11 Inexpensive and Effective Upgrades You Should Make Immediately After Buying a Home

One of the most important questions when buying a new home is whether to buy a new home or an older home. Surprisingly, only about 25% of home buyers are looking for new-build homes, while more than half of Gen Z home buyers are more than willing to buy a renovated home .

Of course, the cost of buying a home largely depends on this. This means that many people can’t afford to immediately renovate that upper to their liking and will have to wait until their bank account recovers from the home buying process. But that doesn’t mean you have to live in a run-down house designed by strangers: you can immediately make lots of small, cheap updates to your new home that will make it feel fresh, new and truly yours.

Drawing

It almost goes without saying: the most obvious move is to draw. Paint everything, every room, front door, front door – a fresh coat of paint inside and out will give the place a whole new look and give you the opportunity to put your stamp on it and make it your own. The average cost to paint the exterior of your home is only $500-$600 , and the interior will cost you an average of just over $1,000 , so there’s no reason not to start with a clean slate.

Update your cabinets

Unless you’re planning a kitchen or bathroom renovation, work with what you have. There are a few cheap and easy upgrades you can make that will make even the oldest cabinets look like new:

• Paint or wrap cabinets. A fresh coat of paint or a layer of high-quality vinyl can transform tired, old, plain cabinets into true showpieces for very little money. Painting cabinets yourself can cost less than $300 , while vinyl wrapping cabinets can cost around $100.

• Add soft-close hinges to cabinet doors and handles. You can’t overstate the luxurious feel they add to any kitchen, and you can install them in a standard-sized kitchen for about a hundred dollars. If that’s too much money or work, install some cabinet trim to get a similar effect for about $20.

• New equipment. Changing the handles on your cabinets will change their appearance. If you don’t want to spend money on new equipment, you can simply paint it. It will take about an hour and only cost a can of spray paint.

• Update interiors. If your kitchen cabinets are just empty boxes, you can transform them into sleek and efficient storage spaces with some affordable add-ons like a pot and pan organizer , pull-out shelves , Lazy Susans , and storage baskets .

Turn off the shower fixtures

If your newly purchased bathroom has an open shower with a curtain rod, replace the old-style straight shower curtain with a curved model . This is a small, inexpensive upgrade that will instantly make your shower look bigger and stop the curtain from wrapping around you like a shawl every time you shower.

You can change out the showerhead in your bathroom in about five minutes , which is less than you think: a high-quality showerhead can be purchased in a variety of finishes for about $50 each ). This will improve your shower experience, make your shower feel fresher, and give you an invigorating start to each day.

Update your lighting

Light has a huge impact on your mood and physical health. While sunlight may be best, a bright, well-lit home is a safer and more welcoming place. Swapping out new light fixtures is an easy way to give a space a new look while adding your own taste to the picture, but if it means cutting your budget, you can transform existing features in a variety of easy ways .

Additionally, installing motion-activated lighting under kitchen cabinets , in closets, and along stairs will brighten up the space, make it more functional, and make it safer to walk around at night, promoting a feeling of comfort and security in your new space.

Speaking of light, one way a home can feel cold and uncomfortable is with harsh, single-intensity light. Adding dimmers will cost you about $20-$30 per switch and take less than 10 minutes each . The result is a home where you can customize the ambiance of each room depending on your mood, time of day, or your activities, and that sense of control will definitely help you feel more comfortable in your new home.

Update your wall panels

One of the easiest things to do is replace all the light switches and sockets on the walls, especially if they are made of standard cheap plastic. Decorative wall plates come in a huge range of colors and styles, so you can customize them to enhance the overall look of the room. This is especially helpful if you’ve just painted, as you can choose a plate color and finish that complements the fresh wall colors. If you don’t want to spend money on new plates, they can be painted fairly easily .

Buy a smart thermostat

If your home has old, faded thermostats that do little except run the furnace, for less than $400 you can install a smart thermostat that will allow you to adapt climate conditions, making your HVAC system much more efficient. Plus, a new smart thermostat will look better than that old piece of plastic and will give your home a modern look, even if it hasn’t been properly updated in decades.

Update your door hardware

Just like kitchen and bathroom cabinets, the doors in your home can be given an inexpensive makeover with paint and new hardware . Replacing door handles is the easiest and most obvious way to make your doors a design feature rather than just a necessary convenience, but don’t forget about the hinges too – it’s not difficult to take the door off, swap the hinges and put it back up again. Matching your hinges to your handles and lock hardware will make your door look new and have a cohesive style.

Update your toilet

Do you want to feel like living in a luxury hotel? Install a soft close toilet seat . For about $30 to $50, you’ll never have to hear the sound of a toilet seat hitting porcelain again. If you’ve never had a soft close lid before, you may not realize how much of a difference that peace and quiet can make.

Once you’ve improved your toilet experience, consider adding a bidet . A soft close toilet seat with a built-in bidet is easy to install, but can be a little expensive. Luckily, there are plenty of seat accessories that will get the job done for under $30. Either way, a bidet will not only make your bathroom feel more luxurious, but it will also make you feel cleaner (and possibly happier).

Floor Vent Covers

You may not think about floor vents, but you should because they’re an easy way to give your home a modern, clean look, even if you can’t redo the flooring right away. New decorative vent covers typically cost less than $20 each and are very easy to install (usually without any tools). If you don’t want to go through the hassle of replacing them, there are plenty of creative ways to upgrade the ones you need to make the space feel more “yours.”

Renew carpets

If your new home has carpeting and it’s looking a little worn, with stains, wrinkles and loose spots, you can restore it to something close to new in two steps:

• Deep purity. You can clean and disinfect your carpets easily and cheaply (and you should—carpets are rough , especially if someone’s gross dirt is stuck there). You can use a method known as dry steam cleaning , which combines powdered cleaners, high heat and low humidity to get your carpets super clean. And you can always rent carpet cleaning machines from various places (my local supermarket rents them) for a classic cleaning.

• Stretch. One of the easiest and most affordable ways to give it a new look is to stretch it. While you can stretch your rug yourself, you’ll definitely get better results by hiring someone to do it professionally (costing about $100-$300 depending on the size and condition of your rug). Combined with thorough cleaning, stretching your carpet will restore it to its original appearance.

Dress for the street

If your new home has a less than beautiful outdoor space, you won’t have to spend a lot of time and money on landscaping and other projects to create a comfortable spot for grilling, outdoor gatherings, or sleeping in warm weather. Adding simple solar lights, inexpensive outdoor seating options and a fire pit can transform even the saddest slab of concrete into a cool outdoor space.

Don’t even have a patio? You can make one for under $300 . And if your outdoor space is overgrown but you don’t have the time or budget for a landscaping project, don’t forget that everything can be cut back for free.

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