Please name a very simple, inexpensive home improvement that changed your life for the better

[Anonymous]

Here is our list of our cheap things that made a huge difference

Painted. Even the closets, pain in the rear but not expensive- just buy a good paint brush and descent paint.

Ripped out the old, nasty carpet. We luckily had hardwoods underneath and with some Rejuvenate and Bona, they look great. We added quarter round to finish where the carpet was.

New window coverings- got rid of the old, broken vinyl blinds and replaced with cordless ones- $40/window made a huge difference.

Replaced all the doorknobs- at $10/each, it was cheap and easy. Getting rid of the gold made a huge difference. On some doors, we replaced the hinges- another $10 but well worth it.

Powerwashed the sidewalks, the deck (and sealed it), the house, garage door. Clean always looks better.

Made sure all the screens were in properly, when they are ill fitting, they look sloppy but the couple of minutes to fix them was well worth it.

Ripped out the overgrown shrubs, cleaned out all the overgrowth and leaves.

Painted the vanities and put on new hinges and hardware- $6/door makes a huge difference! The paint we used was the same we used for trim so it was no extra expense.

Installed new door numbers- around $5/number.

Painted the interior garage walls. While the garage is still a garage, it looks less dirty/industrial. We also painted the pegboard and got new hooks for all our tools.

Replaced all electrical outlets and switches. We did this ourselves for about $1/outlet/switch and rather than having nasty, old painted outlets, the clean white ones look great. We also did new switch covers- both the cheap ones and nicer ones depending on location.

Replaced the heat vent covers- getting rid of the layers of paint made a huge difference- around $8/each.

Replaced the 1980's bathroom mirrors with new, updated ones from Home Goods. Added a new light, tp and towel holder and the room looks totally different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a rental - replaced bright brass kitchen cabinet knobs with "vintage" Anthropologie ones. And when I moved, I took my knobs with me!

Question for you!

I notice many specialty knobs bought a-la-carte have very long bolts. How do you install them so they are tight and so that the bolt doesn't stick, like, an inch beyond the interior of the cabinet. Know what I mean?

Washers. Stack as many as needed inside the door to get the knobs to fit.

You could do that, but the correct way is to cut the bolts to fit. That is how contractors did it for my kitchen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In a small, narrow entry hallway - hung - on side of wall behind the door - hooks for kid jackets/backpacks at kid level, narrow shelf for sunglasses, etc with key hooks underneath, and hooks above to hang adult purses, bags, etc.

Helps so much with the clutter.

We have this too and are very happy with the hooks!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Put hooks on the back of all bedroom doors.

We have these too. Love them all!!

[Anonymous]

Installed a pocket door between master bedroom and bathroom. The original door just got in the way. It's amazing how much bigger the space feels now.