With the start of a new year approaching, like me, you might be thinking about transforming your home. In this post, we’ll offer some home makeover tips to get you started!
Is your home in need of a makeover? If it’s starting to look shabby and you’re embarrassed about inviting people back then it might be a good time to freshen things up. You might be feeling put off getting started because it can be expensive and time-consuming, but striking the right balance between cost-effectiveness and achieving a polished finish is the key. You might not be able to afford to get professionals in to do every job, but between some paid jobs and DIY you’re sure to get the finish you’re after. Here’s how.
Decide What You Can and Can’t Do
This will depend on your skill set and confidence, but your first step is to figure out what you can realistically do yourself, and what you’ll need to call in professionals for. Anything involving gas for example (such as removing old gas fireplaces) will need you to call in an experienced professional for safety and legal reasons. You might be confident with electrics up to a point and be able to wire in new light fittings and things, but it all depends on you and the job so have a think about this first.
Prepping for Success
If you’re going down the professional route, preparing the job beforehand can you save both time and money. Take decorating for example, you might decide it’s worth the money to pay for painting services to get the very best finish. Removing old wallpaper for example can be a time-consuming task, but if you can do this before your decorators arrive and save them a job then you can cut the bill drastically. Get yourself a steamer and some scrapers and put in the time needed to get this done yourself.
You could also fill any holes and cracks yourself with filler and make sure all of the areas are smooth and sanded down ready to go. Clearing the area, removing furniture, and protecting floors can speed up the process too. It meant that decorators could focus on the task at hand when they arrive. And you reduce the billable hours for the job. The same is true for things like tiling, you might need a professional tiler to do the job but you can pull off the existing tiles and make good the walls, clear the space and get everything ready for before they come.
Research and Buy Good Tools
For the jobs you do decide to tackle yourself, don’t just go in with all guns blazing. Take some time to research the job, watch videos and read articles to find out what needs to be done.
Buy the correct tools, and it can be worth investing in good tools as it will make the job easier. And you will still save money compared with paying a professional. In some cases, you might be able to hire professional tools. So you can get a great finish without investing money into something you might not use again.
Do you have any home makeover tips? Please share them in the comments below.
*This is a collaborative post, however, as always, all opinions are my own.
