Useful hacks to renovate your house on budget

Breathing life into an old home is a pretty challenging job. You start off with small renovations around the house but soon enthusiasm gets the better of you and you end up with huge bills for things that you may not necessarily need. If you want to avoid such mistakes and run the process smoothly, follow our house remodeling ideas to make budget-friendly improvements to your home.

Home Improvement Ideas to renovate your house on a budget

Start off by making updates to your kitchen and living room as they not only make your home look good but can also increase its value in the eyes of the buyers.

KITCHEN

The average kitchen renovation cost depends on how much change is required. You can easily renovate your house on a budget if you keep the following tips in mind:

Pre-planning

Before a single inch of your kitchen space sees the sledgehammer, focus on everything that might require remodeling. This is very important because one of the factors that usually blows away the budget is selecting supplies for the kitchen on a whim during the renovation. Pre-planning will also help you avoid the situation when the product you want is unavailable, and you are ultimately forced to pick an alternative that might be costly. You will know about the status of the product beforehand and you will work accordingly. This will also help you renovate your house at a reasonable price.

Picking Colours for Outdated Cabinet Design

Getting a new set of cabinets is one of the major expenses one could run into. Also, the procedure of kitchen cabinet refacing – adding a new sheet of wood to the exterior of the cabinets – is quite costly. If your cabinets are in a satisfactory condition, consider keeping them and perhaps just giving them a fresh coat of paint so they look brighter, cleaner and fresher. It is one of the best house remodeling ideas that you can use to make your house look elegant.

As far as the paint shades are concerned, white is a good choice as it is less expensive than the other shades and make the space look bigger, airier and brighter giving it a sophisticated appeal.

Lighting

Who wouldn’t appreciate a bright and well-lit area for cooking? Just a single installation of the light fixtures such as a pendant lamp or any overhead/ceiling LED light can make a huge impact, without busting your budget, enabling you to renovate your house in a cost-effective way. An under-cabinet light fixture or a ‘task light’ would be great for increasing luminescence on the cooking surface.

Don’t mess with the plumbing

Re-routing the pipes mean higher expenses. Each time you move the kitchen appliances that have plumbing fittings such as a dishwasher, sink or gas oven, it will cost you quite a bit of money. So cut down that cost by keeping the current fittings, and you can invest that money in order to renovate your house in a better way.

Add Ultra-Modern Finishes

Striking details and finishes are key to a luxurious kitchen, but the cost of getting them doesn’t have to blow away your budget. For an economical price of under AED 3000, a backsplash can be made from faux stone veneer panels that will make your kitchen look chic and contemporary. The primary purpose of a backsplash is to shield the kitchen wall against oil splatters or any liquid. But it also serves as the interior décor that can create a subtle touch in a rather neutral space.  You can also go for glazed or glossy black backsplash or Moorish tile or Zellige that features Islamic mosaic art to give your kitchen a quirky makeover. 

LIVING ROOM

A living room is one of the most frequently used areas in the house where you interact with family and friends. From birthday parties to the gathering of family and friends, the living room is the space that you would be using to socialize and mingle. To create the most welcoming ambience, use some of our best house remodelling ideas to renovate your living room on a budget.

Rethink the Layout

Sometimes a new layout is all that is required to renovate a living room. By rearranging or switching the furniture around, you can give your room an entirely different look. A focal point of the living room is usually the TV and this is ideally where you should begin from. Rearrange the sofa, coffee table, and central rug to completely transform the look of your living room. Easily one of the most reasonable ways to upgrade the look of your home, this will also avoid wastage and unnecessary expenditure.

Harness the Power of Paint

Paint is transformative and one of the most cost-effective methods to give a living room the ultimate makeover. If you are really strapped for cash, you can even apply it yourself for a fun art-decor project with the family. Use bold colours (think of muted blues or citrusy hues), paint a statement wall, or just choose a vibrant colour that matches your personality and your furnishings.

