10 Low-Cost Home Renovation Ideas With the Biggest Payback

Sometimes, we could all use a change of scenery. This is especially true if you’ve lived in the same house for a long time and haven’t changed it. Unfortunately, some homeowners who want to make renovations don’t because they think the price tag will outweigh any benefit they might get from the changes.

They may not know that many home renovations won’t break the bank. There are numerous renovations homeowners can make that don’t have jaw-dropping price tags, and the difference they can make will give those homeowners a lot of bang for their buck. Here are our suggestions for low-cost home renovations that will provide the most payback.

It’s old advice, and you may already know it, but it’s really true. A fresh coat of paint can completely transform a room and brighten it up in ways that more expensive changes might not. Choose neutral colors to appeal to a broader audience, and maybe avoid psychedelic purple or avocado green.

Your front door is literally the first thing people will see when they come to your house, but many homeowners don’t think of changing it when they consider updating their homes. Why? Because when they’re considering making changes, they’re usually inside and not considering the outside. Replacing the front door and painting it a bold color can make a real statement and even improve curb appeal for people considering selling.

Not everyone has a green thumb, so planting a garden might not be the first thing people think of when transforming their environments. But boy, once people get into it and start to really enjoy maintaining the garden as a hobby, you will have a hard time persuading them to do anything else. There’s a reason your neighbor is always out there with a gigantic hat and a trowel: They find gardening very therapeutic. You may find that it applies to you, too.

When it comes to low-cost changes that you can make gradually as you work on improving your home, don’t neglect the outside. If you ever want to sell the house, its exterior has to look inviting, or potential buyers won’t care what the inside looks like. One cosmetic change you can make pretty quickly and inexpensively is installing a new mailbox that looks snazzy and inviting, especially if your home has had the same one the previous owner had.

Another small cosmetic change that you can make that goes a long way is to give your kitchen and bathroom quick facelifts by replacing the handles and knobs. It won’t increase the home's value by millions of dollars, but it will make it a nicer and more welcoming place, making cooking, eating, and brushing your teeth a little more pleasant.

If you replace your cabinet hardware and like the new look you’ve given your kitchen and bathroom, we recommend going even further and installing new faucets in those rooms. Just like replacing handles and knobs, it’s a small way of making a big difference in those rooms, and the breath of fresh air they provide once the renovations have been made will give you an emotional lift every time you enter the room.

This can be an expensive change to make if you hire someone else to do it, but if you’re what people call “handy” and you aren’t afraid of hard work, there are inexpensive do-it-yourself kits that can allow you to do the same job for a lot less money. We don’t recommend this to anyone without a bit of experience in renovation, but if you’re up for the challenge, it’s a great way to make your old floors look new and shiny.

It doesn’t matter how you improve your home if it’s full of clutter. All that stuff in disorganized piles can create stress as the piles grow and threaten to consume you, so declutter and organize your space with functional and decorative floating shelves and watch that stress evaporate. It will feel like a ton of bricks have been taken off your back as you find places for things that have been homeless in your home, and you can even put a television set in a floating shelf and use it to watch “Hoarders.”

A modern vanity can really revamp an old bathroom, and you won’t need to replace the sink or reglaze the bathtub to do it. It will also give you an excuse to go shopping for discounted or second-hand vanities, and anyone who would turn down an excuse to go shopping clearly has something wrong with them. The only downside is that you will have a tough time leaving that yard sale or flea market with just the vanity, so maybe have a friend with a pickup truck on hand.

Not everyone has embraced the concept of the “smart home,” but there’s no doubt that it’s inevitable as technology marches on and more people warm up to it. If you still don’t trust it with locking your front door, you don’t have to start there. Instead, you can start by equipping your home with smart thermostats and lighting and seeing if you want to keep going from there. Chances are, once you can leave heating and lighting your home to technology, you’ll wonder why you’re getting up to lock your door with your hand like a chump.

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