Do you enjoy doing things around the house? As you find areas for home improvement, you may not know where to start. As the year ends and you prepare for 2024 to come in, there’s no better time to start these home improvement projects. While there are some things you can totally do on your own, there are other things that may also require the help of contractors. Either way, these are some do-it-yourself home improvement projects that can change your home for the better.
1. Upgrade Water Fixtures
Can you imagine a home with poor plumbing? Your plumbing fixtures are responsible for transporting clean water into your home and taking the wastewater away. So whether you’re dealing with your kitchen sink or shower, your home can be affected when plumbing isn’t up to snuff. After all, plumbing helps you bathe, wash your hands, and relieve yourself on the toilet. Call a local plumber to check things out to prevent leaks and avoid costly water damage and damage to your foundation. The expertise of a local plumber can also prevent mold and mildew from forming around your tiles. That way you can prevent a health hazard from forming in your bathroom when you don’t have to breathe in mold spores while bathing.
Good plumbing is also responsible for water conservation. You can really improve your green living by switching out existing toilets for dual flush ones. According to the EPA, an American toilet wastes five gallons of water with every flush, whereas a high-efficiency one only wastes a little more than a gallon. Plumbers can also update your shower fixtures so they conserve water while still giving you a spa-like shower experience. Consider taking a trip to Home Depot and picking up the different shower heads and sink fixtures you want in your bathroom. Then let your local plumber install them. If you want to add a lower water bill to your home improvement list this year, installing new water fixtures is the way to do so.
2. Refinish Floors
A hardwood flooring install can take your home to the next level. There are many types of floor surfaces you can use for your home improvement projects. However, hardwood floors are timeless and symbolic of class and luxury. If you want a floor that you don’t have to replace in your lifetime, wooden floors are the best deal. With proper maintenance, your hardwood floors can last for as long as a century. In other words, your heirs may inherit the floor that you install. You can go to home improvement stores and pick out the type of hardwood you want for your home. Hardwood can come in many designs and finishes because it comes from different trees. So once you pick out the wood you want, you can always have the professionals install it.
Hardwood floors are also good for your health and the health of the environment. Hardwood floors are easy to clean and less likely to harbor contaminants the way carpets do. Carpet fibers can harbor pet dander, dirt, mildew, and even mold that regular vacuuming can’t get rid of. Cleaning your carpets regularly may require investing in professional carpet cleaning services such as steam cleaners. However, with hardwood floors that last much longer than any carpet would, all you need to do is sweep and mop. Wood is healthier for the environment because it’s a renewable source. If your wooden floors become damaged, the material is recyclable and can be used for anything else ranging from firewood to art to garden mulch. So if you’re someone who’s had carpet for many years and hesitated to switch it out for a solid surface, knowing what you know about wood floors should prevent any hesitation.
If you already have hardwood installed, you may want to refinish it to improve its appearance. That’s where a hardwood floor refinish comes in. As mentioned, a hardwood floor can last for as long as a century with proper maintenance. Part of that maintenance can involve refinishing the surface so you can constantly improve the look of your floors once they start to fade or deteriorate in appearance. That way, your beautiful hardwood floors will always look their best without having to install new ones.
3. Repaint Cabinets
Cabinets are one of the focal points of your kitchen. So whether you need a new kitchen cabinet or want to paint the ones you have, it should be on your list of home improvement updates for the year. The easiest do-it-yourself method is cabinet repainting or refinishing. If you’re handy with a paintbrush, you may want to give your cabinet painting a try. However, you could always play it safe and hire the professionals.
You can, however, add your imprint by working with professionals to decide on a paint color and any extra designs. Cabinet painters have access to several types of paints, stains, and finishes to consider. Sit down with them during your consultation and go over the look that you’ve envisioned that can either showcase your personality or go with the kitchen design that you have in mind.
Your painting is a perfect do-it-yourself home project when you have cabinets that are in good condition. If you like the overall style of your existing cabinets, there’s no need to switch them out when you can simply update the aesthetic quality of them. A new paint job can extend the life of your cabinets by about 10 years. But what if your cabinets aren’t in such good condition anymore? Are doors getting harder to open and close and falling off the hinge? Is the style of your cabinet simply too outdated for your overall design vision? That’s where you can call on your custom cabinet design professionals to help you.