Revamp the Upholstery

Rather than buying brand new furniture, you can refurbish your existing ones with some creative upholstery. If the frame of your couch is in a good condition but the cushions have gone flat or the fabric is stained, just choose a new fabric, upholster the couch and voila! Dramatic transformation on a budget! An even more economical option is to invest in printed throws which will instantly give a new and lavish look when draped over the arm of a sofa and bring warmth to your living room.

Accessorise

The quickest way to refresh your living area is to add accessories to it. You can replace the current sofa cushions with trendy, colourful ones, or as discussed earlier, bring in some drapery like patterned throws that enhance the contemporary look of the living room. Instead of spending on changing the floors and investing in carpeting the whole space, get a few rugs to instantly renovate your house on a budget.

Attention to Lighting

Lighting is an important factor in creating the right ambience in a room. The perfect placement of floor lamps or table lamps can add instant elegance to your room. But you don’t need to spend big bucks over multiple light sources – a single light fixture could do just as well. Consider glamming up  your living room with:

Ambient Lighting

It provides an overall glow and sets the tone of your space. It can be created using overhead fixtures such as chandeliers, track lights or ceiling lamps, or with stand-alone sources like table and floor lamps.

Accent Lighting

If you want to create a focal point by highlighting an accessory or add depth to your living room, accent lighting works the best. Examples include wall-mounted fixtures, picture lights, back-lit panels and LED light strips.

BATHROOM

Though a bathroom is one of the smallest among the rooms in your house, renovating it could be pricey as well as challenging. The rules for making improvements to your bathroom are more or less the same as that of the kitchen. Here are some ways you can remodel your bathroom:

Tile Paint

If your budget does not allow professional resurfacing then it’s time to roll up your sleeves and go for DIY tile painting. Just like we discussed earlier regarding kitchen cabinets, you can paint the wall tiles as well as the medicine cabinet in simple white to give your bathroom space a much better look. The process might be time-consuming but it is worth the patience. Just make sure you have a painter’s tape that will help achieve a neat finish around the corners and edges.

Avoid Moving Major Plumbing

Relocating drainage outlets and/or the water supply inlet will immediately push up the cost of any remodelling project. Consider making changes without interfering with the plumbing as far as possible. 

Synchronise Accessories

A bathroom can look beautiful with the addition of a few accessories whose colours complement each other. You can get plush bath mats, shower curtains, bath towel sets, and laundry bags with matching colours. A three-piece bathroom set that includes a rug, contour and toilet lid cover can considerably improve the look of the space and effortlessly set the colour scheme of the bathroom.

BEDROOM

You spend approximately one-third of your life sleeping, and a neat and clean bedroom is a major contributor to your sleep. A disorganised or dull bedroom could even negatively affect the quality of your sleep or relaxation time. Let’s have a look at some of the budget-friendly ways to renovate a bedroom:

Furniture Refurbishing

Sometimes a varnish or a new coat of paint is enough to completely change the look of your headboard or the dresser. The process first includes preparation by removing any dust or debris off the surface, which is followed by sanding the surfaces in which you remove the glossy finish. Priming is the next step that helps the paint adhere better to the surface. The final step is varnishing or painting.

Pick Appropriate Linens

When picking linens, comfort should be your first priority. You don’t need to splurge on a pricey bedspread. A basic pattern or monochromatic linen would be good enough.

Good Lighting

Lighting is one of the most effective house remodeling ideas. To give your bedroom a modern look, you can consider trying a new lampshade on an old light fixture, instead of buying a new lamp. A well-illuminated makeup station in the bedroom is in pretty much every woman’s wish list. Gather your tools and create your own DIY vanity mirror.

Now that we have summed up the ways to renovate your house in a budget-friendly manner, you might be wondering about a few handy tools you may need for tackling certain refurbishment projects on your own. If you feel like donning that DIY hat, here are the top 10 must-have tools in your home, that will help you refurbish like a pro. For more ideas on home renovation, check out some more of our budget-friendly house remodeling ideas.