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.