5 simple ways to freshen up a space without spending a lot.

Living in an old house, I learned very quickly that no remodel project is small and simple. Most of the time if we take something apart it has to be completely rebuilt before we put it back together. Walls and floors aren’t super level, pipes need to be replaces and floors rebuilt when you live in a 230 year old house. We knew this before we bought this house, so I don’t mind it. But it also means that projects often take longer and cost more than you were planning on. I’ve adopted a patient view of our home, so I don’t mind, and I’ve also learned that to make it a nice place to live it’s important to put a little time and effort into freshening up our spaces, even if we aren’t quite ready to do a whole overhaul on them.

Rather than waiting until we can do everything perfectly, I’ve tried to make those spaces better than before. Progress over perfection. Take, for example, our upstairs bathroom. We call if the throne room because you walk in and the toilet is literally in the middle of the wall. It’s got original wood floors, a yellow tub/shower (probably from the 80’s) and was just an overall ugly space when we moved in. We are currently remodeling our downstairs bathroom (which involved ripping everything down to the studs, removing and rebuilding the flooring, completely redoing the plumbing, installing a new manifold, replacing our water heater system…etc, etc). It’s been a massive, long project and so the time has not come for the upstairs bathroom. I still wanted to freshen it up and make it a nicer place to be since it’s currently our one and only bathroom for 6 people. (Yeah, it’s as crazy as it sounds.)

So I painted the room, added a shiplap wall, freshened up the hardware/light fixtures, added a rug, and switched out the mirror. What a difference a little time, money and elbow grease can make. And while we still have crooked ceilings, a yellow tub and those nasty wood floors, and plan to completely redo this bathroom once the other one is done, it is a much nicer space to be in the meantime. And I’m so glad I went ahead and freshened it up a bit while we wait to do it.

So today, I thought I would share 5 simple ways to freshen up a space without spending a lot of money. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect, just better than before. ;-)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Paint the walls. Never underestimate the power of paint. It can instantly freshen up a tired dreary space. Buying a can of paint is one of the least expensive, highest impact, easily changeable things you can do for a room.

Buy a rug. Not in love with your floor coverings? I get it. I mean, we have wood floors in our bathroom. It’s the worst! Do you have old carpet or an ugly linoleum. Buy a run and cover it up until you’re ready to invest in replacing the floors. There are lots of great places to find great rugs for a steal, like Overstock, TJ Maxx, RugsUSA and Amason.

Add greenery. Nothing brings a room back to life like some fresh greens. And it’s as easy as a trip to The Home Depot. Got a black thumb? No problem. Just pick up some faux plants. HomeGoods is one of my favorite places to find them, and of course IKEA. In a living space, consider adding a fiddle leaf fig or olive tree. Here are some of my favorite faux plants and containers.

Add a statement wall. Creating a statement wall is high impact and really not very expensive. I’ve employed this method in many parts of our home. Adding wallpaper, a shiplap wall, some board and batten or even tile, is relatively easy, doesn’t cost a lot (cause you’re only doing a small space) and makes a big difference. I didn’t pay a thing to do this wall, I had leftover shiplap and paint in our basement.

Give the hardware and light fixtures new life with spray paint. Not ready to invest in new hardware and lighting? Pick up some metallic spray paint and give them a quick update. I bought some antique bronze spray paint and refinished the sconces, vanity hardware and all the towel bars in the bathroom. Even my husband thought I bought new pieces, but nope! They look fresh and new and all it cost me was a $3 can of spray paint.

Bonus: Shop your home. Look for items around your home that you can use to accessorize the space and make it look and feel more intentional.