7 Cheap Home Improvement Projects You Can Do This Weekend

By Michael Franco

November 01, 2022

New kitchens, bathrooms, windows and decks. These upgrades can all dramatically increase the value of your home, but they can also cost thousands of dollars and take multiple weeks to accomplish.

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But that doesn't mean you can't get a much-improved living space in just a few hours without breaking the bank. Here, we present a list of seven things you can do this very weekend to spruce up your home without the major interruptions of remodeling projects and the sky-high costs of other types of home improvements.

Lighting

The addition of a new lamp can go a long way toward making a room feel refreshed. Tall, minimalist floor lamps add a modern vibe, while ornate table lamps can add a cozy feel. But for the best bang for your buck, you might simply want to consider swapping out the bulbs in the lamps you already own with smart bulbs. These modern miracles of illumination screw into existing features and are controlled with an app on your phone. The result is a range of custom lighting throughout your home to suit whatever mood you're in. You can program sets of bulbs to give off a warm glow for cozy nights in, or you can go with cooler, sharper colors for entertaining. There are even options that will have your lights pulse to the music when it's party time!

Another lighting option is to look into peel-and-stick lights that can go underneath cabinets in your kitchen or inside your closets. These types of lighting solutions are incredibly affordable. Although some will need to have their batteries replaced periodically, others are rechargeable. In either case, you'll save big by not having an electrician hard-wire new fixtures.

Smart Thermostat

Lightbulbs aren't the only things that have gotten smarter over the years; thermostats have as well. While it's not a visually impactful project, swapping out an old thermostat for a new one is an extremely worthwhile home improvement project that most homeowners can accomplish on their own. A smart thermostat will let you tailor a heating and cooling schedule that suits your needs to keep you comfortable in the summer and winter, and it can dramatically cut your utility bills so that you'll have even more cash on hand to carry out some other weekend-friendly improvements!

Paint

There's probably no other home improvement project that delivers like a fresh coat of paint. A gallon of paint can cost as little as $15, and it can cover about 400 square feet. If you're not up for painting a full room, you can also think about just redoing the trim. Or, speaking of trim, you could paint just halfway up the walls and put in a chair-rail molding on top for a completely new look.

Don't limit your painting ambitions to the walls in your home. You can also think about painting cabinet doors, old chairs or even full pieces of furniture like nightstands or end tables.

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Knobs

It's amazing how far new knobs will go. Swap out the old hardware on your kitchen cabinets with fresh, striking knobs, and the entire room can feel transformed. You can also change knobs on closet doors, bathroom fixtures, nightstands, dressers and side tables to give them a completely updated look.

Showerhead

You might not have enough room in your budget to redo your entire bathroom, but a new showerhead can turn a humdrum shower into a spa experience. There are thousands of models to choose from that deliver everything from a gentle mist to muscle-soothing jets. There are also attachments that you can put on your existing shower arm that can extend it over the top of your shower space. Install one of these and attach a rain head shower fixture. Your new rain shower will suddenly become your favorite space in the house.

Pillows and Rugs

Replacing couches and beds? Expensive. Dressing them up with new pillows? Not so much. Check out the clearance sections in your local home goods stores for great deals on pillows. You might not always get a matching set, but with a little creativity, you should be able to create an eye-catching look that'll brighten your bedrooms and living rooms.

The same holds true for new area rugs. Wall-to-wall carpeting can be expensive, but laying down a few new area rugs that you find on clearance can really dress up a room.

Organization

If you have messy kitchen drawers or cluttered closets, taking a weekend to get things in order can feel great. There are drawer organizers, hanging systems and magnetic knife strips that can all help whip the kitchen into shape, while there's a wide range of affordable closet organization systems that will make a neat and tidy place for your shoes, clothes, hats, and accessories.

Adding a few cheap shelves and plastic storage bins to the garage can also declutter that space. And, who knows? With things stored properly, you may even find that you have more room to create a space for something you enjoy, like a gardening or hobby table.

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