“We love living through a renovation” . . . said no one ever.
Remodeling projects led 12% of people to consider a divorce, according to a study by Houzz. The cost, the hassle, and the time it takes is a pretty hefty exchange for a beautiful, functional space.
Not willing to risk it? Read on. Here’s how to update each room in your home without actually doing a renovation, comparing costs and results.
Bathroom
Cost to remodel: Average is $10,800, according to Home Advisor. Labor comprises 50% of the cost, at about $65 per hour, which varies regionally by 20%.Update it without the renovation: Examine each part of your bathroom to decide if you really need to renovate. For example, a leaky toilet would cost up to $500 to replace, but you can restore the inner workings to mint condition for as little as $45.
If the porcelain is cracked, you’ll need a new toilet, but if the leaking has to do with the valves, you won’t need to replace the entire toilet, says Melanie Musson, a home decor expert with Clearsurance, an insurance company.
Don’t like the tile? Try updating it with tile decals, suggests Andra DelMonico, the lead interior designer for Trendey.com, a home design inspiration site.
These are easy to apply and come in a wide range of colors and patterns. And most importantly, you can easily install decals yourself, whereas if you buy tile, you’ll pay for the cost of the materials, plus an additional $5-$10 a square foot for labor.
If your fixtures are out of date, try aging them. You can give a shiny 1980s-style brass faucet and matching fixtures new life by aging it.
It’s easy and nearly free to do this. The only tools you need are sandpaper, vinegar and salt to transform fixtures into the vintage-look that’s so trendy at the moment. They’ll be old-as-new in minutes.
First, clean the faucet (you don’t even need to remove it, though it’s easier if you do). Soak varnished or lacquered brass in paint stripper overnight or rub with sandpaper. Mix three parts vinegar with one part salt and paint this solution onto the faucet. The acid will oxidize the brass. Leave this overnight, then rinse.
Kitchen
Cost to remodel: $66,200-$131,500, according to Remodeling Magazine.Update it without the renovation: Replace the backsplash to bring your kitchen from dated to modern for $400, DelMonico says. Switch out the hardware of your cabinetry to modernize your cabinets for a few hundred dollars or less, says Savannah Phillips, interior designer with The Knobs Company.
The most expensive part of a kitchen remodel — 25% of the total cost — is replacing the cabinets. So, if you can repaint or reface your cabinets rather than replacing them, you’ll save between $3,200-$8,500.
Cabinets cost between $160 and $380 per linear foot for stock or semicustom styles, and up to $1,000 per linear foot for custom cabinetry.
Are your kitchen cabinets still in good shape? Do you like the layout of the kitchen, but just want a new look? Try cabinet refacing. Cabinet refacing costs about 40%-50% less than replacing cabinets and can make your cabinets look completely different.
Refacing simply involves replacing the cabinet doors and drawer fronts and having the cabinet boxes veneered. Usually, this is done by an expert.
Alternatively, you can repaint the cabinets. Currently, the trend is the distressed woodwork or a natural look. Repainting kitchen cabinets to achieve this look is about one-third the cost of replacing them.
A word of warning, though: Dust particles tend to stand out on painting cabinets, so be prepared to clean them more frequently.
Living Room and Bedroom
Cost to remodel: $1,500-$5,500 according to HomeAdvisor.Update it without the renovation: You can change the whole look of your living room or bedroom simply by updating the floors. And you don’t even need to rip them out to replace them. You can lay new vinyl flooring on top of several different flooring surfaces, Musson says. This will save you close to $1,000 compared to having old flooring ripped out and new flooring installed.
Sometimes, all you need to give your home a refresh is to add more light. Start by washing the windows to remove dirt, grime, mold, and mildew. Then, replace curtains and drapes with ones made of a lightweight material, such as organza, light-colored linen, crepe, muslin, or sheer fabrics.
“This will retain your privacy while allowing light to filter through,” DelMonico says.
And avoid velvet, canvas, thick cotton, wool, heavyweight satins, tweed, and suede-like fabrics.
Alternatively, having a contractor enlarge your windows can cost anywhere from $250 to $1,000 per window, she says.
New lighting can also offer a completely new look to the room, but so can switching the bulbs in the existing fixtures to LED bulbs, Phillips says. LEDs offer warm lighting that’s dimmable, and it can cost as little as $5 per bulb.
Got popcorn ceilings? The most effective and visually appealing update you can do is remove the popcorn. You can DIY the job, though this will take a significant time commitment and is an incredibly messy job. It will cost about $1,000 to have a professional remove the popcorn ceiling for a 500 sq. ft bedroom, and will take one day, Musson says
Repainting is another way to change the look of a room without renovating. Or for a completely new look, try wallpapering, suggests Dalas Dodd, who leads the residential real estate design team at Sundae, a marketplace connecting homeowners with home buyers.
You can find peel-and-stick wallpaper at Home Depot, Wayfair, ChasingPaper .com, Anewall.com, and more. Target even has peel-and-stick wallpaper for as little as $33.
The best part: When you’re tired of the pattern, just peel it off.
Adding crown molding instantly elevates a room. You can use it to frame a window, add elegance to the ceiling, or to border a coffered ceiling to make it appear larger.
Crown moulding costs between $500-$1,000 for a living room, according to Home Guide, which includes the cost of labor and installation. If you’re handy, you can purchase the crown moulding from Home Depot and do it yourself.
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