Ready for a Refresh: Tips for Making Over Your Home
Ready for a Refresh: Tips for Making Over Your Home
After so much time spent at home, everyone is trying to find ways to make a change. Part of this process should involve reviving and refreshing your home. Revolve Estate is a great resource when it comes to giving your home a makeover, and we can even help you to stage. However, to get started, there are a few things you need to handle first.
Clean It Up
When you're cooped up for any period of time, it's wise to give your home a thorough cleaning from top to bottom. According to Good Housekeeping, not only does this help declutter things from a mental perspective, but it can also make your home a healthier environment. Consider this a time for spring cleaning, regardless of what time of year you're doing it. Steam clean your carpets and tiles, wash windows inside and out, wipe down floorboards, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, and open up the windows to let in fresh air. This will help improve your overall mental state and give your home a clean, fresh feel.
Fix Broken Things
It can be frustrating to continually listen to the same dripping faucet, see the same sagging curtain rod, or encounter the same burned out lights in your basement day after day. Go through your home room by room and make a list of repairs that need to be made. According to This Old House, you can likely handle small fixes on your own, such as painting a wall to liven up a room, or patching a small hole in drywall. If you have large-scale repairs that need to be made, like replacing shingles on your house, fixing a garage door, or anything that falls into the electrical or plumbing categories, consider hiring a professional to take care of it on your behalf.
Make Your Home Healthier
While a house isn't a living thing, there are ways that you can make your living environment healthier for your entire family. Change your air filters, install carbon monoxide detectors and hire a pro to spray for vermin and insects. Clean habitually damp areas like basements with an anti-mold agent, and consider making a switch to natural cleaners to eliminate toxic products in your home. If you have animals, bathe them often enough that you aren’t continually dealing with hair and dander, and regularly clean your upholstery and drapes to reduce the potential for allergens.
Make Some Improvements
If you simply need some extra space, or want to be able to enjoy your home more fully, consider hiring a professional to install additional storage in the form of shelving, add a room extension, or build a patio or a fire pit so you can extend your living environment to outdoor spaces. This also creates a more comfortable space for you and your family to enjoy one another's company. If you plan on selling your house in the near future, keep receipts for all of the improvements you make, and take before-and-after pictures so you can demonstrate the work you've done. Your efforts can considerably improve your home’s value.
Keep Resale In Mind
Any time you make major improvements to your home, it’s wise to keep resale in mind. This means considering how much improvements will add to the appraised value of your home. For example, a kitchen or bathroom remodel can significantly increase your home’s worth, while things like updated landscaping will certainly add to your curb appeal, but not necessarily the value of the property. It doesn't hurt to do a little online browsing to see what other homeowners are doing in terms of upgrades to get a feel for what consumers are looking for.
Take Time to Redecorate
Once you complete repairs or improvements, it’s time to address your aesthetic. Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be an expensive undertaking, particularly if you focus on repurposing and restoring some of what you already have. Reupholstering a love seat in a rich fabric can breathe new life into this piece, while swapping out furniture for different rooms can completely change the look of a space. Sometimes it’s hard to see a new purpose for items we’ve had for years, so it’s highly beneficial to work with the interior design experts at Revolve Estate. We specialize in helping clients create beautiful interiors by performing small repairs, fixes, and tasks such as organizing before staging the space. Additionally, we also repurpose and reuse items they already own, which is great for the environment and saves money.
You can go big or small in a home makeover, but every little bit can give your home the refresh it deserves and the space you’ve always wanted.
Written by Bruce Fletcher
