Dirt Cheap Home Improvement - Myth or Reality ?

Home improvement. What images flash across your mind when you hear these two words ? Do you think you will have to tear down your home and rebuild it ? Do you think you will have to hire hotshot contractors and architects from home improvement companies ?

Truth is, home remodeling and improvement can be fun, low cost and easy. You do not have to hire expensive professionals or tear your home down and rebuild it. Of course, hiring top contractors and architects would be a good thing to do if your budget allows it. But you do not have to.

That said, before you start on your home improvement project, you might want to begin by answering this one question ...

Why Do You Want To Remodel Your Home Now ?

Do you plan to live in the home for several years more and want to remodel now just to feel better about your home ? Or do you want to increase the value of your home and sell it for a higher price ?

If you want to remodel your home to increase its value on the market, then you would want to do some planning. Why ? You see, having a home valued at $500,000 in a neighborhood where the average value of all the homes is $200,000 could mean that you may not be able to sell your house for anywhere close to $500,000. In real estate, it's the neighborhood that mostly decides the most a home can be sold for.

So you may not want to add any fancy expensive stuff that you think will drive the value of your home way up - over and above the rest of the homes in the neighborhood. Not unless these are very low cost ways.

If each of the improvements are very low cost and still add significant value, then doing those will be a great thing to do.

While any structural changes to your home could cost a lot in terms of time and money, there are several easy projects you can do fairly fast to give your home a brand new look and feel that will make you and your family happy. Here are a few ...

1. Give your home a thorough clean. Clean every nook and cranny of your home. This is possibly the cheapest way to improve the look and feel of your home :-)

2. Throw away all of the stuff you do not need. That way, you get rid of clutter, make more space for yourself and make your life easier and better.

Better still, have a yard sale and make money getting rid of stuff you will never use anyway :-)

3. Give your home a brand new coat of paint. That's one of the easiest and lowest cost things you could do right away.

4. Give your porch a facelift. Several well selected potted plants could make your porch look a lot more cozy. A mixture of tall plants, perennials, ground covers and medium sized plants. Let your imagination run wild. What combination will look good to you ?

5. Use extruded aluminum balusters instead of wrought iron. Not only are these easy to care for and durable, but they cost peanuts compared to wrought iron.

6. Any pieces of furniture that do not look good but you do not want to sell or give away for any reason, you could put them in storage. Rent storage if you feel it's worth it and put all such stuff there.

7.How long has it been since you washed all the curtains and drapes ? If they do not look good, then you might want to either wash them or get new ones that match your decor.

8. If your carpets and rugs do not look great, either shampoo them yourself or hire a carpet cleaning machine.

9. Linoleum floors ? Wax the floors and get the shine back.

10. Is your bathroom sparkling clean ? If not, invest a few hours in getting it to be that way.

11. When was the last time you checked the light shades ? Have they been cleaned in the last month ?

12. Depending on your home's decor, buying inexpensive light fixtures might be a good thing to do.

13. Use an air-freshener if you aren't using one already.

14. How good is your plumbing ? Clogged or leaking pipes, rusted sinks and faucets are not just eyesores. They need to be replaced.

15. Add some art to your walls. Before you swoon and pass out - no. You do not have to buy a Picasso or something so fanciful. You could display some favorite pictures in those inexpensive photo frames you could buy from discount stores. That would be good enough :-)

16. Accent lighting can make your art look a lot better. With a bit of creativity, you could make your living room look like a art gallery - without spending a lot. Tiny lights that can direct light onto objects you want to stand out would be about all you need.

17. Create focal points. Your living room, bedrooms, yard and just about anywhere can look a lot better if you take the time to create focal points. In your yard, you could add a bird feeder. And maybe a bench surrounded by several kinds of flower plants. When deciding on what to highlight in a room, you might want to determine what's special about the room. Do you have an antique book case or piece of furniture that you would want to highlight ? Rearranging your furniture and adding accent lights may be all that you may need to do in many instances.

18. Use flowers and candles to enliven rooms. Flowers and candles can add a bit of charm and life to just about any room. Changing the floral arrangements once in a couple of weeks or so and using scented candles could mean you have a new feature in your rooms every fortnight.

19. Throw pillows. Tossing colorful throw pillows on that couch or bed can bring new life into them.

20. Install a motion detector outside your home and save on lighting bills.

21. When was the last time you cleaned your air conditioner's filters ? Cleaning them or replacing them could help you save on electricity.

22. Tinted windows can help you save power.

23. If you don't have much experience with DIY home improvement projects, you might want to hire a professional. Else, having to fix something you didn't do quite right may cost more than what a contractor would in the first place.

24. Educate yourself and become a idea generating machine. Look at a lot of home improvement pictures and magazines available at your local library. In time, you will become a idea generating machine. If you are really passionate about this, you might even want to enroll for a home improvement course.

25. Light up your landscape. Adding low voltage lights to a light up walkways can create a relaxing atmosphere.

What you can do is limited just by your own imagination. If you have a knack for doing things creatively, then giving your home a facelift should be as easy as eating cake :-)