As we usher in a new year, there’s never been a better time to start thinking about bringing all those home refurbishments to fruition.

Just as you might be making lists of your New Year’s resolutions, this is also the perfect time to begin planning your home renovations. Change is good!

Many homeowners have a tendency to get seriously overwhelmed by the thought of renovations, and it’s not hard to see why; big spending, long hours, pure unadulterated physical labour. We get it. It’s tough work. But here’s the thing, if you work smart, you don’t have to work hard. In other words, the best way to tackle home renovations is to focus in on refurbishments that are going to bring you the biggest return on investment. This means that you don’t necessarily need to spend excessive amounts of your savings, or endure back breaking labour from morning ‘til night if you choose your jobs wisely. 

So, with that in mind, here’s a list of renovation jobs that won’t break the bank, and more importantly, your back!

Paint

As cliche as it might sound, paint is transformative. Adding a new coat of paint to any room of the house will not only make it look fresh and renewed, it also has the ability to entirely change the look and feel of an interior’s aesthetic. On top of that, it is arguably going to bring you the biggest return on investment, since the cost of paint is minimal compared to the value it is going to bring to your home. 

As I mentioned in a previous article, this year is all about warm earth tones and big statement colours. Yellow ochres and pumpkin oranges, chocolatey browns and mahogany reds, all give off a very cozy and complete atmosphere. Monochromatic statement rooms on the other hand are vibrant and add intensity and style. Think deep teal and aubergine purple. 

Whatever floats your boat, just ensure that you choose colours that are complementary or contrasting. Think carefully about how the colour you choose is going to visually interact with all the other surfaces, furnishings, and permanent fixtures in each room.      

DIY Decking

A lot of homeowners tend to neglect outdoor renovations since they don’t come to mind as readily as say, the kitchen or the bathroom. Yet, when summer rolls around and all the entertaining, spare time, and relaxation takes place outdoors, you start to wonder why you hadn’t prioritised it sooner. 

Refurbishing your deck might not be at the top of your list of reno jobs for 2020, but it absolutely should be. Outside of the fact that nobody wants to encounter any potentially unsafe bits of fraying wood that have begun to splinter and are practically begging to be stepped on, you can really jazz up your outdoors if you only apply a bit of TLC. If you’re feeling particularly enthusiastic you can go to town on that bad boy and replace every bit of timber that’s given up the ghost. Otherwise, a far easier and cost effective approach is to simply re-oil it. You can do this as a standalone job, or you can sand it all back first and then apply your oil afterwards. 

Regardless of what method you choose, a well refurbished deck is going to do wonders for your outdoor living space and can be an insanely cheap and easy renovation to take on if you’re looking for ways to boost the value of your home.

Tiling

On the face of it, a tiling job might seem like way more work than it’s worth, or at least way more work than you’re willing to put in. However, if you break it up into smaller manageable steps, it really can be a piece of cake. 

If you’re one of the many gazillions of people out there who don’t know the first thing about re-tiling, then I can only assume you’re probably thinking something along the lines of, ‘Ummm no thanks!’, but hear me out. Firstly, the ‘wow factor’ that a new set of tiles can bring to a room is tremendous. Secondly, as far as home renovations go, this is one of the more affordable jobs (especially if you consider how much it costs to hire a professional tiler). Thirdly, you don’t need to be an expert to get the job done well since we live in the age of the phenomenon that is YouTube. Watch yourself a handful of tutorials and Bob’s your uncle, you’re now an expert tiler.

A Year of Change

This year will no doubt bring about some big and intriguing changes so what better way to embrace the change than by planning your own ways to initiate it within the home. This is just the beginning and by no means an exhaustive list of renovation ideas to choose from and will likely be just a precursor to what we cover over this exciting year to come. 

If you can’t get enough of refurbishing though and have nothing but domestic rejuvenation on the brain, have a read of our previous post, A New Decade of Design: Home Designs Trends for 2020. This should arm you with all the ideas you could need. For now at least!