Painted kitchen cabinets. Image courtesy of Flickr
New homes are rarely perfect. Even on a brand new home, you generally want to put your own touches on, just to give it your personality. However, when you have to live there and when your budget is already stretched, tearing down cabinets and walls is probably not in the cards. Fortunately, there are several ways you can make your new home yours without breaking the bank, your back or your family’s sanity.
Pretty much everyone knows that the easiest thing to start with is painting. A coat of paint will add instant personality to a room and it’s cheap and relatively easy. But, don’t let the paint start with the walls. Paint some furniture, if you like the look of painted wood. It’s not generally recommended that you paint your countertops, but you can even paint your kitchen cabinets, it does, however, take some work. Here’s a video on it:
New hardware will quickly spruce up a home. Change out the light fixtures. Light fixtures can add pop to any room. Change the hardware in the kitchen and in the bathrooms. Brushed metal is modern and easy to keep clean looking. Change the door pulls on drawers and on kitchen cabinets. You’d be amazed at how transformational it can be.
There’s nothing that can add more of your personality than new window treatments. While they can be expensive, good window treatments will be easy to clean and they will help insulate your home, saving you money in the long run.
Retiling your bathroom or your kitchen can be a major job, but new grout can be easy. It’s clean and it can even add some color.
If you’re really ambitious, you can refinish your bathtub or porcelain sink. Here’s a video that almost makes it look easy, but leave it to someone with lots of patience and who’s detail oriented.
Add instant curb appeal by planting shrubs and flowers, adding attractive paving stones and painting your door. Shutters on your front window can add a special touch