Keeping a family home clean and tidy for more than five minutes is impossible. A bit like eating OREOs whilst brushing your teeth! Yet, you keep on fighting the good fight. Your children mess up the house, you tidy it up, and the cycle repeats. Of course, as they get older, you’ll hopefully be able to teach them how to keep the place clean and tidy themselves, but that’s only part of the problems.
Houses get worn out and things start to fall apart no matter how well you look after everything. There comes a point at which small fixes just won’t do it. You need to give the place a full-on makeover. Here are some tips to help you do that.
Draw up a plan
Before you dive into a full-scale renovation project, it’s so important to have a proper plan drawn up. You probably don’t need to be told twice, as you most likely had a plan going for the tasks which need to be tackled. Of course, the most important thing is that the plan is costed because you’ll probably want to set a budget for the overall project.
If you’ve started to cost things and you’re worrying that you won’t be able to afford all the improvements you had in mind then you could always consider home owner loans. Lenders see home owners as trustworthy because they own a secure and valuable asset, so that could definitely be an option for you.
To free up some of your budget, consider shopping for second-hand tools or renting some equipment like a stair ladder for hire. The internet is the place to score some good items.
Of course, you might simply decide that you’d rather scale back the project if it’s too costly. Either way, the key is to make sure you’ve planned ahead and you know that you won’t find yourself in a sticky situation wherein you’ve half-started a task and run out of the necessary funds to finish it.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help
DIY is a lot of fun, but it’s important that you figure out which aspects of this renovation project are DIY tasks and which tasks either need a helping hand from relatives and friends or a helping hand from professionals. There’s nothing worse than essentially being your own cowboy builder and doing a botch job of some very crucial aspect of your household.
Of course, you also shouldn’t be scared of tackling some challenging renovation tasks if you think you can master the art. Use tools such as YouTube tutorials to help you out because there’s nothing more helpful than watching a step-by-step video guide in order to figure out how to do something by the book.
Utilise lighting more effectively
Whilst you might have the perfect artificial lights to create a warm and homely glow at night, you might not have quite mastered brightening up your home during the day. You should be utilising natural light to make your home glimmer and shine.
Repainting the walls with a fresh coat of white paint really helps to reflect sunlight and brighten up a room. You also might want to replace the curtains on your windows with blinds so that you can better control the amount of sunlight streaming into a room.
Fix the garden
Maybe you mow the lawn frequently and perhaps you even tend to the flower beds, but this is basic maintenance. Like tidying up your kids’ toys or cleaning kitchen surfaces, it simply keeps everything ticking off but it doesn’t improve the garden on a major scale. If you want to give this outside area a real makeover then you need to treat it like any room within your house.
Think about the cosy factor; that’s always a good rule of thumb. You want people to feel comfortable in the garden. It should be a place in which you can relax on warm summer evenings or perhaps even have snuggle up under a blanket on colder winter nights to gaze at the stars.
The patio area is the key to a homely garden. Nature is unruly and all you can do is trim back hedges or water plants to help that side of things, but there’s a lot you can do to improve a patio area.
Frequently cleaning the tables, chairs, and decking is a good place to start because the outdoor elements are harsh on man-made surfaces. You want to keep this area an inviting and welcoming area to relax. Cushioned seating is a good start. Perhaps even an outdoor fireplace could help liven up the area. It depends how ambitious a renovation project you’re willing to undertake. Something in the middle such as a gazebo might be the perfect compromise; shelter from the weather and a pretty aesthetic addition to your garden.
3 comments
Lovely post. Thanks for sharing these home makeover tips.
Great Post. Thank you so much for the ideas.