There are many advantages to owning your own home. Perhaps the best advantage is financial – your home literally becomes your savings account. Every mortgage payment you make is money in the bank for you. Additionally, you can maximize these mortgage payments by improving your house. The nicer you make your house, the more money you will get back when you eventually sell it. Sadly, most people think home improvement projects are expensive and need to be done by professional contractors. This isn’t true! There are many simple projects you can accomplish yourself. Check out some of these great projects below:
Some of these projects are remarkably simple. For example, you can easily locate a half-table and place it inside of your bathroom, which gives you more storage and it looks great holding pictures or seasonal knickknacks. You can also take the time to install a paper towel roll in an unlikely and convenient place. You can easily install one in place of a seldom used drawer in the kitchen.
You can also place some electrical outlets in clever places, on the insides of drawers in your kitchen – this will allow you to charge your phone and other electronic devices without cluttering up your kitchen counter. On a kitchen island, you can also install electrical outlets underneath false drawer doors. You will just need to flip open the false door to plug in your kitchen appliance. When you are done with the griddle or mixer, you can close the drawer. This makes the kitchen island appear very sleek and streamlined.
If you are looking to make your home appear a little more neighborly, you can easily build a book box to place near your sidewalk. Put some of your old books inside of the box, and write a message inviting people to take a book and leave a book. The result is a neighborly structure that literally provides you with new books to read several times a week. You can also look into installing a chandelier on your porch. At night, this makes your home look extremely welcoming. It will increase the property value of the entire neighborhood.
There are several great projects you can do to make your home more child friendly. For example, don’t waste your time and money on a baby gate for a playroom. Take the time to install Dutch doors instead. This will allow the room to remain open, but the baby will be safe inside of the room. You can also build a hidden step into the vanity in a child’s bathroom. This will allow your child to brush his or her teeth without any help from you. It also prevents children from taking a freestanding bathroom step elsewhere in the house to cause trouble.
To make your home more guest friendly, install a modern restroom symbol on a downstairs bathroom to signal where folks can find the bathroom. You can leave it up permanently, or you can just hang it during social gatherings. Either way, your guests will know where they need to go to do their business.
These are just a few of the simple projects you can do around your own home to increase convenience and value. Other ideas include a sun tunnel for your kitchen, a hidden cutting board, hidden drying racks for dishes, inviting window seats near staircases, and heat sensitive tiles in the shower. The possibilities are endless! Take the time to select a few of these great projects for you own home.