Things In Your Home You Should Fix Yourself And Save The Money
Homeownership is something that many of us aspire to. But even after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a place, there's no shortage of things around the house that require attention — and spending.
Any project around the house, be it big or small, can be handled by a professional. But paying a pro to do the work doesn't always make sense, particularly when a project is simple enough that a layperson can do it themselves. Here are some relatively simple DIY projects to help new homeowners save some money.
Painting
Painting can be labor-intensive work, which helps explain why commercial painting companies tend to charge an arm and a leg to paint your rooms. If you're physically able to handle all of the stretching and reaching, it's something you can do yourself for a fraction of the cost.
The nice thing about a painting project is that it's probably the easiest task for a beginner to grasp and can also be immensely satisfying as new coats are rolled onto the walls.
Get your sink draining properly
Plumbing work is often gross work, but this is the unfortunate reality of delving into your drains. Learning how the pipes fit together — and, crucially, where your sink traps are — can help homeowners avoid bigger plumbing headaches down the line.
Cleaning your sink traps is messy work, but it's also very necessary work if you want your drains to work properly. Fortunately, it's also a fairly easy job, so it's worth learning how to do it yourself.
Replacing knobs and pulls
If you'd like to spruce up your kitchen or washroom but aren't looking to do a full reno, simply replacing the knobs or pulls on the various cabinets and drawers is a great way to give things a new look.
Fortunately, this is a dead-simple project, and it begins with the fun work of choosing new hardware. In most cases, the new knobs can simply be screwed in where the old ones were taken out of.
Give yourself a big chalkboard
Families are generally going to want a centrally-located calendar or somewhere to write down notes so everyone can stay on top of their daily schedules. Turning an entire wall into a chalkboard is a great way to do this in a functional, eye-catching way.
The best part is that this doesn't require buying and hanging chalkboards. All you need to do is buy a special kind of brush-on chalkboard paint that will turn any surface it's applied to into a functional chalkboard.
Modernize your popcorn ceiling
Popcorn ceilings — the kind that have a rough or pebbled texture — were originally designed to add interest to what would otherwise be a flat plane. But over the years, this style has become incredibly dated, and flat ceilings are back in vogue.
If you want a more contemporary-looking ceiling, getting rid of your popcorn ceiling is a fairly straightforward affair. With a drywall knife, a wet/dry vac and some tender loving care, it's possible to de-popcorn your bumpy ceiling.
Tweaking your furnace dampers
Many of us never give our furnace a second thought unless something goes wrong, but it's possible to make your house more energy-efficient with a simple tweak.
The metal dampers along the vent lines stemming from your furnace can all be adjusted by simply turning a small handle. This allows homeowners to dial in exactly how much — or how little — heat they want to be directed to various areas of their house.
Spruce up your steps
If you live in a newer two-story house, chances are good that your staircase is prominent in the house. This makes it a great statement piece and a prime candidate for a quick renovation.
Whether you're ripping up the carpet on the stairs to expose the hardwood underneath, installing a runner up the middle of the steps, or painting the steps in vibrant colors, a revamped staircase is a great way to freshen up the look of your home.
Fix your screens
The mesh screens on windows and sliding doors help outside air circulate into your house without allowing bugs inside. However, the delicate nature of these screens means that they generally won't last that long without picking up some rips, snags, and tears along the way.
This is a project where you'll want to watch a DIY video or two — and there is some trial and error involved — but at the end of the day, it's a fairly easy fix, and the materials to pull it off are inexpensive and readily available.
Power wash the outdoor areas
Outdoor surfaces like patios, decks, driveways, and even the exterior of your house itself will accumulate dirt and grime over the years, leaving them looking rough. If you can rent a power washer (or just buy one outright), it's an effective and satisfying way to clean these areas.
There isn't much to using a power washer, so there's no need to hire someone to do it for you. It's incredible to see just how effective these devices are at breathing new life into outdoor areas.
