Best Home Improvement Projects for Your Home
Best Home Improvement Projects for Your Home
Top Home Improvement Projects for Every Budget
Perhaps it has been some time since you made an investment into your home and you are looking for a way to make some improvements. Maybe you've noticed that the neighbors have been doing home improvement projects, and suddenly your house is looking shabby by comparison. It could be that you are considering selling your home sometime soon and want to make investments that will raise your property value. Regardless of why you want to improve your home, choosing the projects that will have the most impact for the least cost can be challenging. Here are the best home improvement projects for your home, regardless of why you want to improve your property.
1. Outdoor Lighting System
A high-quality and attractive outdoor lighting system will make nighttime strolls through your garden a lot more pleasant and prevent evening visitors from tripping over your landscaping. Your home is less likely to be burglarized if it is well lit. Furthermore, a great outdoor lighting system can be a facelift for your entire home.
Landscape lighting emphasizing a beautiful signature tree in your front yard can give your home a stately and elegant feel. Pathway lighting following winding trails through your property will tempt visitors to wander into the garden. Lighting can put emphasis on features like statues, fountains and benches, creating lovely little scenes to enjoy. Security lighting throughout your front and back yard can look attractive while keeping your family safe.
Do it Yourself or Hire a Professional?
You may assume that you can figure out what kind of lighting will look attractive on your property, but you may find that choosing the right light to accent the right feature or provide the right security coverage may be a lot more challenging than you think. Outdoor lighting fixtures need to be of the highest quality construction since they will need to stand up to the elements.
It can be incredibly frustrating to put a lot of time and effort into planning, purchasing, and installing your outdoor lighting system only to find yourself constantly needing to replace bulbs or rewire. Having an outdoor lighting system installed may be less expensive than you think, but the impact on the appearance of your home will be dramatic. This is among the home improvement projects that provides the most effect for the least cost, and worth hiring a professional to do right.
2. Automatic Sprinkler System
Lush grass, lovely flower beds, and other attractive landscaping can turn a house from boring or even unattractive into a charming home, but a drought of only a few days can quickly make your beautiful landscaping brown and dry. Many flowers and decorative shrubbery and foliage will not recover from drying out, which means that you can lose hundreds or even thousands of dollars in landscaping in a brief time.
Our lives are busy. Sometimes it seems all we can do just to get our coffee and get out the door in the morning. The last thing you are probably thinking about during your busy week is whether the garden needs water. By the time you notice how long it has been since it last rained, the damage may already be done.
An automatic sprinkler system is an investment in your landscaping which will keep your house looking beautiful no matter the weather. When done properly, automatic sprinkler systems will save you money in water as well as in saved plants. A professional who understands how sprinkler systems work and what your garden needs will position sprinklers in such a way as to provide the perfect amount of water to the plants that need it most without drowning plants that would prefer less water.
Do it Yourself or Hire a Professional?
It takes the knowledge gained from experience to plan and install an automatic sprinkler system properly. If done incorrectly, an automatic sprinkler system will drench some parts of your yard while leaving other parts too dry. Water may be wasted as it runs off onto driveways or roads. A sprinkler head can malfunction either because of improper installation or because it is in a location that makes it likely to get hit by a car or kicked. A broken sprinkler head can rapidly dump huge amounts of water onto your lawn, creating rot and fungus which kills the grass.
Installing your automatic sprinkler system yourself may end up costing you much more than having had it done professionally. If you want to save money and keep your landscaping looking its best, hire a professional.
3. Invest in Landscaping
Minimal landscaping may look okay, but to make your house look like a home, you need to make an investment in your home’s landscaping. Whether you like to garden or not, you probably have favorite types of plants or a landscaping look that you love. Planting a new plant only takes a moment, but the beauty and joy that a plant can bring you throughout the years can really be significant. A signature tree will not only provide shade, which can reduce your cooling costs and make it more pleasant to be outside, but can make your house look more beautiful as the years go by and the tree becomes more majestic. A freshly planted flower bed gives your home an air of being lived in and cared for. Landscaping isn't just about beautifying your space, it's about making your house a home.
Do it Yourself or Hire a Professional
A professional landscape company can make great choices about what kind of landscaping does well in your area, and the finished product is likely to look attractive. That said, there is something valuable about making your own landscape decisions and planting your own garden.
As your garden develops, it will have much more personality and likely be far more beautiful than a garden planted by professionals. With a properly installed automatic sprinkler system, caring for your garden won't be much trouble at all.
4. Painting the Outside of Your Home
Painting the exterior of the house is among the most straightforward home improvement projects to revamp the look of your home. Whether your house is a bland or boring color that you've always wanted to change or your current coat of paint is looking chipped and faded, a new coat can be a big change.
Painting your house is an effective way to get some much-needed extra attention for a property that has been on the market for some time. A fresh coat of paint can catch the eye of someone who has driven past your house before without noticing the house or the for-sale sign.
If you have bought a “cookie-cutter house” because of the great location, price, or amenities, but are longing for your home to look more like it belongs to you, a new coat of paint can turn your house from one in a row of houses just like it into your own special home which reflects your unique personality. Customized landscaping with accent lighting, combined with a fresh coat of paint, can do so much to make a house feel like your home during the night and day.
Do it Yourself or Hire a Professional?
Unless you have experience with large exterior painting projects and a lot of patience, it is probably best to hire a professional to paint the outside of your home. Professionals have equipment which will make the paint go on more evenly. The last thing that you want is to go through all of the time and expense of painting your home only to find that the end result is streaky and uneven.
5. Kitchen Remodel
If your home was built more than around 50 years ago and has not been remodeled, chances are good that the kitchen is too small. Most houses were built with small kitchens that were separate from the living room but now most people prefer a kitchen that is integrated into the living area. This is often one of the most affordable home improvement projects to make a huge change to both the appearance and functionality of your home. Most of the time, interior walls closing off the kitchen are not load-bearing and so can easily be removed. Even in cases where an interior wall is load-bearing, an arch or column can be attractive and much less confining than a wall.
Do it Yourself or Hire a Professional?
If you know that your interior wall is not load-bearing, you may find it cost-effective to take care of this construction yourself. Knocking out an interior wall is not terribly difficult for the do-it-yourselfer, so you can save a fair amount of money by avoiding hiring a professional. Be sure that you are also able to repair and repaint areas where the wall has been removed so that the kitchen and living area will blend smoothly together.
Choose the Best Home Improvement Projects for Your Home and Budget
Carefully consider your options and your home so that you can choose the best home improvement projects for your home, budget, and situation. Having your home painted may improve its appearance in the daytime, but it won't do anything to change the way you enjoy your property or the way your house looks in the evening.
On the other hand, having exterior lighting installed will make your house look beautiful in the evening and also provide more functionality as you stroll through your beautifully lit yard and garden. If you are spending too much time watering your plants or have felt the deep regret of having a freshly planted flower bed die because you weren't paying enough attention, an automatic sprinkler system may do a lot to improve both the appearance of your property and your daily life.
Remember that if you are installing an outdoor lighting system, automatic sprinkler system, it requires experience and know-how, it is best to hire a professional like American National Sprinkler & Lighting.