12 Ways to Revamp Your Home on a Budget

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Update the look and feel of your home without spending a fortune with these 12 ways to revamp your home on a budget.

Is your home looking a bit tired? Time for a new look and a little TLC?

Not only does regular maintenance save you money in the long run by helping to avoid major repairs, the way your home looks impacts your mood and mental wellbeing, so it pays to give it a spruce up every now and then.

Major renovations can cost thousands and aren’t guaranteed to add to the value of your home.

But that doesn’t have to stop you from updating your home.

Small, inexpensive adjustments can improve the look and feel of your home without breaking the budget.

revamp your home on a budget

HOW TO REVAMP YOUR HOME ON A BUDGET

Here are 12 tips to give your home a fresh new look on a budget.

1. Declutter and Organise

A good tidy, declutter and organise can make a big difference to the look and feel of a room.

Decluttering your house can also help clear the cobwebs from your mind as well.

Less clutter will open up and brighten a room, giving it a more relaxed and peaceful feel.

2. Revamp with a Good Clean

After decluttering, the next step is to give your home a good deep clean.

When was the last time you cleaned the carpets or washed down the walls? (If you’re anything like me, it’s been a while – I hate scrubbing walls!)

A deep clean can make your house look like new.

Before refurbishing your home, clean windows, walls, carpets and floors. Give furniture a good clean. Wash blinds and curtains. Carpet cleaners can be hired at grocery or hardware stores. It can be a bit of hard work, but it can also save you money compared to professional carpet cleaners, and I’ve found I can get stains out that the pros say are impossible simply because I have the ‘luxury’ of more time to scrub.

Once the place is sparkling and clutter-free, you may find there’s no more that needs to be done.

3. Fix Things That are Broken

There’s nothing that says neglect more than broken furniture, fixtures or fittings.

That’s coming from someone who has a maintenance to-do list is longer than my arm. I can say from first-hand experience that broken things look ratty.

A more appealing home can be as simple as fixing or replacing anything that is broken or looking shabby.

You don’t have to spend a fortune. A bit of glue or a new lick of paint can do wonders. YouTube is an excellent free resource for learning how. Second-hand furniture can also be a cheap way to replace damaged furniture that’s beyond repair. We’re not aiming to make the cover of Vogue magazine – just a spruce.

4. Let There Be Light

The right type of light – lots of daylight during the day and soft, dim light at night, can improve the mood and overall feel of your home.

The best way to increase light in your home is to open the curtains, clean the windows and let the light in. If you have large windows, all the better, especially in winter, when the sunlight can also help warm your home.

Skylights are another fairly inexpensive way to increase the amount of light in your home.

At night, lamps set the right mood – the low wattage of the light bulbs saves you money and less white light at night helps you get a better night’s sleep.

5. Add Greenery For a Natural Revamp

Bring the outdoors in by including pot plants as part of your decor. Pot plants not only give a room a lift, but they possibly help detoxify the air and improve your home’s health.

6. Update Frames and Wall Hangings

Are you hanging wall art in frames that are 10, 20 or more years old?

Give your pictures a modern look by updating the frames. Frames are cheap or you can give the old frames a makeover up with paint for a more frugal, less wasteful approach.

Alternatively, invest in or create new art for your walls.

7. Add a Coat of Paint

If you have the budget for just one thing, consider a fresh coat of paint.

A new coat of paint can completely refresh a tired looking room and give it an updated look.

If your budget doesn’t stretch for a whole paint job, paint just the woodwork and skirting or paint a single feature wall to draw attention away from less appealing areas of a room.

See also: freshen a room with this alternative to painting

8. Update Fixtures and Fittings

Give your home a modern update by replacing out-dated fittings and fixtures.

These can include light fittings, fans, door handles, doorknobs and locks. If you don’t want to replace fittings, you can revamp them with a coat of paint.

For instance, this post has some tips for spray painting doorknobs so they look new for a fraction of the cost.

9. Update Curtains or Blinds

New window treatments are a great way to give a room a modern lift without spending a lot of money.

You can buy ready-made blinds or curtains inexpensively from craft, hardware and haberdashery stores. Wait for the sales to get the best price.

Or save even more money by sewing the curtains yourself.

10. Refinish or Reface

A whole new kitchen can cost thousands of dollars. To give your kitchen a modern look, leave the structure as it is and refinish by painting or replacing the cupboard doors and benchtops and replacing the door handles.

A new splashback is another way to revamp the kitchen and it is possible to DIY.

11. Update Your Furniture or Decor

‘New’ furniture doesn’t have to cost a fortune. You can revamp old furniture by giving it a lick of paint or covering it with slipcovers or adding new cushions. Our tired old lounge got a fresh new look with just a few new throw cushions that cost a fraction of replacing the lounge.

Second-hand furniture and decor items are another way to refurnish a room without spending up big on brand new items.

12. Upgrade Appliances

Upgrading old appliances will not only give your kitchen a new look, but it could also save you money on running costs if you buy energy-efficient models.

It doesn’t have to cost thousands to revamp your home. As long as the underlying structure is solid, cosmetic changes like paint and replacing fixtures and furniture will give you a whole new look without breaking the budget.

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4 Comments

  1. Eileen Miles says:

    It’s was often said ‘a change is as good as a holiday’

    You can add to this article by just changing your existing furniture around.Before you start shifting it all around start with a piece of graph paper (even one for each room) measure up your walls -where windows and doors are- which way they open and how far. -how high the bottom ofwindows are off the floor and where power outlets are. Then measure your furniture – include width and depth and height and which direction the doors open for cupboards.Cut all your furniture shapes out to the same scale as your rooms. This also gives you the ability to work out how large a new piece of furniture can be.
    Now play rearranging each room. You might find furniture from one room actually fits better in another (as long as this doesn’t mean painting the room or buying new curtains). One piece of furniture like a bedside table or set of drawers might be better in another room. You might find the purchase of one cheap piece or recycled furniture might make all the difference ,like a pantry type cupboard or a chest for all those little bits craft, storage toys etc.
    The possibilities are endless.
    If you want new curtains but are short on cash unbleached calico ( or plain flat double bed sheets) with a stripe of a more expensive fabric is a cheap alternative. With the Calico be sure to wash and iron and pull into shape across the bias , before sewing (Natural fibres tend to shrink when washed for the first time)

    Try a splash of an unexpected colour – lime green, hot pink, orange, maroon,fire truck red this can be on a cushion or a throw rug, or a vase or ornament- use warm tones in winter and cool tones in summer.
    Create an evolving piece of Art ,you can buy the type of board used for pin boards at major renovation shops. Use current photos,kids pictures ,cards , dried flowers – inspirational messages anything current in your life , and change them regularly.This is NOT a message board so no school notes etc.

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Great tips, thanks Eileen.

  2. Veramoy Knight says:

    Hi my laundry floor needs replacing, until I can save up the money! What can I do till then please!!

    1. We have mats on the floor in our laundry to cover it until we can replace the flooring.