Freshen up your tiles
Tile floors can last for decades, but the tiles are generally a product of their time — and even if they're still totally functional, their design or color can start to look dated.
If you're not ready to rip out your floor entirely, you can refresh your tiles by simply painting them — either by taking the simple route and using one consistent color, or by flexing your creativity and applying a design using a stencil.
Fix that leaky faucet
The idea of playing plumber might seem daunting — and indeed, there are many plumbing issues for which it's best to just bear the cost and call in a professional.
Some of these issues, though, can be handled by yourself. Using vice grips and pliers, it's possible to adjust faucets so they don't drip anymore. As a bonus, it serves as a useful introduction to how plumbing fixtures tend to work.
Soundproof your home
There are a million reasons to soundproof an interior space, from creating a sleeping area that's removed from a loud and chaotic playroom to partitioning a recording studio or home office.
Whatever the reasons, there are plenty of straightforward ways to do some DIY soundproofing. This amounts to buying the right materials, like mass-loaded vinyl or even thick curtains, and applying them to the areas where you want the noise to be isolated.
Make a sliding barn door on the cheap
Getting a stylish sliding barn door might seem like a major undertaking, but it's actually a surprisingly simple project — particularly if you simply repurpose the hinged door that's already being used in that space.
All you need is the right hardware — essentially a firmly-mounted horizontal pole and something to fasten to the top of the door. It might be a two-person job, but it doesn't require much expertise.
Seal up your bathrooms
The caulking around your bathtub and shower areas won't last forever — after all, it's constantly getting sprayed with hot and cold water. A new caulk tube is very inexpensive, and it works even better if it's used with a caulk gun.
While it takes a minute to get used to things and avoid clumpy blobs of caulking, this is a simple project that will help keep the water out of the areas where you don't want it to go.
Refinish wood furniture
Wood furniture can be a statement piece, particularly when it's an example of fine craftsmanship or a treasured family heirloom. But wood needs some TLC in order to keep it looking its best.
Wood responds very well to refinishing, and it's truly remarkable how much a refinishing project can revitalize a piece of furniture that once looked old and tired. After cleaning, filling holes, and stripping the old finish away, the process essentially amounts to painting the wood with a stain.
Install crown molding
This one will require some light carpentry skills, but it is still a fairly simple project. Crown molding serves a function in that it blends vertical and horizontal surfaces together while hiding any unsightly cracks or joints.
Crown molding also adds plenty of visual interest to a space and tends to increase a home's value. Once you settle on the right materials and style, it's a matter of simply adhering them to your walls.
Step up your storage game
Installing shelves works pretty much the same way anywhere in your house: Find the studs using a stud finder, then drill the fittings into the wall. If this sounds intimidating, it's worth it to get started in an area where aesthetics aren't as important, such as a garage or a basement.
These areas will allow you to get used to the job without worrying about how things look, and they're also some of the areas of the house that benefit the most from utilitarian storage options.
Pave new paths
If you're looking to spruce up an outdoor space, one option that adds a lot of visual impact while serving an important function is an outdoor walkway. This one is as simple as determining the route and then buying enough paving stones.
The nice thing here is that you can go as professional or as rustic as you want. These stones won't be supporting anything heavier than a person, so it's okay if they're a little askew.
Refresh your walls without the commitment
For centuries, wallpaper has been used to add patterns and designs to otherwise boring walls. However, the process of applying wallpaper can be a major hassle. Thankfully, thanks to modern technology, there are options that have all of the benefits of wallpaper with just a fraction of the effort.
Peel-and-stick wallpaper is exactly what it sounds like: Wallpaper that's essentially a giant sticker. It's easy to apply, and because it isn't permanent, it can also be easily peeled off and re-applied.
Paint your countertops
Kitchen countertops take a lot of abuse, and eventually, they need to be replaced. While this fix won't prolong their life indefinitely, it will freshen them up and give them a little more life.
