Smart Ideas for Home Improvement

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You're already on your way to saving money if you enjoy doing things around the house. For only a few hundred dollars, you can completely transform the look and feel of a space with the right design.

To help you get started on your next home improvement project, we've compiled a list of quick and easy budget upgrades. Check out some of our easy home improvement suggestions below.

Use Paint to Refresh Your Rooms

You can give your dreary, washed-out walls a flash of stunning richness by simply slapping a paint can on them (or washing away your decorative sins with virgin white). A fresh coat of paint has the power to transform your surroundings. As a result, painting is the most popular do-it-yourself home improvement project.

While you don't need to be a pro to learn how to paint like one, a good paint job necessitates more than just slathering paint on the wall. Follow our step-by-step instructions to expertly coat your walls in one weekend, from the first scratch of the pole sander to the final feather of the brush.

Crown Molding Made Simple

Crown moulding is at the top of most remodelers' to-do lists because it adds beauty and value to a home, not because it's entertaining to spend a Saturday attempting to get the corners just right. Fortunately, miter-saw frustration can be easily alleviated.

Canamould Extrusions' Trimroc moulding is a lightweight polystyrene foam coated with durable plaster. With joint compound, it goes up quickly and slices cleanly with a handsaw. With a smear of mud, ragged joints vanish, and there's no coping, no awkward angles. So you can turn a plain room into a lovely space in just a weekend—and still have time to finish the rest of your to-do list.

Set up a Low-Cost Stair Runner

Want to keep your footing on slick stairwells? Make your own runner. Jaime Shackford, a TOH reader, took the project into her own hands after receiving a quote for $2,500 to carpet her dangerously slick oak staircase. She made her steps non-slip by using two off-the-shelf woven runners ($125 each) and components from a home centre.

Buying a Dishwasher Can Help You Save Water

In terms of electricity and water, your old dishwasher could be costing you a lot of money. It's time to upgrade to an Energy Star-qualified dishwasher, which will save you over $30 per year in energy costs and 500 gallons of water. If you don't have a dishwasher, washing dishes by hand wastes 40 percent more water!

Which method is the most cost-effective? You can install a dishwasher yourself in an afternoon. You won't need a plumber or an electrician, and you won't have to spend your retirement savings on a load of clean dishes.

Rewire an Old Entry Lantern

Many hanging lanterns from the early 20th century had a simple design and appeared to be handcrafted by blacksmiths rather than manufactured.

These rustic lanterns, popularised by tastemakers of the time such as Gustav Stickley and the Roycroft craftsmen, demonstrated a return to the basics in design. If you found one at a yard sale or have one stowed in the attic, you can encourage guests to "come on in" by turning on a vintage lantern. The job is simple and inexpensive once you have the parts.

Paint an old floor to make it look new

Sara and Andrew's Massachusetts farmhouse master bedroom's burgundy crimson floor didn't match their fresh and vibrant personalities. On a tight budget, however, refinishing was not an option. To freshen up the area, they painted the floor in a light checkered pattern and warmed up the icy blue walls with beige and white.

Here, we illustrate how a little measurement and a couple of coats of long-lasting floor paint can give a room a lot of charm for a low cost.

Give your Kitchen Cabinets a Fresh, New Look

Your kitchen feels like a cave because the black cabinetry has sucked all the light out of the room. A brighter makeover, on the other hand, does not always mean replacing the dingy boxes with brand new ones. You can clean and re-paint the frames and doors to transform the kitchen from drab to bright in a weekend if they are physically intact. All you'll need is a strong cleanser, sandpaper, a paintbrush, and a little elbow grease. You won't need much money because the change will be a fraction of the cost of even the most basic new cabinets.

Without spending any money, you can get more flowers.

Dividing perennials every three to six years is an excellent way to thin clump-forming species like the daylily, which blooms from late spring to late summer. This method can also be used to increase the number of specimens in a garden, control plant size, and stimulate growth. Splitting spring- and summer-blooming perennials in late summer or before the first frost is a reasonable rule of thumb.

Ditch the Expensive Bottles and Use a Water Filter

Because of worries about the quality or flavour of their tap water, millions of homes have converted to bottled water. Whether the water comes from a municipal pipeline or a ground well, such issues exist across the country. Installing an under-sink water-filtration system, on the other hand, is a simpler and less expensive option to obtain clean drinking water.

Refinish the Beautiful Wood Door in Your Home

The years and the elements had taken their toll on the 94-year-old, sturdy cypress door's exterior. In some places, flakes of varnish clung to the wood, but the majority of the surface was rough and dried out from exposure to water and sunlight. Wood entry doors are subjected to the same attacks all over the world, and many are discarded in favour of low-maintenance, mass-produced metal and fibreglass substitutes. However, with a few inexpensive components, you can give your old door a new lease on life.

Apply a New Bead of Bathroom Caulk

You've seen the warning signals of deteriorated caulk. The brown tinge along the borders was the first sign. Its once smooth and elastic skin has become brittle and broken, allowing persistent mildew colonies to take root or allowing water to seep through and turn the wallboard and framing mushy. It has to go, whether it's surrounding your sink, between a tub and its tile surround, or covering the shower stall's seams.

However, caulk is inexpensive and simple to use. You'll only need an hour, a few standard tools, and materials that can be obtained at any hardware shop. But, as simple as it is, if you don't do it correctly, you'll be caulking again next year, says Tom Silva of This Old House.

Stair Brackets Add Architectural Interest

The attention is focused on the newel post and balusters, whereas the exposed side of most stairs is usually overlooked. A plain stringer can be transformed into an exquisite eye-catcher with the addition of ornate stair brackets. We used easy-to-install, low-cost wood brackets that were attached using adhesive and nails.