I guess you could say I’ve been involved in-home improvement projects quite often in my life. At this very minute my husband is finishing the drywall in our living room, and will soon be painting it. While it’s great to see the finished product, the process can be very messy.
Carpet the bottoms of the drawers you keep your hand tools in. This will not only make the shop room a quieter place but it will help protect your valuable tools. Keep those tools rust free by spraying the carpet lightly with machine oil before you place the tools inside the drawer.
Before you decide on renovations, attend new subdivision open houses. Seeing the actual styles and colors will give you an idea of how these options would change the look of your home. Lots of model homes have decorators who include furniture and window coverings in order to provide you with a better look. Therefore, you can simply mimic the options you like and skip the ones you don’t.
Use a type of bold print in a average or low key living room to add some personality. Think about using a leopard or maybe zebra print in your living room, but only in small doses! A great way to use prints is through accessories, such as pillows or rugs.
Add art to your walls. Put a little extra effort into your wall decorations. It can be a painting, a relief, dried flowers, or anything that can be affixed to the wall. Adding art will improve the general look, feel, and mood of your home as well as adding a sense of style and class.
If you are renovating a small room, replace carpeting with hard flooring, such as hardwood, laminate, or tile. Carpet in a small room will congest the visual field and make the room feel even smaller. The right arrangement of floor tiles or planks, conversely, can make the room feel larger.
A full remodel of your kitchen and counter tops can be very expensive. For a more affordable update, consider having your counter tops refinished by a local contractor. This is also an option for anyone who wants to change the look and feel of their kitchen but cannot afford to completely replace cabinetry.
Interior lighting can be used to create the illusion of spaciousness in narrow hallways or nooks. Install light fixtures above eye level along the length of the corridor in such a way that the light is directed downward. In addition to making the area feel larger, it can also be used to illuminate family portraits and decorative wall elements.
Consider painting as the first step of a project. You will have a much easier time painting your ceiling and walls before the flooring is installed. Splattering your lovely new floor with paint would be a real risk, no matter how carefully you masked and tarped the area.
Before painting your walls, experiment with samples. Most paint companies offer 2 oz samples that are capable of covering a small area of the wall. Live with the color for a few days, making sure that you view it in both natural and artificial light. This will give you a good idea of whether you want to take the plunge and paint the entire room in this shade.
We have a home which is over 100 years old and updating it has been an ongoing process over the past five years. We have a new dining room, two new bathrooms and half of a new kitchen. Recently, my husband installed four new windows and put new siding on half of the house. I can’t wait for the whole thing to be done!