Home Improvement Tips (During A Crisis or Otherwise)

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First things first, before we dive into the detailed tips, here’s a few things we want you to consider and keep in mind, to ensure that you are really indeed getting your money’s worth. Whether the economy is good or not, making the most out of anything you spend is the right way to go, and we don’t want you to make the same mistakes that others (including us before) did when did some renovations or home improvements.

Plan, Divide and Conquer

You don’t have to do your home improvements all at the same time. Start with the smallest, or perhaps the farthest part of your home (so it doesn’t get damaged when you do other home improvements). Carefully planning which part of it is your top priority can already make a huge difference in your home improvement. It is also important to add to your plan that you are doing this project so that the end result lasts for 3, 5 or 10 years or so. Utilizing one or more combination of the home improvement tips below will help you with your planning.

Craftsmanship and Quality over Price

We always tend to go with the “cheapest” material and labor costs, only to overlook that we need to do the same set of repairs over and over again every year. Let’s say you paid for a wall re-painting service package (labor and materials) for P10,000 and after 3 to 6 months you see paint peeling off or “bubbling” out. You’ll be paying the same amount again, when in fact you can get better results (paint lasting up to 3 to 5 years) for P15,000 only. That is already a P45,000 savings for a 3 year bi-annual wall re-painting. Like anything else, nothing is created equal, so does paint quality, paint brand and painter craftsmanship. So it is better to get the best quality even just for a simple wall re-painting job.

Choose Colors and Lighting Wisely

Colors play a huge role in our everyday living. Whether you believe in the psychology of color or not, it affects as greatly, and it immediately sets the mood the moment you wake up, every single day. So, it is better to choose your wall colors (and combinations), furniture colors, and even the color of your light bulbs! Yes! It does affect how as simple as a white wall would come out when you choose different colors of light bulbs.

Smart Budgeting

If you’re into DIY or have arranged for “labor only” contract, having a smart budget will help you a lot in finishing your home improvement budget. Some of the home improvement tips we will mention below will not cost you at all, and as we have mentioned earlier, choose quality materials so that you don’t have to spend more over the years because of decay or material damage. When buying paint and you need a gallon, buy a pint first, sample off a portion of a wall or cabinet and see if you already like the color. If you don’t, then it’s easy to change colors immediately and you won’t be wasting any unused paint. Once you have the right color, you can just buy half a gallon or probably 7 pints of the RIGHT paint. Also, remember that paint colors finishes differently on different materials (wood, concrete, metal) and the color will always not look exactly the same as the sample color palate at the hardware store.

Since you’re on the part of sampling off colors, check how your lights or lighting affects your new paint. That Bubblegum Pink color on your bedroom wall will come out differently on white light, much more on different wattage and color (yellow or light yellow). Just buy a bulb or two and check if the color matches to your liking, because if not, you can always have it replaced at the hardware store. As soon as you got the right bulb, you can buy the whole set already.

Know “Why” you want to do it, so that “How” you will do it becomes easier

Think of the reasons why you want to do the home improvements or renovations, and keep that in mind as the project progress. To “spark joy back into your home” is kind of vague, so make sure you have a specific reason or reasons in the first place. Outdated look? Your room does not feel relaxing anymore? The theme or color scheme of your house does not match your mood or lifestyle? Whatever it may be, make it the anchor of your home improvement, because trust us, half way through it, you might want to add a few of this and that, causing your budget to break and failing to achieve exactly what you really wanted in the first place.

Research or Consult

What you instinctively know may not be enough to cover your dream project (unless you are an architect or engineer, then, umm, hi? lol), so it is better to research some more on how to go about your DIY projects, or better yet, consult with a group of contractors. Most of them are free anyway (they should) whether you push through with anyone of them. Don’t go for the “Yes sir/mam!” group, ask for recommendations or suggestions that incorporates your “Whys” and are well within the right budget. As we have mentioned above, this is something that you want the finish product to last 3, 5, 10 years or more.

Prepare your Heart and Mind

It is common for home owners or people in charge of DIY projects to feel anxious. The feeling of not having control over the project after paying a sum of money can really break into anxiety, couple that with delays and unforseen instances during the course of it, and you see people shouting at contractors or people scrapping their DIY projects entirely. This can be managed by having a constant communication with the contractors or your source for the project. Go over the plan again, check the time frame, know and set what to expect at any given phase of the project and so this way, your project goes in the right direction as you have planned.

Now let’s check out our home improvements tips below, hand picked to be as relevant to every home owner at any time.

Home Improvement Tips

3. Furniture Feng Shui

Another cost-free trick for home improvement is moving your furnitures to give way to a new look on your place. You may or may not beleive in Feng Shui, but always remember this: as we have mentioned above, light gives off diferent color on different surfaces, and that includes furnitures. Moving your cabinets or sofa to specific areas in your home will already produce different ambiance. Placement of furnitures may also play in the amount of light is being thrown in a specific area of your house like tall cabinets partially blocking light source and unnoticed carpets due to chairs or tables aggregating together. Since you have the time and it is your home, you can play around the placement of furnitures to get the most enjoyable effect that you want.

4. Small details give big results

A total home renovation may not be necessary, unless you really see your place as very hedious. Adding small details like tile trims (tiles that close the end of your tile walls) or crown moldings that connect your wall to your ceiling, can already give a substantial improvement in how your home would look like. There are a lot of small details you can throw in, like throwpillows on the couch, a small painting, and so on. A word of advice though, too much of these small details may ruin the project as a whole. Your place might look cramped or crowded with too much variety of small items. The mood might not be pleasant because of the colors that are fighting each other for attention (you’ll know what we mean when you see it).

5. Cabinets and Cupboards

We love to organize – even the sloppiest and the untidiest of us will organize our stuff given the time and space. For someone who really, really loves to organize, cabinets or cupboards (hanging overhead cabinets) are their best friends. Have a lot of stuff lying around the house and collecting dust? Place it in a cabinet. Have a lot of stuff saving “for later”? Place it in a cabinet. Your trash can or laundry basket looks unsightly? Yes, you got it right – place it in a cabinet. Cabinets, constructed right, gives the impression of continuity of your wall while at the same time functional for storing items. Overhead cabinets/Cupboards also utilizes unused prime vertical spaces of your wall, so it is definitely a win-win solution. The only tricky part of an overhead cabinet is either it is too low that you might hit your head, or too high that you always get a challenge when getting things from the very top (like us!).