1. PAINT!
I cannot stress enough that paint is a miracle worker when it comes to changing a feel of a room or space. It's a very cost effective way to freshen up your home. HOWEVER, I WARN YOU NOW: do NOT skimp on paint. Shitty paint shows. It covers less (like... waaay less: you need 5 coats of the cheap stuff to cover the same as 2 coats of the good stuff), it dries weird, smells weird and chips easily. Quality is important when it comes to paint, but you do not need to blow your wallet on the top notch stuff either. The nicer brand they carry at Home Depot or Lowe's usually have 3 tiers of quality. I usually go for the middle quality of the Behr brand. I've also used the lowest quality of Behr and that has done just fine too.
Cheapest BEHR 1 COAT!!
The difference is amazing. In the end it will save you money to just get the good stuff.
Now that you know what to get, what should you paint?
~Walls- whole room or accent wall can freshen up a room nicely and give it some character.
Nice peach color for Taylor's room with gold decal stickers
~Cabinets- painting old cabinets can freshen up a space too. I painted my bathroom vanity and laundry room cabinets to update the look. To paint cabinets, I suggest you remove all hardware and drawers/doors before you begin. It's easier, trust me.
~Doors- If I had the money, I would have replaced ALL the doors in my house. However, doors are hella expensive. I'm talking $100 a pop, and they aren't THAT nice. Mine are cheap wooden hollow doors that have no character. So I just painted them a matte white.
~Furniture- I usually shop for cheap stuff people want to get rid of and refinish it. Facebook Marketplace has been a great go-to for cheap finds. I scored this set of dressers for $60 bucks and painted them with chalk paint. You can find chalk paint at Home Depot or a craft store. They used to be a canary yellow. Barf. Now they're grey with a cream topping and distressed.
I still have plans for the hardware on these dressers; which brings me to my next cheap way to update your home.
2. HARDWARE
Replacing hardware is super easy. So is spray painting it. I replaced the hardware on the bathroom vanity pictured above. With the dark grey paint it looks so clean.
On these laundry room cabinets, the hardware was really cool, just that ugly brass color. I simply spray painted them with oil rubbed bronze spray paint. (REMOVE HARDWARE BEFORE SPRAY PAINTING)
Along with crappy, cheap doors, I was blessed with the ugly brass hardware that came on them. I ordered some oil rubbed bronze door handles on Amazon for less than $10 per set. For door hardware, AMAZON is the place to go. Same door handles were over $20 per set at Home Depot.
3. LIGHTING
Much like paint, lighting can set the mood in a room. Replacing light fixtures can be really easy or really hard depending on how it was installed in the first place. Make sure to turn the corresponding breaker off before replacing any light fixtures. More specific instructions should come with the fixture you purchased. Read ALL instructions. For my bedroom, I just added some plug in lights near the bed for some added light and convenience. I got some oil rubbed bronze lights with Edison bulbs for a rustic feel. They are all over Amazon. These were about $12 a piece. There are also some cheap plug in options at IKEA.
4. STORAGE
The way your home is organized can make or break a "look" you are going for. Having clutter everywhere just doesn't look nice. Ever. So start with clearing all the junk from your home. Get rid of anything that you don't use. Donate it for some tax breaks or sell it. (Facebook marketplace is awesome for selling random crap) For my bathroom counter I made a mason jar storage unit out of barn wood, some hvac supplies, screws and mason jars. Really easy, and really cleared up my counter space.
For the master bathroom I added shelves made from barn wood with some pieces from the plumbing section at home depot. I didn't really like any of the shelf brackets I saw online or their prices (cheapest somewhat cute ones were $15 per piece). So I saw this on Pinterest and decided to do it myself. Restoration Hardware has an overpriced version of these ($80 per shelf I shit you not). The hardware runs about $10 per bar at Home Depot. (3 pieces to make 1 bar) Some of them were a galvanized silver so I painted them with oil rubbed bronze spray paint. You can let your imagination run wild with these plumbing pieces. I made a towel rack to match. I plan to use the same design to make a vanity in the bedroom for makeup and all my girly junk. :) Just a word of advice, look for studs to mount these on or learn to use wall anchors. The shelves will be heavy and you will need one or the other.
For me, its been a busy year. These projects are the quickest and easiest I've completed; and when you're done, you'll feel so much more at home. I hope you find some inspiration and guidance from these ideas.
Most importantly: Do not be intimidated. Never used a level or screwdriver? You can learn!! You're never too old, too clumsy or too dumb to learn something new or handy. The only thing you can be is too lazy. So if you don't own a screwdriver, yet you want these results: go to the damn store and get yourself some tools! It will be the best investment you've made for yourself. Before this past year I had no idea what a stud was or how to find one. I knew how to hammer a nail and that's about it. When we first moved in; changing door knobs intimidated me to no end because it took my husband and his dad 4 hours to change 2 of them. After 6 months of waiting for them to finish the exterior door knobs, I finally decided to go for it myself. Guess what? It only took me an hour to do 2 of them. I still laugh out loud when I think about it. You can do this! If you have any questions: comment or shoot me an email!
<3
The Honest Toth