There are so many trends to consider when it comes to custom cabinet design. You can go extremely modern and have completely open shelving such as the popular floating shelves. Floating shelves in your kitchen can be made from wood, metal, glass, or a combination of them. This type of shelving is a great way to show off your beautiful dishes, metal appliances, and cookbooks.
4. Paint Your Home
One of the easiest and most lucrative DIY is a new paint job. Both interior and exterior paint protect your home from the elements while adding to the overall aesthetic. If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty and taking up the paintbrush, you can partake in your home painting project, but you may need professionals for certain parts. When you add home painting to your home improvement list, you can expect an overall good rate of return. According to Bob Vila, an interior paint job has a 107% ROI.
How do you feel about a baby blue bathroom? Painting your bathroom in a baby blue hue can yield an additional $5000 in resale value, according to Forbes. Since the kitchen and bath are usually among the top home remodels, you can start your painting project in those spaces. If the larger painting projects are too much due to the size of your home, go small with some decorative tiles. You can get some plain tiles and paint your own designs on them. Then you can install these tiles on your kitchen backsplash, in the bathroom shower, or even on your bathroom counter. Remember, if installation is out of your league, you can at least do the paint job on the tiles themselves and let your remodeling companies handle the installation.
Before professional painters come to do an expert job, you can pick out the paint on your own and whatever finishes you like. According to the Spruce, home color trends for 2023 have included black, gray, and green. However, if you don’t care about current trends, you could always pick your favorite color, or you can stay neutral with earth tones or white and off-white.
While professional painters handle the extensive aspect of painting your entire house, you can have fun and paint an accent wall here or there. Walls can be fun and are a great way to add bold colors without overwhelming our room. Maybe your favorite color is red or neon pink, but you don’t want an entire room painted in that color. With an accent wall, you can either have it painted in one solid color, add stencil designs, or have even more fun by painting your own mural.
5. Clean the Gutters
People aren’t aware just how important gutters are to a home. Your gutters are responsible for ushering water away from your roof and from your foundation. After a solid rain or snow shower, your gutters can ensure that your roof won’t be damped with moisture and that water won’t pull around your basement and seep into your foundation.
Gutter cleaning is one of the most affordable do-it-yourself projects to consider. This home improvement project only requires some basic tools for gutter cleaning. Now that fall is here, it’s never been a better time to put up a gutter guard and get busy cleaning things up. The leaves have transitioned from changing color to begin falling. As leaves continue to fall, many of them will fall into your gutter. If your gutters become clogged, they won’t be able to effectively move water away from the roof.
Home improvement projects can also increase the lifespan of your gutters. Did you know that your gutters can last for as long as 20 to 50 years with the proper maintenance? Good gutter maintenance starts with cleaning, which you can do at any time.
6. Finished Attic or Basement
When it comes to increasing the value of your home and increasing the actual living space, there’s no better way to do so than by finishing your attic or basement. Before you go crazy with your own projects in this part of the house, it’s best to have professionals come and waterproof those areas and work on insulation. After all, if you went through the effort to paint your attic or basement walls, started moving in furniture, and installed lighting, all of those things could be ruined by water damage if you still have vulnerabilities in those areas.
When you finish your basement or attic, you can also use it for other types of activities, such as an entertainment room. You can have fun updating your entertainment spot by buying the right furniture and installing a TV, PlayStation, pool table, game boards, and a movie screen to watch films.
Do you want to get fit but don’t want to go to a sweaty gym? Go on Amazon and order your own equipment like weights, a treadmill, and yoga mats to convert it into a fitness room. Then it’ll be easier to stay fit and work out from home regardless of how much snow is outside.
If you’re ready to make some more money, why not convert those areas into a space that you can rent out? It’s no secret that the economy is going up and down, and it’s always good to have an additional source of income. The rental potential for a finished basement is very high, especially if you have a separate entryway which you can easily add during the upgrade.
As you can see, there’s so much you can do when it comes to upgrading your home. If you’re handy around the home or want to learn more skills, upgrading your home is a perfect time to do so. Imagine how much pride you can have if you were to sit back and look at the custom tiles that you created in your kitchen and bathroom. Take pride in renovating and decorating your finished basement that used to be a dingy, damp spot that nobody wanted to go into. This list is just some of the ways that you can improve your home, but there are other things you can consider over time. The sooner you start, the sooner your home will be ready for 2024.