All you need for this one is the right paint, which is usually called appliance epoxy. So long as you're okay with saying goodbye to the original color of the countertops, this paint will give you the illusion of new countertops at a fraction of the cost.
Get your doors working properly
Over time, the doors in your home can lose their alignment thanks to humidity, warping, paint, and numerous other issues. Getting these doors to work the way they're supposed to is a doable DIY project, one that's a great introduction to light carpentry.
Like most of these projects, getting started depends on choosing the right tool. A good quality plane is a must for fixing doors, along with screwdrivers, hammers, and other standard implements from your tool box.
Paint your front door
Perhaps the easiest, fastest way to transform the curb appeal of your house is to paint the front door. While the door itself occupies a fairly small area, it's almost always positioned in a prominent spot of the house.
For this one, you'll just need to make sure your paint plays nicely with the door's material and is suitable for outdoor use. From there, the sky is the limit — choose whatever color you feel makes the best statement.
Give your kitchen a backsplash
A kitchen backsplash is the perfect marriage of form and function, as it helps protect the drywall from kitchen mishaps while adding a touch of visual interest to the space. Unfortunately, these aren't necessarily going to be present in every kitchen.
If your kitchen lacks a backsplash, adding one is as simple as picking out your favorite tiles and using tile mastic to attach them to the wall using spacers.
Improve airflow with a fan
Every room that has a ceiling-mounted light fixture really ought to have a fan — after all, a ceiling fan fixture incorporates both lighting and a fan into something that can fit into the same slot.
The benefits of fans are improved airflow and lower HVAC costs. Because fans (and lights, for that matter) are built to fit into a standard fixture size, this is largely a plug-and-play DIY project.
Give old furniture new life
Upholstered furniture like couches and easy chairs will look more and more threadbare as time goes on — but even though the fabric might be falling apart, the bones of the furniture are often still in good shape.
This project is good for anyone who's handy with a pair of scissors and a needle and thread. It amounts to some careful measuring of the piece you'd like to reupholster, then some sewing work.
Reframe your doorways
This project is a good one to try out for any particularly prominent doorways in your house. Think of the frames between your front hall and kitchen, as well as the high-traffic areas that have frames but typically no doors.
You'll need to watch a tutorial or two, but a reframed doorway — particularly if it's done up using rustic wood or something that contrasts with the surroundings — is an eye-catching way to add visual interest.
Upgrade your home theater
Flat-panel TVs all come with stands that enable them to be placed on any surface, but they look a lot more sleek — and save a ton of space — if they're mounted on a wall.
Mounting a heavy, expensive TV on the wall might seem intimidating, but it's actually very simple. Once you've found the studs, the project basically amounts to drilling a fixture into the wall. Flat panel TVs are almost always built to accommodate standard mounting hardware.
Cut down on drafts
Windows and doors don't stay effective forever, as they'll let in more and more drafts the older they are. If you'd like to cut down on these drafts but aren't in a position to fully replace your windows, you can seal their edges.
While this project uses caulk (and an optional caulking gun), it's a different type than you'll use in a bathroom. Once you've removed the old caulk, apply a fresh layer of latex caulk to get things sealed up.
Build an outdoor bench
There's been a boom in patio furniture in recent years, with many patio sets being, essentially, outdoor versions of a living room set, complete with a big sectional couch. These sets are popular, but they often carry an eye-watering price tag.
Outdoor furniture is the perfect kind of furniture on which to practice your carpentry skills. Durability is the most important thing, so if you can attach boards together in such a way that they make a rugged bench, you're most of the way there. Just add some padding on top, and you'll have an outdoor couch.
Make a statement with an accent wall
Newer houses tend to feel very similar on the inside, thanks to the standard drywall they use throughout. However, you can give your home a more rustic feel by applying rustic shiplap — essentially plywood planks over the drywall.
This project has the flexibility to be applied to a whole room, or just a single accent wall. It amounts to cutting plywood into the desired length, then adhering the planks to a wall using construction adhesive.
