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10 Easy, Affordable Ways to Make Your House More Beautiful The jobs below are all ones you can complete in an afternoon (or at the very most, a leisurely Weekend), does not take any plumbing or electrical know-how, and need a limited variety of tools. They will greatly enhance the charm and performance of your house at a low cost, and without the need for working with a contractor. 1. Carry out a restroom mirror facelift. Large mirrors running countertop-to-ceiling in 50s style restrooms are old-fashioned and overbearing, but can be daunting to take out. A quick fix is to "frame in" your mirror with really large borders made from baseboard molding, reducing the overall quantity of mirror space and making it look like a hanging wall accent. You can utilize a fast-acting epoxy to glue four pcs of molding straight to the mirror to serve as the "frame", and after that mask and paint the molding with an accent color. What to use: wide baseboard, epoxy, paint, miter saw, measuring tape, masking tape, plaster, and small brushes. 2. Frost some windows. You can increase your level of privacy without compromising natural light by replacing run down drapes for a diy window frosting kit. If you follow the directions carefully, these slim plastic films appear like the real thing, and will not peel up eventually. Frosting the windows on our front door and powder room (please don't ask me why the home contractors installed a clear window in a bathroom) took me about half an hour, and it looks fantastic. You will need: a window film, like these sold by Home Depot. 3. Replace old hardware on cabinets. Old cabinets gets a fresh lease on life if you replace worn or awful hinges, knobs and handles on restroom and kitchen cabinets with new ones. Brushed nickel hardware is attractive and low-cost, and will give your cabinets a more contemporary appearance. You will need: hardware and a screwdriver. 4. Apply a simple coat of paint. Paint is inexpensive, but is among the simplest methods to refresh a room. If you are prepping your home for resale, select a neutral shade. Yes, your wine-colored dining space walls are lovely and add flair to the entire house, however it's your style. Possible buyers wish to see your home as a blank slate, not as something with your finger prints all over it. Your buyers may eventually choose that the dining space would be classy and eye-catching with a coat of wine-colored paint, but let them believe it is their original idea. You can frequently employ students to paint your house at a relatively low rate, you can conserve cash by doing it yourself or by at least doing the masking and priming steps. And truthfully, if you're going to go that far, why leave the last step (the enjoyable part) for student painters to do? Things that you will need: primers and paints, trays and paint rollers, small brushes, masking tape, and ground cloth. 5. Paint over awful wood paneling. The wood paneling popular in the 70s and 1960s still haunts numerous family spaces and basement dens. Ripping it out is a major task. If you prep the paneling in advance by sanding away the shiny finish and priming it with a good thick coat (or coats) of primer, you can paint right over it. Make certain to get both primer and sandpaper into the small grooves in between the laminated panels, so that the ghost of paneling past does not reappear at the end of your project. Particularly dark paneling will absolutely need several coats of primer before you apply a light-colored paint. You will need: sandpaper or motorized sandpaper, mask, paints and primers, trays and paint rollers, small brushes, masking tape, and ground cloth. 6. Add some bedding plants. Add a touch of color to the window, patio, or garden boxes by planting a few colorful, splashy perennials. Do not stress if you don't have a green thumb; bedding plants are a cost-effective way to make your outside areas more attractive without having any gardening know-how. Petunias, marigolds, and geraniums are hardy options that make a dramatic visual impact. Organize your bedding plants in odd-numbered groups (three, 5, 7, etc.) for a more natural appearance. What to use: assorted bedding plants, a trowel, and gardening gloves (if you're nit-picky about your fingernails). 7. Install molding and baseboards. Adding crown molding and baseboards finishes off a room and offers it a designer appearance. If you have spaces that are typically rectangle-shaped (i.e., there aren't a great deal of nooks or other irregularities), this may be an easy job to do in a few specific areas, such as the dining and living spaces. In my experience, the most tough thing about this task is the mathematics associated with determining the different cuts in crown molding, which is installed at an angle (versus baseboards, which are installed flush to the wall). My hubby and I found this online calculator really helpful in setting up the molding.|Bring in crown molding and baseboards finishes off a space and offers it a designer look. In my experience, the most difficult thing about this job is the math involved in computing the different cuts in crown molding, which is installed at an angle (versus baseboards, which are set up flush to the wall). What to use: pre-primed MDF moldings and baseboards, white paint, caulking to fill gaps and joints between the ceiling and trim, a measuring tape, a nailgun, a miter saw, and a buddy. Setting up trim is a two-person task. 8. Conceal undesirable cables. http://mafer255.tumblr.com The bundles of wires running from your television to the wall a number of feet away, or from your wall sconce to the wall socket near the flooring, look incomplete and messy. You can conceal these behind baseboard moldings if you have them (see above) or make them virtually invisible with a wire concealer, such as this one made by Philips. Cable concealers are snap-together plastic tubes available in a few basic colors and lengths, through which your messy tangle of wiring can pass hidden. You will need: cable concealers and a few minutes of your time. 9. Create an ornamental tile backsplash. Working with tiles is time-consuming, but not too difficult. Starting with a project like a backsplash is a terrific concept, since it normally covers a relatively small space and will not have to withstand the wear and tear of foot traffic. Apply tile mastic to a prepared and sanded wall according to the manufacturers instructions. Choose vibrant square tiles and arrange them either flush with your counter tops or rotated 45 degrees to produce a diamond pattern, starting with the bottom edge of the backsplash area and working your way up. Utilize tile spacers to uniformly space the tiles. Lastly, fill the areas in between the tiles with grout and the space in between the tiles and the countertops (and overhead cabinets, if applicable) with caulking. Clean extra grout away with cleaning cloths, and you have a beautiful and durable brand-new backsplash! What to use: tiles and tile mastic, grout, a tile cutter (rented, if you don't have one), a notched trowel, tile spacers, a tape measure, a caulking gun, sandpaper,and cleaning fabrics. 10. Set up an ironing board cabinet. A wonderful addition to your laundry room or kitchen area is an ironing board cabinet. Mounted on a wall, these cabinets keep your ironing board convenient without taking up important floor area. Materials needed: ironing board cabinet, power drill, measuring tape, stud finder, and level.