We all wish to have the most comfortable and luxurious, well-designed home, but as life gets more expensive by the day, you may need to consider easy and cheaper ways to renovate and improve your home. Some are able to afford an expert to renovate their homes, while others spend their days working tirelessly updating their homes. Then you get some individuals who don’t know the difference between a drill and a table saw. Below are a few guidelines to help keep your home updated and spectacular.
Inside
1. Create open spaces in your home. Having a lot of space is a modern trend these days. No need to break out walls, just simply move your furniture around a bit and get rid of the bulkier pieces.
2. Add lighting to your room. Light gives the effect that something looks bigger and more open. Use more table lamps and even make use of mirrors. It creates an illusion of bigger space and also reflects the light across the room.
3. You might be sick and tired of your cupboards. Make sure to change drawer pulls and even drawer handles. The smallest change can have the biggest impact.
4. If you don’t feel like going through all the trouble, a simple paint and clean job will do. Choose a different colour for your walls, get rid of unused furniture and unnecessary belongings in the home and move around what you have left. A small change is as good as a holiday.
Outside
1. Landscape your yard – visit your nearest nursery and buy a few plants and pebbles. Lay out your garden to your likes, but remember to have flowering shrubs in the front yard and small raised beds along the walk-way and close to the front door.
2. If you have space and wish to make your home look more interesting from the outside, consider a deck or patio. You can build an affordable deck out of pallets, lay out a patio using bricks or stones of your choice. You can even be creative and build a fish pond or fire pit in the selected area.
3. If you have a swimming pool, you can consider styling up the area next to the pool. Perhaps lay out an area with sun bathing chairs and a table to put on your favourite summer drinks.
4. If you are creative enough, you can dolly up your yard by building a fish pond. It’s as easy as digging the hole, laying the liner, putting in some water, secure the liner, position your rocks around the pond and then add a few finishing touches, like the fish and water plants.
5. Construct your own herb garden on a small area in your yard. Plant your favourite herbs in jam jars, originally cut plastic bottles or even creating casings from pallets. It’s as easy as one, two, three, when you make a scrumptious meal to just pick your own herbs.
General
Make sure to maintain things in and around the house. Fix something as soon as it breaks, you might just end up spending a whole lot more than what you have budgeted for in the first place. Maintenance may include combing the thatched roof, making sure your front gate rail is always clean and the gate motor is always working perfectly, or it might just burn out. Make sure your swimming pool does not leak. If you have a sprinkler system, make sure that all the sprinklers work throughout the garden, fix broken gutters around your home and consider the exterior of your house.
Be sure to have a handyman on speed dial if you are not able to fix a few things in and around your home yourself.
Jeretha Oosthuizen
jeretha@mahareng.co.za
