There are so many EASY ways to update a house! Learn where to start, what to focus your efforts on, and all the best ways to upgrade your home for less!
It’s easy to get distracted when you’re house hunting by the seller’s decor. One thing I have found over the years is that most buyers can’t look past seller’s personal choices, which could result in a deal for you!
Even if you’re not a diy’er or don’t want to invest a lot into a new home purchase, there are so many easy ways to update a house that can immediately increase the value.
If you love ideas for updating, you’ve got to check out 10 inexpensive ways to update a room, too! You’ll also get so many tips in 7 ways to add light to a room and 10 ways to add character to a new home.
Searching for a Home to Update
In the market for a new (to you) home? Find your own hidden gem by looking for homes in neighborhoods you love, with homes that may be dated, but well-kept.
Focus on the things you can’t change (or are difficult to change) like the floor plan, natural light and lot. These are the things that are difficult or impossible to renovate!
It’s easy to focus on things like wallpaper, paint color and old light fixtures, but those can all be changed with time. Take a few snapshots so that you can play around with ideas before making an offer.
20 Easy Ways to Update Your Home
Get fun, inexpensive, and easy-to-implement ideas for updating your home. You can make big changes with small efforts and very little time!
Read on for all the details on some of our favorite home improvement projects that will make incredible changes in your home, be it new or old or somewhere in between!
Change Your Switch Plates
Update the outlets. In our lake house, the outlets and light switches were almond which made the home feel dated.
As you can see in the before and after photos above, this makes such an impact!
Sometimes outlets yellow, get painted over or are mismatched. This is a relatively easy {and very inexpensive} way to make your home feel fresh and cohesive.
Note: if you’re not experienced in doing this, hire a licensed electrician or find a great online video source and watch a few tutorials. It’s relatively simple, yet tedious work.
Add natural light. Remove blinds, trim back trees and bushes just outside the windows or remove screens to let the light shine in.
Natural light automatically makes a room appear larger.
Get all the details about adding beadboard to your kitchen or any space in your home.
This can of course add historic charm to your dated home, but it can also be an easy fix to cover up dated wall texture!
Get all the information about what products to use, how to paint the Beadboard, and how to care for it.
Scared of the old deck on the back of your house? It's not as intimidating as you might think!
Give your deck a refresh with this deck paint product! This deck update gave us the feel of an outdoor room and completely changed the way we used this space outside of our home.
Now it feels like an extension of our living space!
Nothing gives the illusion of more space than beautifully organized closets with the help of shelves or closet systems.
These tips will help you get organized QUICKLY! Get actionable ideas to help create a streamlined system that works for your family.
Learn how to paint without sanding! Giving an old, dated wooden vanity cabinet a fresh new coat of paint is the easiest path to a bath refresh!
You can update so inexpensively once you know these tricks.
Add curb appeal with landscaping. The addition of a few colorful plants goes a long way.
This not only adds to the exterior appeal of your home, but it can detract from features that are less than desirable.
Landscaping that is updated, clean and fresh gives the appearance of a home that is well cared for!
Can you paint ceramic tile? Yes, and I’m sharing everything you need to know about tile paint including where to purchase, how to apply and more!
Floor Tile Paint is extremely durable and an easy and inexpensive way to update tile floors and walls – even for high traffic areas!
Learn the keys to changing your grout colors with the simplest grout stain product that might just change your life!
It's inexpensive and makes an incredible impact in a dated bath!
We created the ultimate grout refresh- taking our dark, dirty beige grout to a fresh new white grout color with very little time or money.
Carpet in an old home? Remove the vent cover to see if hardwoods lie beneath. If you're lucky, you can remove the carpet to expose and refinish hardwoods!
If there aren't hardwoods and you can't swing new, consider an inexpensive patterned carpet instead!
Replacing faucets makes a significant impact, especially in a small space, like powder rooms.
They're relatively easy to replace on your own and can overshadow a dated vanity. They'll give you a fresh, clean new look to help your bathroom sparkle even when it's dated!
Concrete floor paint is the easiest way to update concrete for a beautiful, durable finish on a budget.
Learn how to paint concrete floors for an instant update that works well for basements, laundry rooms, playrooms, screened in porches and so much more!
