Not every renovation has to be complicated or cost an arm and a leg. Today I thought we’d go over four easy renovations with big impact.
Paint
I’ve said it for years and I’ll say it again. This is the biggest bang for your buck that you can possibly do. You don’t even have to hire someone, do it yourself!
The cutting in (drawing a straight line between two paint colours without painter’s tape) can be a little challenging but you just need to go slowly. Use painter’s tape if you need to, and use good quality rollers and brushes.
Replace room doors and hardware
This tends to require a little more know-how and has a little more cost investment. Older houses often have knob-style door handles rather than lever-style, and sometimes they are mismatched. Having a uniform look to the hardware throughout a space can improve the overall space.
If you want to replace doors, I suggest using solid core doors for bedrooms to improve deaden sound. They also have a nice weight to them. You can also replace the hinges with the same finish as the door handles. Widen the door trim for a bit more of a luxurious feel.
Lighting
It’s amazing what a simple light fixture swap can do, whether it’s above a dining room table or above your bathroom vanity. Changing the bulbs and adding dimmer switches can help you achieve the quality of lighting that you want in your space.
Listen to our All Things Renovation podcast, Series 2, Episode 8 or read our LED Lighting Tutorial blog post for more information on choosing light fixtures, and the differences between Lumens, Kelvins, and Watts.
Flooring
Again, this one will be a little more involved but will have a huge impact. It’s amazing the things that we don’t see in our houses when we live there. It costs a bit of money, involves removing your furniture and other items from the room, and sometimes has a trickle-down effect of needing your baseboards replaced too.
If you are replacing your carpet, make sure that you are replacing the underlay too. Hardwood floors can be refinished multiple times and generally come up beautifully.
Listen to our All Things Renovation podcast, Series 2, Episode 7 and Series 3, Episode 14 for more information on choosing flooring types. You can also read about it on our blog posts about kitchen floors or our interview with Grant Bergman from Beatty Floors where we go over all flooring types.
Bonus: None of these things require a permit!
To listen to the full episode and read the show notes, visit www.AllThingsRenovation.com or click on the Podcast tab at the top of our homepage at www.woodbeart.com.
