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Budget Friendly Updates to Help you Love your Home

June 6, 2017

Hello and happy Tuesday all! 

Alright friends–it’s confession time.  The last few months I’ve been experiencing some serious house dislike.  It’s so easy to get caught up on other blogger’s homes, friends’ homes and homes on HGTV. I often find myself wishing that we could sell our house and move like–TOMORROW! 

There are a lot of things that I don’t quite care for in our house, not to mention our quickly growing kids could definitely use some more space.

But I have to keep reminding myself that not everyone can start off in their dream home right away.  Sometimes life happens and you just have to work with what you have.  So today I am going to share a few budget friendly ideas that anyone can do in their home to love it a little more because I figure that I can’t be the only one out there patiently waiting for their forever home!

1. Plant Flowers

It may sound silly but the outside can totally set the feel for how you feel about your home when you pull up to it at the end of the day.

I planted these cheerful yellow-orange ones a couple of weeks ago and I absolutely adore how they look in front of our house!

They totally help distract me from the fact that we desperately need new exterior paint!

2. Add Wall Treatments

This is without a doubt my favorite item on the list.  There isn’t a room in our house (except the boys’ rooms) that has been left untouched as far as wall treatments go!

Shortly after we moved in I did a plank wall in our dining area. Although the occasional spaghetti toss and juice splatter has made keeping it clean a struggle, it adds a ton of character to our main level.

I also added planking to our bathroom walls and it helps break up the space and makes it feel larger than it really is.

 
 
 

I also installed board and batten to our breakfast bar, upstairs hallway, master bedroom and basement staircase.

 

 

Yes–it’s safe to say that I’m kind of obsessed haha!

The best part is that it’s super affordable and easy to install yourself.  It polishes up a space so nicely and can make a builder grade house feel more luxurious. 

3.  Add Area Rugs

This one almost seems too simple but it totally works.  Have carpet or flooring that you can’t stand?  Throw a pretty rug over it!

One day I would really like to have hard surface floors in our room but for now this pretty vintage one helps pull the room together nicely and helps me forget about our carpet.

Same thing with our main level living area.

4. Use the Power of Paint

This one is  kind of a no brainer.  When we first purchased our house the previous owner had used a paint that looked super yellow.  And they used this on every square inch!  We’re talking about baseboards, doors, and even the staircase!  We painted the entire house and it instantly felt better.

But the biggest impact of paint was in our kitchen. Painting the cabinets and countertops made our kitchen feel totally different.

 
 

 You can even get creative and try stencils or stripes like I did in our laundry area.

  
5.  Build Your Own Storage
 
The floating shelves on this blank wall in our dining area are not only asthetically pleasing, they also store all of the kids’ art supplies.
 
 
I took a garage sale table and transformed it into a kitchen island that stores a few items and serves as extra counter space.
 
(notice that I’m using number 3 to help disguise our lovely vinyl floors?)
 
And one of the first projects in this house was adding the mudroom.  It’s literally just a corner between the garage and the basement but with a few hooks and a bench it became a functioning space that we use daily to store bags, coats and shoes.
 
 
So there you have it!  These are all super simple and affordable ways to help your home feel more beautiful and functional in case moving into your dream home just isn’t in the cards right now. 
 
I hope that you were able to take something away from this post and are able to incorporate some of these into your homes.  I would also love to hear any ideas that you all might have!  Happy upgrading everyone 🙂
 
Linking up to these awesome parties.
 

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Comments

  1. Carol ("Mimi") says

    June 6, 2017 at 4:02 pm

    You've done a ton of work! Everything looks great. Congrats on your home improvement projects.

    • Angela says

      June 12, 2017 at 1:14 pm

      Thank you so much Carol I really appreciate that!!

  2. Cherryl Ehlenburg says

    June 6, 2017 at 10:12 pm

    Some very creative ideas. When I look at the before and after pictures, it's amazing how much better it looks! Thanks for sharing!

    • Angela says

      June 12, 2017 at 1:14 pm

      Thanks Cherryl! It's easy to forget how far it's come until I look at the before pictures haha!

  3. and baby makes 4 says

    June 11, 2017 at 7:44 pm

    Sometimes I feel that way too. But you right about appreciating what does work and tips to enhance your home. You did a great job in your master bedroom, laundry room and you recently renovated bathroom! You are very talented!

    • Angela says

      June 12, 2017 at 1:16 pm

      I am glad I'm not the only one that gets that feeling! Thank you for the kind compliment 🙂

  4. Nitka Design says

    June 17, 2017 at 6:23 pm

    Great ideas:-))) I liked number 2 the best. I think that in every house there are some things that the owners would like to change. There is such a saying that you build the first house for your enemy, the second one for your friend and the third one for yourself. I didn't believe in it, but now after building our house I think it's very true. There are plenty of things I would change in my house although we really spend a lot of time designing it.
    Greetings from Poland:-)))

    • Angela says

      June 19, 2017 at 1:15 pm

      What a fun quote–I love that! Thank you 🙂

  5. Lorelai @ Life With Lorelai says

    June 23, 2017 at 3:53 pm

    Hey, Angela! Just wanted to let you know that we loved your Budget Friendly Updates To Help You Love Your Home so much when you shared it at the #HomeMattersParty last week, we’ve FEATURED it THIS WEEK! Hope you can check it out when you get a sec. Happy Friday!!!
    http://lifewithlorelai.com/2017/06/22/home-matters-linky-party-141/
    ~Lorelai
    Life With Lorelai / Home Matters Linky Party

  6. Lindsey@dmv construction says

    July 4, 2017 at 8:36 am

    Quite an informative post. If you’re pinching pennies, there’s plenty you can do to create a stylish and inviting home for yourself and your friends. The first step (and this is true no matter where or how you live) is to clean your home and get it organized. Doing those two things alone will drastically improve the quality of your space.

Hello, I am so happy that you're here! My name is Angela and I love to create simple beauty in our home on a budget. Here you will find DIY decor and home projects, furniture flips and other home inspiration!

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