Home Renovation Without Remodeling

Man, what a fresh coat of paint can do for a room.  It can really update an old house on budget!  I recommend picking a relaxing color. One you can live with and love.

$5 Per Gallon Paint-

• Paint gets expensive!  So every time I go to Home Depot, Lowes, Ace or even Walmart, I immediately go to the, “Oops!” paint shelf.  Every one of these stores has one, you just have to ask a store associate where it’s located.
  • The “Oops!” paint shelf is where stores house gallons of paint that people have returned or denied because there was an issue with the color.  Meaning, it wasn’t exactly what they wanted or didn’t match.
  • The store discounts these gallons to cost anywhere from $2.50 to $5.00.  I look for light/neutral colors.  Sometimes you luck out and there is more than one gallon.
• Best uses of Oops Paints?
  • Small Spaces- For my closets, small rooms or small bathrooms, the Oops! paints were perfect!!!
  • Priming- These are also perfect for priming those rooms where you plan to paint over a darker color with a lighter color, thereby needing more coats than normal.

Paint w/ Primer- Lowes (Valspar Paint + Primer) and Home Depot (Behr Ultra) sell this kind of paint.  It works better at getting a good coverage on the walls.  I still have to do two coats but they are solid coats when I’m finished.  I have only used Behr brand.  I will never buy plain paint again.

• Warning on Color Selection-  For years we had rented.  When renting, I never wanted to mess with painting because I didn’t want to have to paint it back when I moved out.  So when we bought our first home, I couldn’t wait to paint my bedroom a deep red color.  TERRIBLE IDEA!!!
• First of all, it took 4 coats of paint/primer to get the walls covered.  Then, I really disliked being in my room.  My advice is to pick a calming color for the rooms you spend the most time in!

2. Simple Home Renovation Before and After Counter-tops

Counter-tops are one of those expensive messy jobs.  Ours were a dark forest green color.  It was quit terrible.  While at Home Depot I ran across this small container of paint made by Rust-Oleum that was supposed to be made for painting counter-tops.  It’s called: Rust-Oleum 263206 Countertop Coating Premix, 32-Ounce Kit.  I was really skeptical at first.

In fact, I bought some and my husband was so skeptical he asked me to return it.  But after we decided that replacing the countertops was not in the budget, we just went for it!  It was worth it!!!  It does exactly what it said it would do and now I have really nice looking counter-tops in my bathroom for about $40 with no ripping out of anything.  This is defiantly one of those weekend home improvement projects.

They also make this Rust-Oleum 258512 Counter Top Transformations, Small Kit, Charcoal paint for kitchen counter updates which is a little more expensive but based on the way the bathroom turned out and if I was struggling to live with my current kitchen counters, I’d give it go!

3. Lighting/Ceiling Fans Home Renovation Before And After

Bathroom Vanity Lights House Renovation Before and After

Just buying a new, updated vanity light can change your bathroom’s look!

• Price range $40-$100 with great options online!

Replacing Old Chandeliers-

There is a time and place for nice chandelier or low hanging light fixtures but honestly, the kitchen isn’t always the greatest spot.  In most of the homes I’ve lived in, low hanging kitchen chandelier lights results in many head bumps.

Our new home had a really weird hanging chandelier style light that was really, really low in our small kitchenette.  We replaced the low hanging chandelier light with a flush dome light and now we don’t hit our heads, we have plenty of light, and it looks like we added a few feet to our kitchen space.  

There are many many cool styles of these lights so be sure you check them out to see which ones would take less space but add the style and look you want to your own home.

• Price range $20 – $50.
  

Outdoor Light Fixtures:

About 2 years ago we freshened up the paint on the outside of our house.  Once we had refreshed everything, I struggled with the appearance of the brass finish outdoor light fixtures and even the brass door bell button.  

Instead of going out and buying brand new fixtures my husband simply updated them with a little patience and some spray paint and now they look brand new!

My husband has a Youtube channel called Makercise and here’s the video he created to show you how you can fix up all your own outdoor lights for under $15 with some easy to find spray-on self etching metal primer & spray paint!

4. Outdated Bathroom Faucet Home Renovation Before and After

These make a huge difference in updating a bathroom or kitchen. They can also improve functionality.  I hated wrestling to get things like canning pots or bottles under my old faucet.  Now that it is arched and skinny I can fill up all kinds of stuff in my bathroom and kitchen sink!

• Price range $50-$200.

If a project like this seems daunting, websites like Lowes Home Improvement have simply DIY videos on how to Replace a Bathroom Faucet. 

5. Update Old Hardware-

One interesting problem we came across in our journey to restyle our kitchen and bathroom was that our cabinets were made in the 80’s and new hardware doesn’t actually fit our old cabinets. Therefore, when we tried to replace drawer and cabinet handles with new hardware, the new hardware didn’t line up with the old holes.

So we decided to simply prep and spray paint the hardware around our home which was way cheaper and actually came out looking nice.  

We are fans of the brushed bronze look and it’s now on all our fans and lighting fixtures so we are updating hardware around our house to match with paints like this Krylon K09191000 COVERMAXX Spray Paint, Brushed Metallic Oil Rubbed Bronze.

If you are thinking about renovating a house:

I know that it’s easy to watch TLC and all those channels and watch as people basically destroy and old house and make it look amazing and new but that stuff takes a ridiculous amount of time, research and money to ensure that works out in your favor.  

I have several friends that have been through this journey already and give you great insights into how to avoid Flipping a House that Flops and 3 Income Property Mistakes to avoid.

Well, there you have it.  Four ways that you can do a home renovation without having to do a major re-model.  It really makes a huge difference and you can expect to pay under $100 each if you are be thrifty about it.  

I believe that many of these suggestions are super easy home improvements that add value to your own enjoyment of your home as well as when/if you decide to sell.