Your cavelike kitchen feels that way because the dark cabinets have sucked all the light out of the room.
But a brighter makeover doesn’t necessarily mean replacing those gloomy boxes with an all-new one. As long as the frames and doors are structurally sound, you can clean them up and brush on some new paint—and within a weekend, take that kitchen from dreary to sunny. All you need is some strong cleaner, sandpaper, a paintbrush, and a little elbow grease. You don’t need a lot of money, as the transformation will cost you a fraction of even the cheapest new cabinets.
Less expensive projects that make your home more appealing to buyers are often a good investment. Refinishing kitchen cabinets and hardwood floors, repainting your home and replacing the carpet, updating the front and garage doors, and refreshing the landscaping are all projects that can help you sell your home more quickly and for more money. It’s also a good idea to look at problems that buyers might not think about when they view your home but that will be revealed during a home inspection. When your home has old plumbing, electrical, and heating and cooling systems or significant maintenance problems, these can influence a buyer’s decision to close the sale of your home and the price they are willing to pay. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4287177819112361701&q=%22home+remodeling%22&hl=en&as_sdt=4,5
If you can reorganize and equip your kitchen for maximum utility, you may not need to blow out the walls to gain square footage. Start by replacing space–hogging shelves with cabinet–height pullout drawers 8 inches wide, containing racks for canned goods and other items. “you’re getting three or more horizontal planes where you might otherwise get only one,” says louis smith jr. , an architect with meier group, in ann arbor, michigan. You could easily shell out a few thousand to outfit cabinets with upgrades like dividers, pull–out pot trays, and lazy susans, but you’ll save many times that amount by skipping the addition you thought you needed.
In the Living Room: Update Flooring
Bigger isn’t necessarily better when it comes to lighting in the bedroom. Not everyone needs or wants a bright, blaring center bedroom light fixture. Perhaps the best way to renovate the bedroom is to consider various, more subdued options.
Look at your nightstand(s) for a place to update lighting, or bedside wall sconce task lighting. If you’ve got the space, a floor lamp near a corner chair creates a cozy and inviting little bedroom nook. Dimmable lighting lets your bedroom adapt to every type of activity and need. A big floor lamp can be a really interesting addition to a space like the living room.
Average cost: $400-900 in addition to revamping backsplashes or tile flooring , you can completely update the look of your kitchen or bathroom by resurfacing and repainting the cabinets, especially if they are decades old. While this can be a time-consuming undertaking, the costs are low compared to replacing cabinetry entirely. If you want to take things a step further, invest in new cabinet hardware, too. Ben fisher, a property investor and owner of the fisher group, a park city, utah real estate agency, says, “just a simple addition of brushed gold knobs and pulls can make the simplest kitchens glamorous in moments.
Boasting views of the museum of natural history and central park, the beaux arts and french renaissance style building built in 1900 was once home to a luxury hotel. Over the years multiple hotel rooms were combined into the larger apartment residences that exist today. The resulting units, while large in size, lacked the continuity of a single formed space. Studiolab was presented with the challenge of re-designing the space to fit a modern family’s lifestyle today with the flexibility to adjust as they evolve into their tomorrow. Thus, the existing configuration was completely abandoned with new programmatic elements being relocated in each and every corner of the space.
In the Living Room: Change Window Treatments
Interior walls break up the space in a small home, making it feel crowded and cutting off many of the practical options for storage, lighting and flow. This is especially true of kitchens and dining rooms in older homes, which were once considered spaces that needed to be separated from the living areas. If the kitchen and dining room are adjacent and separated by a common wall, consider removing the wall to open up the space. If there is a living room adjacent to the dining room or kitchen, the wall could be removed to create more of a connection between rooms in the home.
Above all, your bedroom is your safe haven in your home. It’s the one place that’s wholly yours and should be both comfortable and calming. Much like living room renovations, bedrooms often don’t face as intensive changes as kitchens or basements would. Most commonly, these changes may include updating the paint, installing plush carpeting, or investing in new furniture for the space. Some take this remodeling project further by adding walk-in closets or on-suites with luxury showers or bathtubs to create a private oasis.
Smart thermostats allow users to change the temperature of their home directly from their device, whether they’re bundled up in the living room or laying on a beach abroad. We often set-up these thermostats in tandem with hvac installations, then place sensors throughout the home to monitor temperature plus humidity and dynamically adjust the thermostat accordingly - even during the middle of the night. Beyond convenience, smart thermostats are environmentally friendly, keeping energy usage down and reducing your carbon footprint.
Universal design techniques are often thought of as ways to make everyday living easier for older people who may have mobility challenges. While it can make aging in place easier in your forever home, universal design is meant to make things easier for everyone at every age. If a bathroom remodel is needed to upgrade your forever home, consider installing a curbless shower, a built-in shower bench, and universal fixtures. Similarly, if a kitchen renovation is on your priority list, universal design elements such as d-shaped drawer pulls and slide-out shelves could be part of your custom remodeling efforts.