Bree-Anna Burick Jul 2, 2024 7 min read

How to Do Your House Renovation on a Budget

House renovation projects are one of the most enjoyable aspects of homeownership. Whether you’re pulling out the toolbox and doing some DIY home projects, or you call in a professional to handle things for you, home projects allow you to take steps to make your space even more uniquely your own.

Contrary to what you may have heard, you don’t have to break the bank to upgrade your home.

With summertime in full swing, it’s the perfect time of year to start tackling some of those household projects that you’ve been putting off.

Fortunately, we’ve put together some budget-friendly renovation projects that you can implement starting now.

Go With Some Bold Color

Over time, it’s natural to start feeling bored with how your house looks.

Have you ever noticed that a lot of furniture stores run specials during the summer, especially around long, holiday weekends?

It’s because they know that people start feeling a little “stir crazy” when they look at the same finishes and items all day every day.

Refurnishing an entire room isn’t all that budget-friendly, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t make some changes.

For years, neutral colors have been the go-to for homeowners, especially those who are considering putting their homes on the market in the near future.

While it’s true that using a lot of neutral colors is proven to make a home more appealing to potential buyers, that doesn’t mean that you have to keep staring at the same beige, white, or gray walls.

You can grab some paint, tape, rollers, and pans for minimal money at your local hardware store. While you may not want to paint every wall in a given room with bold, bright colors, accent walls are a major design trend right now.

These budget-friendly statement walls are affordable because you shouldn’t even need a full gallon of paint to pull it off.

Speaking of Statements Walls

Paint isn’t the only way that you can make an affordable statement wall in any room in your house. There is a ton of debate when it comes to wallpaper in modern design, but if you’re looking for a way to do DIY on a budget, making an accent wall with bold wallpaper is a great idea.

You can find patterned wallpaper at some specialty shops, but since they’ve become a bit less popular in recent years, you may have to get online to find them.

Consider getting the peel-and-stick kind to make it even easier to put this wallpaper up. An accent wall with patterned wallpaper breathes new life into any space.

Also, if you have a relatively small space, such as an entryway or a laundry room that just seems a bit boring, you can do more than a single wall with your wallpaper.

The Shiplap Phenomenon

If you’ve watched a particular home renovation television show, you’ve probably seen shiplap used in a variety of spaces.

However, you may incorrectly believe that it only applies to farmhouse designs, but that’s not the case at all. A shiplap pattern is simply a series of boards, usually mounted horizontally, in an area.

In some cases, you can apply shiplap vertically to make a space look even taller.

You will need access to some tools to pull off your shiplap design. In addition to the lumber, you’ll need a saw and a nail gun, unless you want to mount all the boards by hand.

No matter which route you take, most people can do shiplap on a budget.

Breathe New Life into Your Kitchen

Typically, kitchen renovations are incredibly expensive. They also rarely lend themselves to the DIY lifestyle, which adds to the cost.

Not only do you have to pay for cabinet and countertop removal, but you’ll also have to think about any plumbing changes that need to be made and upgrades to your electrical system if you move your stove to a different area of the room.

Fortunately, there are some budget-friendly ways that you can breathe new life into the “heart of your home.”

Replacing your existing cabinets is going to cost thousands of dollars, and you’ll likely want to hire a professional unless you have someone in the house with carpentry skills.

However, you can easily pop the doors off of your cabinets and paint them.

While you’ve got them taken apart, go ahead and get some new handles and even new hinges to completely change the look of your cabinets.

That isn’t the only way that you can upgrade one of the most-used spaces in your home. Backsplash is a great way to spruce up your kitchen.

You may think that the space behind your sink and stove isn’t that noticeable, but that’s only the case if you don’t have anything interesting there.

You can get peel-and-place backsplash at virtually any hardware store that requires no special tools for installation.

If you’re looking for a more intensive job, you can mount tile in the space, but you’ll want to research the enormity of that job to make sure it’s something you can handle.

New Flooring

This one may not be quite as easy as some of the other tasks on our list, but it is something that you can do on your own.

You may not want to tackle a job as difficult as installing new carpet, but vinyl laminate flooring has become incredibly popular in recent years, largely for its durability and the fact that it looks just like hardwood.

All you’ll need to get the job done is the flooring itself, something to measure with, and a good blade of some type.

You can find different colors and patterns of laminate flooring at most hardware stores, or even online.

If you’re willing to drive a bit and have a home surplus store somewhere within driving distance, you can often find it for a little more than $1 per square foot, which is a great deal.

Try to find a type that has padding or “backing” on it so you don’t need to install that, too. The flooring snaps together like a puzzle, and you can usually knock out an entire room in a day or two.

New Light Fixtures

If you want to shine a light on your space, consider upgrading the light fixtures in your home.

It is important to note that depending on the type of light fixture you choose, you may need to bring in an electrician to handle any rewiring that’s necessary.

Fortunately, there are plenty of light fixture options that don’t require rewiring.

If you can’t find anything you like at your local hardware store, you can find light fixtures on most of the major online shopping websites.

A new light fixture can be as bold as you’d like it to be, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box. If you want to go conservative, you certainly can.

No matter what you choose, your new light fixtures can make an entire space look like you’ve spent lots of time and money redoing it.