By Corrine Miller
Homes are getting smaller and smaller these days, but is anyone really surprised? Most people who are looking to buy houses nowadays simply can’t afford spacious housing. The Independent reveals that people aged between 18 and 34 are more likely to move into smaller homes than larger ones. Indeed, the housing market has changed drastically due to economic constraints.
But this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t push through with your home renovation and home improvement projects. While there are massive ways to reinvigorate the look of a home there are things that you can do on a budget. Sometimes, we need to look at the best window replacement options and bigger changes, but the fact is that sometimes, the simplest things are going to make the biggest impact. When you are looking to renovate your home on a budget, you’ve got to get the balance right between aesthetics and creating a new feeling in your home. While it may be a little more difficult, there are ways to renovate even with limited resources. If this is something that interests you, read on for a list of small home renovation projects for people on a budget!
Painting Walls
Now, one quick and easy renovation is giving your walls a fresh coat of paint. What’s great about this is you only need to spend money on the tins of paint, as you can opt to apply the paint to your walls yourself. You can even make a fun afternoon out of this and get your buddies to help you paint your home.
Additionally, changing up the colour scheme of your space has another benefit that we’re sure that you’ll love. The Huffington Post highlights how painting your walls in a neutral colour can actually make your space feel bigger than it is. Bold colours make spaces feel more intimate and tight, while muted neutral colours give a space a more open feel. This is actually a design principle taken from Scandinavian home design, which is famous for their minimalist approach to the aesthetics of the home.
Open Floor Plan
One of the best ways to maximise the space that you have is by adapting an open floor plan for your home. By removing the walls in between rooms, you’ll end up with more space overall. While this is the most costly renovation on this list, it can save you money in the long run compared to renovating each individual room to make more space. Design Sponge details how the added space is what has made this design principle so popular in recent years. It’s especially popular with those that live alone, as walls and dividers are pretty irrelevant in the first place due to privacy never really being an issue.
Now, one important thing to note before doing this is that it’ll shift the entire look of your space – this means more than knocking all the walls down. You’ll have to rearrange your furniture and maybe even the rooms themselves to make this work. One great way to do this is through the use of a 3D model app that’ll let you view the future setup of your space before renovations are made. Another thing you may want to look into is getting insurance for any unintended damages that these renovations may cause. HomeServe underlines the importance of getting coverage for utilities in smaller homes, like flats and apartments that cover key areas such as the plumbing, drainage and the electrics (all of which could be affected when converting to an open floor plan). This becomes even more important when you’re doing renovations. Having the foresight to take practical measures for frequently used utilities will be crucial when it comes to renovating under a strict budget.
Add Built-in Shelving
Sometimes small spaces are only small because you’ve failed to use the area efficiently. And while the Guardian emphasises how effective decluttering can be, not all of us can just ruthlessly purge our inventories for a little more space. Luckily, there is a way that you can have the best of both worlds — you’ll get to keep your beloved items and have more space in your home.
As we’ve already mentioned in our article on How to Make the Most Out of a Small Living Space, effective and efficient storage options are the way to go when you want to maximise space. However, not all of us want a cabinet or a shelf to double as chairs, so why not install built-in shelving instead? Built-in shelving may cost more than your everyday renovations, but it’ll be well worth it in the end as they can enhance your space and act as the focal point of any room. Make sure to invest in quality materials so that your shelves don’t break down after a few months.
Author Bio: Corinne Miller is a freelance interior designer. She frequently styles and stages model apartment units and contributes to lifestyle blogs in her free time.
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