Whether you have just purchased a new home or want to make the most of an older house, many different projects vie for your attention and budget. Selecting the most appropriate and worthwhile home improvements can be confusing with all the hype out there. How do you choose where to focus your efforts and money? Here are some suggestions of the best alternatives for you to consider.
1. An Instant Upgrade
One of the cheapest home improvement projects, with instant eye-catching appeal, is to repaint the interior walls of your home. An average-sized house can be repainted within ten hours, which you can split over several days, making it seem almost effortless. The result is well worth it. See here for a step-by-step method that results in a professional finish.
The biggest challenge is choosing the colors you will feel at home with. The first consideration is whether you plan to keep existing furniture and décor. If you do, then your new paint job will have to blend in nicely with that color scheme.
If you are going for a change, now is the time to select colors that make you feel good. After all, you spend a good deal of your time at home and want it to be soothing and pleasing to you. One tip is to go through the items in your home and see what colors you tend to go for in general, ones that uplift your mood. Take three samples with you to the paint shop and find the strips that match. As each strip comes in five or six shades, this will give you quite a few options to go on.
Once you have selected your colors for each room, the other shades on the strip will be useful for finding matching accessories.
2. Installing a Heat Recovery System
When you make your house airtight to keep the heat inside, you run the risk of low quality of the air that is trapped inside. This can cause all sorts of nasty problems like dust mites and mold, which are bad for your health. Disagreeable smells are retained, and toxic gases can accumulate.
The solution is a heat recovery system, which removes the moisture in rooms that gives rise to health problems such as asthma. This is replaced with fresh air that has been filtered and cleaned. What’s more, is that this air is warm, so you continue to stay cozy inside your home.
The added advantage, and this is a big one, is that most systems lose heat irrecoverable, whereas a heat recovery system regains as much as 95% of this, which amounts to a hefty saving on your energy bill. You can also do away with extractor fans as the heat recovery system replaces their functions. You will also have a much quieter home.
If you are concerned about a greener environment, as we all should be, a heat recovery system from BPC Ventilation is the way to go.
3. Restoring Wood Sections
If you have any wood in your home, such as a front door or back patio, that has lost its freshness and succumbed to years of neglect, it is relatively easy to restore it to its former glory.
Before you start to upgrade a deck, you will want to ensure that it is solid and can support all of your guests. Check for wood rot so that you can replace planks as necessary. Examine the section that connects your patio to your home, as this is a major safety risk if not well-fastened. The deck joist and house joist should be firmly joined with no gaps and fastened with through bolts and galvanized steel screws. Nails should not be used. For a comprehensive check of your existing deck, follow this guide. Safety is the number one consideration.
Finally, make sure that there are no areas where water is dripping – these should be corrected – and then apply a waterproof sealant.
A wooden front door may require nothing more than sanding down and varnishing if you want to retain the wood. However, you can improve security by using more durable materials such as steel or fiberglass.
4. Making the Most of Neglected Spaces
If you are remodeling your home so that you can sell it, you may want to revamp the basement. This provides extra living space, which will come in handy if you are planning to stay on. A bar counter with stools, wall cabinets, and a double seater can turn an unused area into a new place for the family to gather. Ensure that the lighting in your basement, and the rest of your house, is ergonomically sound.
The attic is another often neglected area. Depending on structural issues, this is one job where you may need to get a contractor in and read up on special building permissions. You can transform your attic into an office, hobby room, or playroom, which will determine your budget for furniture. This is a space where you want to make sure ventilation is good. Some home improvements that are located in the elevated area of the house require equipment that can ensure that the job gets done and the person doing the task is safe, that is why a mobile scaffold hire should be available during renovations.
5. Novel Upgrade Ideas
Once you have seen the big jobs in your home, there are a few small projects that can give the house a new lease on life. Here are some DIY suggestions that cost very little and don’t take up too much of your time.
Increase storage space by adding shelves in the space under the stairs. Increase the natural light in rooms with skylights, floor-to-ceiling windows, or painting the walls white. Fit the main bedroom with double doors to create a master bedroom. Other touches are a double vanity and a seating area. Consider a closet that opens into the en-suite bathroom.
Removing worn-out carpets and replacing them with tiles or wood is easier to clean and much more attractive. To save yourself time and effort, get a professional to do it. The cost of carpet removal from professional services is worth every penny. You can add a splash of color with a carefully selected rug. Consider investing in some matching wall hangings to add to the character of your home.
Your home is your castle and well worth the time and money investment to keep it ship-shape. As shown here, some improvements are inexpensive yet make a huge difference to the appearance, comfort, and beauty of your home.
