Guest Blog: Modernizing Your Home: How to Upgrade a House on a Small Budget
Sep 22, 2021by Guest Blogger
Looking to modernize your home, but only have a small budget? No worries! Some of the most important characteristics of modern architecture are clean lines and energy efficiency. You can cultivate those aspects of your home with some upgrades to enhance your home without breaking the bank, here's how!
Start at the Beginning
Modernizing your home isn’t just about interior design. Your front door is the first impression people get of your home. A great way to maximize a smaller budget is to ensure that the first impression really stands out. Door upgrades, like adding a pop of color and accessorizing your doors, can make the whole place feel brand new. If a whole door upgrade feels outside your budget, just update your door handle with a new style or finish. Start at the beginning with freshening your front door to modernize your home.
Think About Spaces
Since you live in your house, you tend to think of it as a cohesive entity, but it can be powerful to think about spaces when you want to modernize your home. If you don’t have the budget for all-new furniture or floors, you can still give a room a new modern flair with small upgrades that tie everything together. Accentuate the clean lines of your home to make it feel more modern. Try re-arranging your furniture to give the room a new flow and feel.
Adding a few minor decorations into a space can unify it together while separating it from other spaces. This also will give you a sense of the house being bigger, while helping you upgrade your house to be more modern and more personalized. By maximizing the look and functionality of each space, you can modernize your home with simple touches that go a long way.
Refresh Rather than Renovate If you’re looking to upgrade your house to be more modern, it can be tempting to go towards ambitious renovation projects. But with a smaller budget, a refresh is more in order than any longer project — and it will be faster, too. This can be anything from a fresh DIY coat of paint on your dining room chairs to a new organization system on your bookshelves. Any simple touch can help your home look more modern without costing too much.
This type of refreshing can require you to get creative, especially with transitional spaces. Don’t be afraid to seek out consultation for outside opinions about the best way to modernize your home.
Light it Up
The lights in your home are a huge aspect of modern appearance. Many modern homes have light-colored walls with lamps in the corners as ways to save energy and maintain a light ambiance. Even if you don’t want to paint your walls or move your lamps, you can still try to conserve energy with your home's lighting as much as possible, such as by using dimmers and timers. This can be as simple as changing out the bulbs for a quick upgrade to make your house lighter and more energy-efficient.
Energy efficiency, along with technological integration, are staples of the truly modern home. By considering the way natural and artificial light work in your spaces, you can upgrade your house to be more modern and potentially save money in the long run. With refreshed lights, your home will feel upgraded and modern. You may even have a cheaper light bill as well.
One Step at a Time
The most important aspect to keep in mind with upgrading your house on a small budget is that it doesn’t have to be done all at once. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, just start small. It can be as simple as a new door handle for your front door, or a new rug in your living room. You can keep refreshing with small touches to slowly transform your space into something you love.
About The Author:
Katie Tejada is a writer, editor, and former HR professional. She enjoys writing about events, travel, decorating trends, and innovations for the home, but also covers developments in HR, business communication, recruiting, real estate, finance, law, and investing.
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