Three Small Ways to Update Your Home That Make a Big Impact

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Sometimes when we think of updating our homes, we think of big projects and renovations. It’s true that completely gutting a room and redoing everything will make a huge impact, but it also makes the bank account take a huge hit. Thankfully, there are some easy and inexpensive ways that you can update your home and still make a big impact!

A lot of the time we can overlook details when we are working on home improvement projects, but it’s actually the details that really pack a punch. They are the unsung heroes in home design!

Paint

The most cost-effective way to transform a space and pack a punch is with paint. This seems like a no-brainer, but it never fails to amaze me when I actually take the time to paint a room. Here are just a few ways we have used this inexpensive method to transform spaces:

As you can see, we changed more than just the paint color, but with all of that aside, the paint alone really transformed the space. The green was so dark and really made the entire kitchen and dining area feel dingy. The cream, on the other hand, really brightened up the space and made it feel bigger. (I used Valspar Cream in my Coffee from Lowes.)

Our current kitchen:

I wasn’t a huge fan of the tile backsplash, but I’ve learned that sometimes pulling out old tile can create bigger problems, especially if the drywall comes out with it. So, paint was the easiest option. Once again, I love how it brightened up the space! (I used Sherwin Williams Alabaster on the tile.)

Our dining room was another room that I was desperate to paint when we moved in:

I love how soft and bright our dining room turned out! (I used Valspar Sandstone Gray from Lowes.)

According to Lowe’s, a gallon of paint can cover 350 to 400 square feet. That means you can probably complete a room with just one gallon, depending on the size of the room!

Another easy tip for updating a space is changing out your cabinet knobs and drawer pulls. You’d be surprised at how big of a change just swapping out a small item can be, but it is one worth taking note of. The least expensive method of doing this is by removing the hardware and spray painting, which is what I chose to do with the knobs in our butler’s pantry. I’m not a fan of the shiny gold, so for now, black satin spray paint is the way to go.

This was the easiest and cheapest way for me to update this hardware. I actually love how it turned out and don’t have any plans to change it any time soon. (I used Rust-Oleum Satin Black Spray Paint.)

Another way to update hardware is by changing out a few knobs and treating them as accent pieces. We had white plastic knobs on our floating cabinet in our bathroom, so I decided to order two new knobs and replaced the white plastic ones, and then I ended up loving it so I ordered two more to use on the cabinet of the vanity. The rest of the hardware is brushed nickel.

Out of the three tips, this is the most expensive one, but it is still less than gutting a room completely. It’s amazing how much we are used to the light fixtures that we have, but the moment you update your fixture to something more modern, the whole room takes on a new vibe.

We’ve employed this method in several rooms and I have loved every transformation. You might have noticed in the paint tip photo above that the light fixtures were different, but let me show you again in case you missed it.

Once we moved into our new house, we did the same thing in our dining room:

It is a bit of a splurge to buy a new light fixture, but if you are looking for something with a big impact, this is definitely the way to go.

If you combine the three tips listed above, you will have effectively updated a space and spent only a fraction of the cost of what a gut job would cost you. These are also great small steps that you can take to help you achieve your end goal of an updated room.

I hope you found this post useful and inspiring. I had fun putting this post together and also it helped motivate me to update the knobs in my butler’s pantry.

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