Your home should make you happy and home improvements can foster several benefits that can contribute to this. It can improve the functionality of your home, lower energy and maintenance costs, enhance the property value and not to mention boost your quality of life by rejuvenating your mental well-being. Of course, with such amazing benefits you may think that changes need to be drastic and will be expensive. However, there are many ways that you can enhance your surroundings without incurring significant costs.

Here are 5 budget friendly ideas for consideration.

1. Create a new space.

With new norms including a lot more home time, why not create your own social space right within your home or backyard? You can simply start with establishing a seating area that allows for relaxing as well as conversational time and create the atmosphere that you want. Cost effective materials such as pallets can be attainable from the large grocery or merchandising chains at little to no cost, which you can then repurpose. This can include outdoor cushioned bench seating or day beds with features like a pallet bar, enhanced with the right lighting. Solar lights can do wonders while they are also energy efficient.

2. Increase your existing space.

An open plan redesign can enhance your mental outlook and add financial value to your home. Changing the doorway between rooms into a bigger door size or glass doors can conjure the feeling of a bigger space. If you have gypsum walls, you can select a non-structural one to remove, creating more open space and potential for more natural light and providing easier access to other rooms. With this upgrade you create an inviting space with more room for family members which can also make it easier to keep an eye on younger kids.

3.  Rearrange and refurbish furniture

Moving around your furniture can change the entire look and feel of your room. Choose where you want the new focal point of the room to be, and you can arrange the furniture around a statement piece. This will create a completely different perception for the space. You can also refurbish existing wooden furniture by using a low-grade sandpaper to bring the wood back to its original surface. Then repaint or varnish with a colour of your choice and top with a gloss coat for a ‘new’ furniture feel.  Purchasing new cushion covers can also do wonders along with reupholstering couches and chairs. As an alternative to reupholstering, you can purchase chair covers with colours to match the room’s new décor.

4.  Cultivate the mood with flowers.

While spending so much of our time at home since the pandemic, why not bring the beauty of nature inside.  A floral arrangement can enhance your home but also set the tone of the day to influence your wellbeing and outlook on life. Be sure to declutter and remove any competing articles, then introduce real flowers if you wish or imitation flowers that will allow for less maintenance. With select colours you can set the mood of the room to nurture a feeling of calmness and serenity, or you can use bolder colours that are more exhilarating and cheerful. With some research, you can determine which flowers complements the function of your room and the energy you want to create.

5.  Add a personal “painting” to the décor.

Statement pieces are another way to jazz up your rooms. With the incredible quality of modern smart phone cameras, you can turn an amazingly scenic memories into the focal point of a room.  You may have existing photos of nature or events that can be enlarged and framed creating a space that feels your own art gallery!