Creating your perfect home can take a while. When you have nailed down the perfect home for your family, it can come with the need to upgrade quite a lot. People end up working on their dream homes for years as they try to find the money to bring it up to the standard they want. From cheap engineered wood flooring to finding the perfect new furniture, there are plenty of high-end upgrades you can make on a budget which won’t make your bank balance complain.
Reuse Where You Can
Many people think that upgrading means getting rid of the old to make way for the new. If you make some smart choices, there is no reason why you cannot hold onto your old things instead. For example, many people choose to completely rip out a kitchen or bathroom suite when they are doing these rooms.
To save some money, you should make sure that you are truly evaluating whether or not this sort of treatment needs to be made. You might actually find that the kitchen layout works for you, or you don’t mind the bathroom suite. In these scenarios, it is better to try to preserve the items you want to keep. They are the most expensive parts of a refit and it can be quite difficult to find new ones you like at a low price.
With a kitchen, you might actually only need to replace the cupboard doors and countertops. If you are happy to keep using the rest of the kitchen, why get rid of it? New doors and a sleek new countertop will make it feel like a completely different style of room.
The same principle applies to a bathroom. You can transform a bathroom fairly easily even just by painting any exposed walls and swapping out the accessories. Before you know it, your bathroom could be transformed into the perfect space to relax.
Choose Floors Carefully
You might be surprised to learn how much of a difference the right floors make to your room. We might barely pay attention to floors but swapping them out will change the room completely. However, new floors are rarely cheap. With some careful searching, you might be able to find cheap engineered wood flooring which will seriously help you out with replacing your floors.
There are many different styles of wooden floor out there and it is important that you find the right ones for you. The advantage of cheap engineered wood flooring is that it can help you achieve the high-end look without the need for splashing out on expensive wood.
Real wood flooring looks amazing but the boards can be extremely expensive. Engineered wood flooring is made from a layer of real wood and core boards. Since there is less real wood in this type of floor, it is often cheaper. This allows you to get the style of wooden floors you have always loved without having to fork out for a premium cost. You should talk to some commercial flooring specialists to get some advice on what flooring will suit your home or other spaces.
Learn to Do It Yourself
Hiring contractors is expensive no matter what they are doing for you. Not only will you have to pay for materials, but you are also going to have to pay for labour. On top of this, you are most likely going to be hit with a hefty VAT bill too. This can cause the cost of the job to skyrocket before a single change has been made.
Even if you have never picked up a hammer in your life, learning the basics of DIY is going to help you save an awful lot of money. Through books, TV shows, and internet guides, you have a plethora of information to draw from when trying things for yourself.
You should also ask around to see if any of your friends or family have the skills needed to give you a hand. Paying for their help can be as simple as a bottle of their favourite tipple; much less than paying a contractor.
There are plenty of jobs out there which you will be able to take on even if you currently feel like they are out of your depth. For example, even laying cheap engineered wood flooring might be easier than you initially expected. This is because this type of floor comes with all the tools you need to complete the job properly.
You should also try to stick to things which you know are your strengths. Wallpaper is extremely difficult to get right though there are many tools out there nowadays to help you get it right again. Unless you are picking a pattern which is easy to match up, you should think about sticking just to something like paint as this is much easier to handle as a material.
Get Friendly with Sales
One of the best things you can do when trying to renovate a home on the cheaper side is to take a look at some of the many amazing sales which happen throughout the year. From New Year’s Sales to Cyber Monday, you will be able to grab lots of amazing deals if you know where to look for them. Get up early on the day of the sale and try to identify what you want to buy before things kick off. By doing so, you will hopefully be able to navigate the online store and get things in your basket and paid for much faster.
The advantage of sales is that they allow you to pick up fantastic pieces for your home at a fraction of the price. This means that you can have genuine pieces from your favourite brands instead of knockoffs which might look the same but are not the same quality. If guests see that you have a certain piece of designer furniture in your home, they are unlikely to ask how much you paid for it. It is easy to fill your home with amazing furniture you love if you are willing to wait for the right sale before you buy it.
