5 Easy Ways to Update Your House

When we moved into our new house, we did so knowing there was a lot we wanted to change. We bought the house for the location and the beautiful 6 acre property. We did NOT buy it because we loved the house. Plus we were also planning a wedding at the same time we bought this “fixer upper” house, so to say that I was a little stressed out would be an understatement!

Much to my delight and surprise, my soon-to-be husband got started right away with making updates to the house. We’ve been in the house over 2 years now and it’s come a long way, but we do still have a ways to go! My husband has a background in construction and flipping houses, so he already knew how much a few little changes could make a difference in a home. I on the other hand had always lived in new-build apartments and was very new to this whole idea of DIY and home renovations, other than what I liked to watch on HGTV! I’ll share below what I’ve learned are some of the easiest ways to update your house and completely transform it into more of your “dream home!”

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1. Paint!!

This might seem obvious to many, but I grew up in a house with all white walls and my mother never changed them. I truly never had appreciated the difference that the right color of paint can make! My husband and my mother-in-law painted the whole inside of our house within a week while I was traveling for work. It was the biggest shock and best surprise to come home too! When we moved into the house, the walls were a weird brownish color. They painted them a greyish color and it has made all the difference in the world! Lightened up the whole space and made it feel more modern!

The outside of our house was a red brick house when we bought it, with black shutters. I knew immediately that I wanted to have it painted white. And we did! What a game changer! We get comments from people all the time saying they never even noticed our house before and now they see it all the time and love what we’ve done with it! Our house sat on the market for over a year… turns out it just needed a little paint!

2. Update your front door

Ok, to be fair, this might not be the easiest thing to do in order to update your house, but it is simple! We found a basic white door from Lowe’s, had it delivered, and hired a guy to take off the old door and update it with the new one. Then we painted it black to match the shutters. 🙂 What a difference! Our house instantly looked more updated on the exterior. We still need to do some work to the front porch and columns, but overall, wow did this door update make a difference!!

3. Switch out your door knobs

This might seem like a silly one and you may think you’ve never even paid attention to what your door knobs look like, but let me tell you… this is so simple and can instantly update the look of your house! We’ve only done it in our basement so far, but even there it has been a game changer! I found these modern black door knobs and replaced our ugly gold ones with them. They come in options with or without the lock. This isn’t something we necessarily get compliments on, but it does give your house an elevated look! I appreciate the fact that they are much nicer than our old ones!

4. Switch out cabinet handles

Again, this is nothing I historically have ever paid attention to… but the handles on your cabinets can either send a message that you live in an old outdated house OR they can send a message that your house is contemporary and trendy! I prefer the later LOL! I found simple gold handles to replace old ones in our basement laundry room. I’ve used these handles to replace outdated ones in our bathroom. Definitely an easy weekend project that makes a huge impact on the overall look of your home!

5. Update your light fixtures

I’m honestly embarrassed that I never realized all these things could be modified before. I grew up in a grader-build home that my parents never changed ANYTHING on for 30+ years. So the idea of just changing out a light fixture to update the exterior or interior of your home, was just mind-boggling! We switched out the old, outdated exterior pineapple shaped lamps for more modern ones with dawn-to-dusk lightbulbs so that they automatically come on at night. This instantly gave our house a much needed face lift!

Then I started getting a little obsessed with what a difference switching out light fixtures made on the house. I bought and replaced 3-4 more lights on the inside of the house. We even switched out two of the rooms’ lights for ceiling fans!

You have to make sure you know what you’re doing when messing with electricity. There are Youtube videos I’m sure that can show you how to do it, or you can always hire someone! I’m thankful my husband has these skills, so admittedly, this one might not be as easy for everyone.

Our home reno journey continues…

These are just some of the first steps we’ve made to updating our home, which have already made a big difference! Since these, we’ve renovated a bathroom and a nursery room too! We still have a lot more changes to come.. so I hope you stay tuned!