If you’ve been around here any length of time, then you know all about me constantly dreaming and scheming about our future dream home (a farmhouse, in the country). While we have a perfectly good house now, it’s terribly out of date, way too small, lacking storage, and way too suburban for my rural tastes. That said, we’ve been in our house since late 2013, and fortunately have had the opportunity to make some small, inexpensive improvements. While I’d like to do an entire home renovation, it’s simply not in our budget, and also nonsensical considering I’d like us to move in a few years. Anyway, if you’re also on a budget but want to make some improvements, maybe some of what we’ve done can inspire you!
Removed wallpaper: one of the first things we did when we moved in was start to tear down some ugly wallpaper. We tore it down in the bathroom and in our bedroom. We still have wallpaper in our kitchen and downstairs bathroom, but haven’t quite gotten to those areas. My mom and I did most of this ourselves.
Painted several rooms: after the wallpaper tear down, we were ready to paint. We did quite a lot of painting after we moved in. We painted the living room, dining room, our bedroom, the bathroom, and the nursery. Honestly, a fresh coat of paint really does wonders. There’s a lot more painting we could and should do. We really have to repair some scuffs and scratches on the walls, and then paint again. My mom, aunt, and I did most of the painting.
Replaced the garage door: we had a very old garage door when we first moved in. It worked, but only sometimes, and often got stuck. We finally saved up money and got it replaced. This was one of our biggest house investments, and I have no regrets. One thing that was a slight disappointment is that we were super excited to get a keypad put in, so that if we went for a walk or got locked out, we could just enter the pin and go in through the garage. Great idea in theory, but in the winter, the keyboard seems to freeze and not work… so… pretty lame. At any rate, I’d recommend the key pad if you live in a warmer area. Once we live out in the country, I think I’d feel safer hiding a key on the property, but not right now!
Removed a railing, installed barn door wall: in 2016, we removed a death trap railing that dropped down to our foyer (could you imagine the kids flying over that? Yikes), and decided we would need to replace it with a wall for safety reasons. However, I found a $25 old barn door for sale locally, and we used that instead of building a traditional (boring) wall. It’s a taste of the farm life right inside my house. It is, without a doubt, my favorite part of our home!
Carpeted the nursery: the nursery originally had hard wood floors like the majority of our house. When we were getting ready to have Caleb though, we ended up getting it carpeted. We just thought a soft surface would be better and easier for our babies to crawl and play on. A family friend / handyman did this for cheap.
Added ceiling lights / fans in three rooms: when we bought our house, there were pretty much no ceiling lights in the bedrooms or living rooms. Lamps are fine, but often not bright enough. That said, we ended up installing fan ceiling lights on our bedroom, the nursery, and the living room. We hired an electrician for this.
Swapped out three ugly light fixtures for more modern ones: we had old, ugly, outdated light fixtures in the foyer, kitchen, and living room. We got these all replaced with modern mason jar lights instead. Not only are they more up to date, but they also match now. We hired an electrician for this.
Replaced several appliances: while our house came equipped with basically all the appliances, over the years, they have slowly been breaking and have needed to been replaced. To date, we have replaced the: refrigerator, washing machine, dryer, and oven. All were bought new and installed by Home Depot / Lowes, except for the oven which we bought used on Facebook.
Bathroom update: our main bathroom has had a mini makeover. We tore down wallpaper, painted, replaced the toilet, replaced the vanity, sink, and faucet, replaced the shower head, replaced the light fixture, repaired some plumbing, and installed some crown molding (though this is only like… halfway done. Oops). Ideally, we’d also replace the tub and flooring, but that’s another project for another day.
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