Home Improvement

Home Improvement Tips for First Time Owners

My husband and I purchased our first home about four months ago. I must tell you; it has been awesome. We love having no neighbors above or below us, having our own yard for our dogs to defile and defend, and, for the first time in our lives, to be able to do whatever we want to our space. However, while we are still in the honeymoon stage of home ownership, we have also quickly learned that we are very house stupid. Honestly, we have no clue what we are doing and have been most definitely learning as we go. With that in mind, here is what I know now about home improvement that I did not know four months ago!

Thankfully, the upvc windows and doors company have helped us out a lot in choosing the plot, house size, interior design etc.

1.Paint is your best friend. A gallon of paint costs 20 bucks and can cover an entire room. A fresh coat of a new hue can totally change the feel of a room. Who would have guessed? It is by far the most cost effective way we have found to improve and personalize our new space. We personally love Glidden paint. Home Depot sells small testers of Glidden so we stocked up on every imaginable shade of beige, brown, yellow, and blue, paint small areas, and then see what looks best. It is cheap, easy, and makes a huge difference.

2.Get new carpet. Seriously. You need it. The carpet we had when we moved in was stained and smelly. We called Empire and they hauled out the old stuff and installed new, soft, neutral colored carpet in just a few hours. It was the first home improvement project we did and I recommend it. It is easier to change the carpet before you move all your stuff in, but if you can’t wait (like we couldn’t) Empire (and I am sure other people as well) will move all your furniture for no additional cost.

3.Be prepared to change your plans. If there is a contest out there for the world’s bluest bathroom, our guest bathroom would win by a mile. It has, I kid you not, a blue tub, a blue toilet, blue sink, blue fixtures, blue walls, and a blue ceiling. The floor, alone, is white. We had grand plans of tearing everything out and replacing everything with regular fancy white/off white fixtures. But you know what we found out? That is expensive! So, we took down the wallpaper (I really hate wallpaper), added some fresh white paint, got a few colorful yellow accessories – and I think we are good! Well, at least for right now.

4.Take it slow. I will assume that you, like us, are not millionaires. If you were, then you could go pay someone else to add in marble covered everything and Greek columns galore right away. At least that is what I would do. But if you are regular people like we are, you need to go slow. You WILL have unexpected costs. (So far we have needed a plumber, bug control, someone to cut down our giant dead tree… and who knows what is next!) Big projects can wait a while until after you have lived in your new home and have a better idea of what you really want/really need/can really afford.

Enjoy your new home!

Fiona

Fiona Scott graduated from the University of Melbourne with a degree in Mass Communication. She founded stopadcampaign.com in 2015 after working as a content analyst for many years.

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