12 Easy and Affordable Home Improvement Ideas You Can Implement Right Away

We have all thought of renovating our homes at some point. Especially now, when we’ve been working from home most of the time. I know I have been researching affordable home improvement ideas. As I sit in my living room my mind often wanders and I fantasize about what changes I can make to improve my space. And I know that some of my lofty ideas for upgrades will cost a lot.

While there are some home improvement ideas that will be expensive, there are many that are quite affordable. If you have some skills and enjoy DIY, you can probably manage them yourself. Which is what I did.

The good news is any costs that you put into them could reap dividends. If you plan on selling your house in the future, then these affordable home renovations could add thousands to your selling price.

Here are at least 12  budget home improvement ideas that I can suggest.

1.  Upgrade your garage/basement

If you’re lucky enough to have a basement, then there’s quite a bit that you can do with it. You might expect that a basement conversion would be costly but it can be far more affordable than you’d think.

While a lot of this can depend on exactly what you want to do, it certainly does not cost as much asadding a new room. You could think about deepening your basement by a foot or two, which can make it feel much larger.

Painting the walls and decorating also shouldn’t cost too much, depending on where you buy furniture and supplies from. If you’re the DIY type, then you’ll save even more on costs.

We don’t have a basement but do have a garage. We had been thinking about renovating it for years now. We finally got around to it—thanks to the pandemic. We didn’t entirely DIY it as the walls had to be chipped and cleaned. But the painting was definitely within our skills. Now we have a lovely garage and big plans for it. Oh we don’t have a car!

2.  Give the garage door a makeover

If renovating the garage is not an option, why not repaint the garage door? I can assure you it will make a huge difference and increase the curb appeal of your home.

3.  Let there be light

Home improvement ideas don’t need to be big. Stick with smaller things. Lighting is an example. Because we are spending so much time at home, we have switched to energy-efficient light fixtures and fittings and this has transformed our space.

Read: Easy DIY lighting ideas to liven up your home

4.  The Kitchen

The kitchen is the heart of the home. It’s also where many people spend a lot of their time—our home is no exception. I love to cook and thanks to the lockdown, have been experimenting with lots of recipes. I took a good hard look at my kitchen. The first thing I did was give it a fresh coat of paint. Then I added a peel-and-stick backsplash. Changed the water faucets. Organized my oven and microwave with a shelf. Got a slim rack to organize some of our jars. And voila! A whole new look!

It is easy to stick with small, affordable kitchen renovations and make these over time. Taller cabinets, nicer countertops, and a kitchen island are all inexpensive upgrades you can make.

5.  Paint your walls. Or just an accent wall

While on the topic of painting walls, let me just say you can either refresh your entire house with a fresh coat of paint, or one room, or even one wall. Why not create an accent wall in your living room? You might also want to experiment with peel-and-stick wallpaper. There are so many options available on Amazon and I confess I love them.

Because of so many video-meetings now, the area of our home that receives the most natural light didn’t have the best background. We solved that in one hour with a peel-and-stick wallpaper and it looks amazing. It is affordable and easy to DIY.

6.   Give your cabinets and closets and facelift

The peel-and-stick paper works for cabinets, closets, tabletops, countertops, focal walls—and any surface you want to renew. There is no mess and instant gratification. They are easy to maintain because all you need to do is wipe. They are also easy to replace as they are available in a variety of finishes.

7.  Wipe/clean your switches

It is amazing what we notice when we are at home. One of these things was the switches, switchplates and power outlets. The constant use makes them gradually dirty. Just wiping them clean made a difference. What an easy upgrade! While we were at it, we also replaced some of the switches and covers and added picture frames around some. You can fancy it up with stickers too!

8.  Upgrade your bathroom

Some easy home improvement ideas for your bathroom are:

• Change your faucets—we changed our 15-year-old faucets and fittings and are thrilled with the newer models.
• Clean/change the caulking—Over a period of time, caulking ages and cracks, inviting mildew to build up and eventually leading to seepage. So check the areas around your sink, around your bathtub, wall joints etc. Caulk is cheap and easy to apply. You will need some basic tools to scrape off the old caulking and apply the fresh one.

9.  Give your front door a makeover

The front door is usually open to the elements and as the years go by, the paint and varnish wears off exposing the wood to sun and rain. You can replace it with a low maintenance option or refinish the door. Here are step-by-step directions to refinish your door.

10.  Add new flooring

Now, before you get alarmed at the thought of ripping up your old flooring and spending thousands on a new one, let me assure you that there are easier ways to upgrade your flooring. We now get durable vinyl sheets and tiles that are easy to DIY. We always wanted a wooden floor but the costs were scary. Then one day, we were out walking and saw rolls and rolls of interesting material. Turned out to be flooring. We immediately chose the wood finish look and in less than 10 minutes had a wooden floor. Oh we didn’t bother to glue it on. Affordable, easy to clean. We’ve now had it for 10 years and it still looks good.

11.  Spruce up your laundry room/mudroom

The vinyl flooring works for just about any floor and this includes your laundry room and mud room. Just get the right measurements and lay it. Self-adhesive tiles are also available in dozens of colors, patterns and textures and are easy to fix.

12.  Add some plants

Of the easiest home improvement ideas, adding plants to your space probably should top the list as it is good for your health. Add indoor air-purifying plants. Or outside your front door. You don’t even need to buy pots—just use containers you no longer need and arrange them creatively. Make sure your outdoor plants get enough light.

Wrapping Up

There you go! Low budget home improvement ideas that you can probably DIY or hire a contractor to do. Remember that for major jobs, it is better to plan your project, do the research on what it is likely to cost you. Shop around talking to contractors and then decide on what you can get done so that you can get the maximum value for your money.