2. Add Exterior Accents
If you don’t change your exterior’s paintwork, consider adorning it with accents. Replacing your vinyl siding, specifically the ones on the facade, with stone veneers will increase your home’s value and make it more appealing. Covering 300-square feet of your facade with stone veneers may cost you around $9,500, but you can recover up to 96% of that at resale.
3. Install Charming Outdoor Lighting
Your home has to make a statement right from the entrance. If your front door or porch lacks eye-catching lighting, consider pathway lights or pendants for that space. Wall-mounted lanterns also look amazing, especially if your home’s aesthetic is coastal or rustic.
4. Revamp Your Kitchen
Kitchens are a major factor in determining a home’s value. If its design is dated or not as functional, it’ll plummet your home’s overall value. Thankfully, you don’t have to remodel your entire kitchen to make it match the trends. By simply changing the hardware, repainting the cabinets, or replacing the old and stained countertops, your kitchen will dramatically transform.
Changing dated light fixtures in a kitchen is a wise investment as well. Basically, spot the issues and inconsistencies in your kitchen design, and you can refresh it without breaking the bank or spending too much time.
5. Modernize Plumbing Fixtures
Old plumbing fixtures aren’t water-efficient, unlike the ones today. So if you’re still using faucets and toilets from the 90s, it’s definitely time to let them go now. Installing new fixtures is quick and affordable. Low-flush toilets, which move water less forcefully into the bowl, can cost under $90, while some high-end models don’t go over $200.
6. Add Life to Your Landscape
Curb appeal is another major value-driver. If your landscape has gotten a bit overgrown or dull, trim your shrubs, pluck out weeds, and add perennials. If you already have perennials, divide them every three to six years so that you can control your plant sizes, stimulate growth, and increase the number of specimens in your garden without spending a dime. Split spring- and summer-blooming perennials in late summer of shortly before fall frost.
7. Replace Garage Door
You can recoup about 95% of your new garage door’s price at resale. Plus, replacing a door will improve your curb appeal, which will also rack up your home’s value.
8. Update All Hardware
Other than the ones on the kitchen cabinets, replace all dated hardware on the rest of your cabinets, desks, consoles, and doors. Factory-issue handles and pulls are usually generic-looking that they fail to express a homeowner’s aesthetic and personality. Hence, by replacing them with something you actually like, your home will feel more personalized, and its value will skyrocket at resale.
9. Spruce Up Old Wooden Furniture
Antique wood may have a unique and naturally alluring aesthetic, but if it has already lost its shine, it’s time to give them a fresh coat of varnish. After all, abandoning their aged state may cause them to break down and end up in the trash sooner or later.
These quick and easy improvements barely cause hassle, so jot them down on your weekend to-do list now. You can do them with your family to make the tasks enjoyable, or do it alone to let your creativity have its moment.
