Who doesn’t want to make their home look new? If your house or apartment has had the exact same furniture layout for a number of years or if you’ve always painted your walls certain colour, your home décor must have started to look a little stale now.
Needless to say, as much as you might want to make your house look modern on a budget, buying a new set of dining room chairs or replacing your old sofa set with a new one might not be an option.
The most interesting thing about interior designing is that you can essentially decorate a house with no money as long as you think outside the box and incorporate some creativity into your décor.
If you are struggling to make your home look new, here a few DIY home project ideas that might help you in achieving your dream home without putting much strain on your wallet.
Change your curtains
Swapping your old curtains for new ones or replacing them with blinds can instantly change the look of your place. If you have walls in a shade of white, as most homes do, it might be a good idea to get dark coloured curtains with simple patterns to add depth to your room.
If you are changing your curtains, you might as well use the opportunity to raise the curtain rod a little higher than its original position and get longer drapes to cover your windows. This will give the illusion of a taller ceiling, which in turn will make your home feel brand new and more elegant. It will also make your room look more spacious and help you incorporate a pop of colour into your home décor.
Dress up your walls
Don’t have the budget to re-paint the entire house? That’s completely fine. You can make your home look new by simply upgrading your walls.
If your walls don’t look particularly dirty and the paint isn’t peeling off in places, you can simply dress your walls up with some abstract art or plants. While creating gallery walls is one of the most popular options, you can always opt to decorate your wall by starting a vertical garden or using a patch of patterned wallpaper to act as a budget-friendly alternative to wall art.
Another brilliant trick is to install a large mirror on an empty wall. It will not only create the optical illusion of a bigger room but also reflect and amplify the light, making your home look brighter. This technique would work wonders in smaller houses and flats that don’t receive much natural light.
However, remember not to go overboard with your wall decor, as the visually incoherent decor is one of the biggest things that make your home look cheap.
Paint your front door
Re-painting the front door is perhaps the easiest and most budget-friendly way to make your house look new and modern.
Front doors are literally the first thing people notice when they visit a house. However, despite that, homeowners rarely pay attention to its upkeep.
Depending on the condition of your door, you can either give it a complete makeover by choosing a different colour or just do a little touch up to give it a temporary facelift. If you are using oil-based paints, make sure to use a high-quality brush for uniform application and give the surface ample time to dry before going for the second coat. For wooden doors, don’t forget to use a primer before painting the surface.
Upgrading your doorknobs and handles can also make a huge impact on the overall look of your house.
Move your furniture around
Rearranging your furniture is a surefire way to make your old décor look new. However, planning a new layout might not be as easy as you think it is. Firstly, you need to make sure your floor plan focuses on function over form rather than it being the other way around. Secondly, your furniture arrangement needs to be practical and not just aesthetically pleasing.
If you have a lot of boxy pieces that you can’t replace or get rid of, try and incorporate some smaller pieces into your décor to balance it out. Invest in some side tables and footstools, given you have enough space, to counteract bigger furniture.
According to most interior designers, it’s never a good idea to push all your furniture up against the wall. Be it the bedroom or the living room, leave some walking space between heavier pieces to make your house look modern and expensive.
Polish wooden surfaces
Show some love to your old wooden furniture by either hiring a professional to fix all the nicks and scratches or doing it yourself. If a scratch is minor, you can use walnut to get rid of it. Simply rub its inner part atop the abrasion while moving it against the grain.
Once done, you can lightly rub your finger against the spot so that oil from the nut completely absorbs into the wood. You can also use crayons, tea bags, oil and vinegar, lemon juice and coffee grounds, among other household items, to remove such imperfections and make your furniture look brand new.
You can also use these tricks to remove any ugly scratches from your hardwood floors. Just remember to use wood polish spray to give the wooden surfaces a new shine.
Install new light fixtures
Rooms that don’t receive a lot of natural light appear cramped and a little bit depressing. However, you can easily fix that by installing new light fixtures or simply upgrading the ones you already have. There are several budget-friendly ways to brighten a home, but the easiest would be to replace your current bulbs with the new LED ones that are not only brighter but would also significantly cut down your electricity bill. You can also invest in tall floor lamps and statement pendant lights to make your home look new and expensive.
In case of a windowless room, you can always fake an opening in the wall with a large mirror framed like a window. It would make your room look twice its size while adding some value to your home décor.
Re-upholster your sofa set
Wondering how to make your house look nice on a budget? It’s simple: just re-upholster your sofa set.
Couches are usually the focal point of your living room, which is why upholstery can make a ton of difference to your home décor. Now, before you decide to upgrade an old sofa, make sure its padding, frame and springs are all in good shape.
If everything appears fine, all you have to do is look for a durable material in colours that won’t clash with the rest of your palette. Of course, this is a lot less expensive than buying new furniture altogether.
Although there are several DIY tutorials available online, you can also hire a professional to help you out.
Moreover, you can even change the upholstery of your dining room chairs to elevate your décor and make your home look new without spending a lot of cash. This trick can basically give new life to your old furniture.
Invest in a new coffee table
Buying a new coffee table might not be cheap, but it would definitely be much less expensive than purchasing a new couch or a sofa. If your living room is small, it might be better to invest in a table with a glass top that would allow you to see through the surface. This would give an illusion of more space and make your house look modern.
However, if you don’t want to buy a glass-top coffee table on the account of having young kids or some other reason, you should look for tables that offer storage space in the form of creatively-designed drawers or shelves. Since boxy furniture tends to make rooms look smaller, you might as well make the most out of it by increasing the storage space in your home.
Pro tip: if you have any lone chairs in your house, either in the bedroom or living room, always make sure they are accompanied by a small table or a stool big enough to hold a cup of tea or a book. This would make your décor choices look intentional and way more practical.
Declutter and deep clean
Adopting minimalism is one of the simplest ways to make your house look modern. Decluttering and downsizing will not only make your home look much more organized but it will also make your life a lot simpler. Now, some might argue decluttering is a time-consuming task, but that’s not really true.
For starters, you don’t have to get rid of the things you have no use for in a single day. Instead of seeing it as a daunting ordeal, you can simply turn this into a DIY weekend project or take however long you want to clean out the visual clutter.
Remember, less is more when it comes to modern home décor. If you have accessories and furniture stuffed in every single corner of your house or apartment, it will only make your place look cramped and untidy.
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Stay connected to Zameen Blog, the best property and home decor blog in Pakistan, if you want to learn more DIY tips and tricks to upgrade your home. You can also get in touch with us by dropping an email on blog@zameen.com.