Sometimes the old style of doors in your home just can't be updated even with a fresh coat of paint!
In our situation, the 70s style of hollow core doors were beyond repair. Fresh wood doors changed the entire feel of our upstairs hallway!
Add New Door Knobs
Similar to the new doors, adding new door hardware can have just as much impact!
Adding these gorgeous brass door knobs to our home changed the feel of every room. They are an instant upgrade to help a dated space feel fresh and new.
It's time consuming but oh-so-satisfying! Painting your trim white will give your entire home a fresh, updated and cohesive style.
This is the ultimate, comprehensive guide to trim paint, where you’ll learn about choosing the Best Paint for Trim.
You’ll find information about what products to use, tips for painting trim white, and so much more!
Define a space with curtain rods. We extended our living space by turning our screened in porch into an outdoor dining room by adding curtains.
We also made an awkward dated inset style window in our dining room feel up-to-date by adding an inset curtain rod.
These little tweaks update a house with very little effort.
I found this stair runner that is so much more durable than carpeting because it’s a soft, indoor/outdoor rug! Whew!
Bonus? The project cost less than $300 to do, which is less than any carpeting you'll find!
Create a cohesive paint palette for your home that flows from one room to another, giving your entire home a fresh new look.
Get the best cream paint color names for every room and lighting situation.
Update light fixtures. We've updated lights for just $20-30 that transformed a room.
You can make anything a light fixture with this little trick.
Finish a basement with vinyl peel and stick floors or a vinyl floating floor.
It's an instant transformation that takes less than a day and as little as a few hundred dollars!
We have used these tips over and over again to find a hidden gem.
More Home Improvement Posts You’ll Enjoy
- Choosing Patterned Carpet
- Where to Invest in Your Home for the Best Return
- 10 Ways to Make an Old Home Feel New
- 20 Easy DIY Wall Art Ideas
- 5 Designer Secrets to Decorate a Room
- 10 Easy Steps to Create an Outdoor Living Room
- 10 Ideas to Update a Room on a Budget
- 10 Quick and Easy Home Improvement Ideas
- How to Create a Luxury Home for Less
What are your favorite ways to update a house? I’d love to hear from you!
Want more? Receive the best ideas directly to your inbox and connect on Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Hi Julie
It’s funny, I’m redoing my dated master bathroom, it’s dated oak cabinets and dark green top. I’m looking for a pretty paint color. Also I sanded down my oak vanity.
Should I paint my cabinet and walls the same color. Also how to I paint my dark green counter. Need some help color is a hard thing. Thank you
That’s precisely what my Facebook group Celebrating Simple is for! Share photos and request advice. Enjoy!
I love this sight! Thank you!
Thank you!
Hi! Feel like I just found my style soul sister- love everything! Quick question- those outlet covers, did you find the best place to purchase- do you mind sharing?
Thank you, Mary! They’re from Lowe’s. They are Brainerd architectural plates. Enjoy!
Hi Julie,
Beautiful guess bathroom. Which color did you use for the walls? Thanks.
You can find all of our cream paint colors here
Hi Julie:) I just recently found your beautiful blog & i wanted to thank you for all the inspiration you have given me. Since reading your blog i have already de-cluttered & re-organised a few areas of my house & have started redecorating as well,just making some little changes here & there to start with but it’s already made a difference. So thank you for sharing not only your wonderful home with us but your talent & knowledge as well xx <3 <3
Thank YOU for making my day! I truly appreciate your kindness and am flattered I inspired you! I find peace in simplicity.
These updating tips are just perfect. I love they door knob idea. So simple, but adds a special touch! Thanks for sharing.
These are GREAT tips, Julie! Beautiful too.
Great tips! It’s sometimes difficult to see past things that are actually easy and inexpensive to change. I’m going to forward this post to a friend who is house hunting, she needs it!
Great tips, Julie!
These are such good ideas…I have replaced most of the door hardware in our home and it’s amazing what a difference it makes!
Great ideas, Julie! You have such a swoon-worthy home & this post is a great reminder that it doesn’t take full gut jobs to transform your home into something beautiful.
So many great do-able tips!!
Great tips! We’ve done many of these to our home too! — what a difference something as small as changing out switch plate covers makes!! it was the first thing I did after painting