Add Charm with Molding
Decorative molding offers your home a more finished, put-together look. While older homes are more likely to have baseboard and ceiling moldings, newer homes often lack the decorative touch. A 160-foot bundle of pine molding can be purchased on the Lowe’s Web site for just $57.60. Once you have the proper amount and type of molding (it varies in size and shape), you can install it easily at home. Check out this site for instructions on doing it yourself.
Shed Some Light on Light Fixtures
Okay, I’m guilty of this. The upstairs of our house is somewhat attic-y, so I’ve ignored the yellowing plastic globe light fixtures that are filling with bugs and hurting my pride. For just $108.72, I could order a new fixture from Home Depot’s Web site that would take my lighting from trashy to flashy. It takes a toolbox and a mere ten minutes to install new light fixtures, and they can instantaneously brighten your mood. Lighting Universe, LightingDirect.com, and Lighting Headquarters are other good places to shop for new fixtures.
Switch Up Switches with Wallplates
I’m guilty of this one too. I need to spend thirty minutes and $40 buying new wallplates (light switch and outlet covers) for the living space in our house. Ours are tacky plastic, with layers of dirt, and in some cases, paint on them. You can shop for new ones online (try Wallplate Warehouse) or swing by your local hardware store to pick them up. Each one should cost anywhere from a couple bucks to seven or eight dollars, depending on how fancy it is. Take out your screwdriver, and voila—your home is looking more and more polished each minute.
Re-Exhibit Art
It’s hard to move into a new home and immediately discern where your art—paintings, photographs, knickknacks—will look best. Our recent painting session was the impetus to make us reconsider where our artwork was hanging. We ended up moving nearly everything we had to different rooms. We even explored our attic and resurrected long-forgotten items. Everything looks much more put-together now. I would recommend reconsidering where and how your art is displayed every couple of years or so, especially when you change something like the wall colors. Cost? Zero.
Spruce Things up with Window Boxes
There’s nothing that says cute and put-together better than window boxes full of flowers on the front of your home. When we were shopping for our first house in Atlanta, I became obsessed with a tiny yellow house, made from siding and containing no closets (I’m not exaggerating) simply because it had window boxes full of beautiful flowers. Luckily my husband prevailed and we bought a brick bungalow with closets instead. Window boxes generally cost $100 or so each, and two or three are plenty, depending on how big your house is. The Window Box Store is a good place to shop online, as is Windowbox.com. Picking out the flowers and planting them can be a fun project for the whole family.
Now that you have some ideas, all you need to do is find the free Saturday to implement them. These decorative touches will ensure that if you do have to put your house on the market, it will have a much higher aesthetic appeal. And if you don’t put your house on the market, you’ll reap the benefits of your not-so-hard work.
