DIY
Upgrades for your home

 There are times when you'll want to start a do it yourself project, but you do not have the funds available to make it a big diy. So what can you do? There are a few projects that will change the look of your kitchen or bathroom, without it taking long or a lot of cash input. 

Let's start with the kitchen, since there's usually a great deal of time spent in this room. You can change the knobs on the cupboards and drawers very easily and   inexpensively. There are metal knobs, ceramic designs, round and square, even knife and fork shapes in some stores! Some are patterned, some are plain, it's for you to choose. They are easy to install, just unscrew the present hardware, and replace it with the new for a quick fix. Then step back and admire. (Mind you, I know of one person who had her girlfriends round to help her with the project, and they had a bottle of wine... it took 4 hours to replace 12 knobs, but they had fun!)

Now you can easily change the look of your sink area by changing the faucet. If you're concerned about the water quality, you can install a faucet that has a built in filtration system, which can be both a practical and attractive solution. Of course, you can move on to the bathroom and change the faucet there too if you don't like the one that is already there. You'll be surprised what a difference it can make to the appearance of the room.

The next upgrade is to paint the interior where there are scuff and scrape marks, and you need to be careful with the paint you choose for this. For this area, you probably need to get a paint that you'll be able to scrub, so check on the can, and if it doesn't give the rating there, check with your paint retailer. Once this has been applied, you'll be able to wash the walls whenever they get grubby.

If you find you don't have enough room in the kitchen cupboards for everything you'd like to have in there, consider buying drawer organizers which will increase the storage space you have by organizing it better. Nowadays you can find racks and baskets at very reasonable prices to help you with this.

Now, what about your flooring in the kitchen? Is it looking old and worn? If so, you can just cover it with laminated wood, and it'll look very impressive. It's easy to do, but one thing to be aware of, if you do put it over the top of the present flooring, make sure that you will still be able to get your appliances out of there place if they break and need replacing.

Now, if your kitchen is rather dark, you could install lighting underneath the upper cupboards.  By choosing the correct lighting, you can even reduce your lighting bill! To do this, you'll need to switch to the highly efficient compact fluorescent units instead of  incandescent light bulbs and you'll find that you use in the region of one-quarter to one-third less energy while producing the same amount of light.  

Think about making a tiny bathroom appear bigger by using lighter colors, or by using wall paper with a smaller pattern, which will trick your eyes into thinking it is a larger room.

Horizontal lines can seem to lengthen a room and this can be used to good effect with a coordinating border. Again lighting that reflects off the surfaces you have there can make a room seem much lighter and larger than it really is. And remember the use of art work to make walls seem longer.

So there you have it, some inexpensive ways to improve your home, with diy projects that are not too time consuming.

Have fun with your next diy project.