Affordable Home Improvement Updates to Revitalize Your Home

There are dozens of little home maintenance improvements and upgrades that you can do this week, or even today, that will dramatically improve your home's appearance. Manicuring the bushes out front, applying a fresh coat of paint to your porch, and upgrading your shutters are all great ways to significantly improve your home's curb appeal without breaking your budget.

Replace Faucet Handles and Kitchen Cabinet Knobs

What about the interior of your home? Because the average complete kitchen or bathroom renovation comes in at well over $20,000, you'll undoubtedly want to explore options that give you most of the benefits without much of the cost. Replacing your kitchen faucets is an incredibly cost efficient and easy-to-do upgrade that can make your bathroom look much more modern.

Walmart, Overstock, or even Habitat for Humanity sell stainless steel bathroom sink faucets for under $100. This single renovation can breathe new life into your bathroom and save you a bundle on larger renovations. Considering that about a third of the cost of renovating your kitchen or bathroom goes into cabinetry and hardware, you might also want to consider putting in new knobs on your kitchen and bathroom cabinets.

Painting your kitchen cabinets instead of replacing them might be the budget-friendly solution that you're looking for. One couple was able to remodel their entire kitchen, repaint, and install new cabinets that they'd purchased from a store like Habitat for Humanity for under $1,000. That included the cost of a wet saw and the labor costs of cutting the tiles for their own homemade kitchen backsplash.

You might not be feeling that adventurous or entrepreneurial, but there's a lot that you can do in your kitchen to rejuvenate its appearance. Replacing broken or chipped knobs and applying a fresh coat of paint are both great places to start. All told, it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect a quick budget renovation to fall within the $100-$400 range and a larger budget overhaul to run between $500 and $700.

Refinish Your Kitchen Floor

Type in "floor refinishers near me" to Google to find affordable ways to significantly improve the aesthetics of your hardwood flooring. Refinishing your kitchen hardwood flooring can give your home's value a big boost when it comes time to sell. Even if you decide to hang on to your home for a few more years, home flooring is a pretty quick home improvement project that pays dividends.

Install Energy-efficient Lighting and Appliances

The U.S. Department of Energy says that by simply replacing your five most-used light fixtures you can save significantly on your month-to-month electricity bill. How much would you expect to save? Up to $75 per year, if you go with energy-efficient CFL or LED lighting that has the EnergyStar label on it. Considering that these lights are just as bright at a fraction of the cost, you're definitely advised to pick up a set on your next visit to the department store.

Considering the fact that the average household in the United States spends upwards of $2,000 per year on utility bills powering their appliances, you might want to consider upgrading to a more energy-efficient dishwasher, washing machine, or refrigerator. The home experts at Zillow say that you're in store for significant savings if your fridge is 12 years old or older.

Replacing an old fridge with a newer, more energy-efficient one can save you hundreds per year since newer fridges are at least twice as energy efficient as fridges made more than ten years ago.

Another appliance that you might want to take a close look at is your air conditioner. Make sure that your air conditioner is the right square footage for your upstairs or apartment since a unit that's too small or too big will end up leaving the space too warm or costing too much. Replacing old appliances is a quick way to save big.