Ever since home improvement reality TV shows became a thing, there has been a growing misconception that you need to embark on massive renovations that consume copious amounts of time and money to improve your living space. Fortunately, there’s no need to tear down your home or spend millions of pesos to meaningfully upgrade your lifestyle. As we’ll show you, you can achieve impactful changes with a few quick but thoughtful home upgrades that focus on the finer details. Here are six simple home upgrades that will change how you live:
1) Better Bedroom Furniture
Durable, well-designed bedroom furniture can have a profound impact on your sleep quality and overall well-being. A solid bed frame that you can easily clean and store things under, supportive pillows, and a comfortable mattress should be the bare minimum for all bedrooms. If you have the space, consider updating your cabinets with pieces that offer enough storage to hide all your clothes and linens to avoid visual clutter. Spending a bit more in these areas should help you sleep better and give you more energy to start your day.
2) Adding Weatherstripping to Doors and Windows
Adding weatherstripping to your home’s doors, windows, and other ingress points is an affordable but effective way to block outside noises and pests from entering your home. Even better, adding these can also prevent sound from exiting your home, preserving your privacy and making it possible to hold late-night parties without attracting the ire of your neighbors. Moreover, weatherstripping also slows down the exchange of outside and inside air thereby improving the efficiency of your air conditioners and air purifiers.
The best part is, weatherstripping will not interfere with the opening and closing of your doors or windows. This means that, even when weatherstripping is installed, you can still open your windows to get fresh air, if you need it.
3) Painting Trim and Moldings
Painting the trim and moldings around your home uses up a lot less paint than painting the walls while still having almost as much impact. Doing this also makes a lot of sense if you already like the colors of your walls but still want to spruce up your home’s look and feel. While you do have to be a bit more precise when painting trim, it’s easily doable with enough prep work. Best of all, because there’s a lot less paint to deal with, the rooms you’re working on should air out faster.
4) Peel-and-Stick Wallpaper
If you don’t want to bother with all the mess and prep work that goes into painting, you can simply use peel-and-stick wallpaper to transform the look of any interior room. All you need to do is to clean your wall thoroughly and you can create an accent wall, add a pop of color, or experiment with patterns in minutes. The great thing about peel-and-stick wallpaper is that it’s also a reversible solution that can be easily changed whenever you desire a new look.
5) Coordinated Bathroom Fixtures
Coordinated bathroom faucets, knobs, sinks, and showerheads are not something that most people consciously notice. However, the effect of coordinated pieces on your bathroom’s aesthetic and functionality is undeniable.
While it may take you a while to install new fixtures by yourself, a professional plumber can probably swap them all out in less than a day. And unlike with tile swaps, new fixtures are usually ready to use almost immediately. If you were to switch out your tiles or do other major bathroom renovations, you not only have to wait several days but you’ll probably be out several tens of thousands of pesos at the end of it all.
6) Updating Your Electrical System
Many Philippine homes have old electrical systems that are either unsafe or no longer accommodate the large numbers of appliances we now typically have in our homes. Fortunately, it only takes a few hours for professional electricians to install additional safety electrical outlets and replace accessible fixtures. If needed, they can also upgrade the amperage of your home if you want to have high-powered appliances like clothes dryers or additional air-conditioners. They should also be able to install dimmer switches throughout your home and USB outlets in key areas like your bedroom and home office to provide modern convenience to your lifestyle.
With some planning, it’s entirely possible to implement meaningful home upgrades without excessive spending or serious time commitments. Except for updating your electrical system, these projects could be done and over within a couple of weekends, and they will all ensure that you’re left with a living space that’s truly suited for living in. While most of these projects are small, completing them is bound to result in significant improvements to your home’s value and your quality of life.