Buying in sales means that you also get to buy furniture which is of much higher quality. There are plenty of companies out there which offer affordable furniture but it is not always of the best material. If you want a solid wood bookcase instead of one made from laminate imitation, you usually have to pay for this. Waiting for the right sale to come around can make things that little bit easier on your budget.
Don’t Focus Only Within the Home
If you have some garden space, you need to make sure that you are giving this area some love too. A garden is a fantastic place to sit out and enjoy a pleasant summer evening. It is also a fantastic socialising space so you should make sure that you are able to bring guests out here.
You do not have to have a green thumb to be able to have a beautiful garden; though it obviously helps quite a bit. Instead, you just need to make sure that you have the right plants in place. A small garden might not be the best location for real grass, especially if you don’t have the storage for a lawnmower. In this situation, artificial grass can look just as effective as the real thing.
You should also look at flowers and shrubs which don’t require a lot of work. Hanging baskets are always effective and can be easy to both put together and take care of. If you don’t like the idea of looking after flowerbeds in great detail, a hanging basket might be easier.
Make sure you do proper research into which plants are low maintenance. Succulents are one of the most fashionable plants to own at the moment but plant lovers know that they can be little divas and quite tricky to take care of. Likewise, roses and orchids are very popular flowers but they are notoriously difficult to take care of. A garden is going to require work, so if you do not want to put in the effort you should think about looking elsewhere.
You should also make sure that you are not overly neglecting the front of your house. Curb appeal is a massive way to make a place seem inviting. A few coats of paint on the door and the right shrub beside it will really help your guests feel welcome.
Decorate One Room at a Time
If you have a whole house to tackle but very little money to do it with, you need to be smart. Work out which rooms require the most attention and which ones you can live in provided they get minor changes like a coat of paint. This is often the best way to approach your build as it means that you can spend a bit, save a bit, and repeat until the whole house is completed.
It will also allow your style to evolve throughout the years. You might be obsessed with a monochrome palette when you first move in, only to find that you do like a little bit of colour here and there. Trends come and go and it might be easier for you to buy the kitchen style you like the most if it is not what is on trend at that moment since it will be cheaper.
Designing and redecorating a home is an uphill battle but it is one which you will need to master. A little patience can go a long way.
Build to Last
The most important thing you can do when trying to find high-end upgrades at a low cost is to ensure that you are building things which are going to last a very long time. If you are putting in a bathroom suite, try to choose one which you think will last you for decades. Every colour of paint should be selected with the knowledge that you are going to be looking at it for a very long time. If you don’t like something, you might not always have the budget to be able to fix it properly. Getting it right first time can be very difficult but it is something that you are going to have to master.
When it comes to furniture, you need to make sure that you are choosing pieces which are well-made. If you can find some high-quality antique pieces, you know that they have already partly stood the test of time. Choosing pieces like this are going to be fantastic as they will create a talking point in the room while hopefully remaining with you for a long time.
Try to make improvements to your home too. If you have things you wish you could add to the home, such as more storage here, or an extra bathroom there, you should try to budget to complete them. They are the sort of improvements which will not just make your life in your home more pleasant, they are the crucial differences which can boost up the price of your house when you come to sell it on again. The sooner you can plan these improvements, the sooner you can begin to budget for them and change things around to your liking.
Champagne Living on a Lemonade Budget
Home improvements can be expensive if you are not careful. You need to make sure that you are able to pay for everything no matter what it might be. Planning and organisation are going to be key here. With the right choices, you should be able to afford every upgrade to your home. Through shopping in key sales, investing in cheap engineered flooring, and learning how to make improvements, you will be well on the way to a beautiful house. What’s more, you will have the full satisfaction of knowing that you decorated your own home from the ground up. The satisfaction you can get from projects like this is unbelievable. Everyone should take on a project like this at least once in their lifetime.
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