Tips to Freshening Up Your Home

Hi, hello, hola, and happy Tuesday!

This summer, my goal was operation FIX EVERYTHING IN THE HOUSE THAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED. As first time homeowners, we’ve had so many things to keep up with from regular maintenance  to an unexpected cave under our driveway due to bad drainage, a toilet that needed fixing and re-working, a shower whose handle fell off and our water ran non-stop for hours, a broken garage door… LOL. Homeownership is wild, y’all. But dang do I love. As we’ve knocked out the things that needed to be fixed, like the cave, we’ve also slowly been crossing off cosmetic fixes around the home that make it feel fresher, newer, and less “frumpy.” Our home was built in 2004 and the previous owners did a TON of updates. We are one of the few homes with hardwood floors & nice tile and new appliances in the neighborhood, and I am really thankful the previous owners did that before we had to.

So bottom line: Our craftsman style home is so cute and I love it. I literally am SO THANKFUL for our home. There just were some things I just couldn’t quite put my finger on about the exterior that was making it feel frumpy. Inside, there we things I knew were outdated or poorly done that needed to be fixed. But would you believe some simple landscaping, some tree trimming & some fresh paint gave our home a face lift?!  Here are my top tips of things we’ve done in the last few months that have made me L O V E every little thing about my home.

1. Trim Trees & Bushes: We didn’t really know what to ask our landscapers in the past to do for our trees and bushes, and unknowingly… they were so overgrown. I knew when the ends of my bushes were obstructing our walkway that we needed someone, but when they were done I realized just HOW BADLY we needed them. Trimming in and shortening our hedges showed our home better and immediately made the “frumpy” feeling I couldn’t put my finger on start to go away. Then, we had our trees trimmed and raised… WOW. New freaking home. We have two fairly large trees in our front yard and the lowest branches were way too low. Y’all, it’s the little things! If you’re a first time homeowner without a clue about landscaping… hopefully this helps you.
2. Trim: I would ideally pay someone to come give a whole fresh coat of paint on our exterior trim, but it’s just not in the budget right now. (Hopefully soon!) But, I grabbed a paintbrush and some of this white exterior primer paint (it matched our trim), and I took to the spots that needed it most. It made such a difference. I covered peeling spots and yellowy spots that had formed from where water runs down. I painted the frame around our door, too, and it truly brightened our home up! Paul immediately noticed it when he pulled up to the house from work that day.
3. Pots on the Porch: Last summer we started this one, but it really does make a difference. Your home immediately looks fresher with some pots and plants. You can do this for as cheap or as expensive as you want!
4. Power Wash the Exterior: We had a friend come and power wash our home, and it helped brighten it up without even any paint. This is something simple you can do that really does freshen things up!
5. Flower beds: Ok, so this one is actually the last thing on my to-do list this summer for the exterior. Our “flower bed” is currently just leaves and mulch from years ago and it’s all got to go. My plan is to clear it out and refill with fresh mulch, maybe a plant or two, and call it a day. Mulch is SO CHEAP. I just need me a rake and a bin to throw all the crap in for this project. It’s really cheap but will make such a difference.
6. PAINT PAINT PAINT: We FINALLY finished all the paint projects inside that I have been dying to do since we moved in. Do I have more aspirations? Sure… but these are the ones that mattered the most to me and I am so pleased with how it all turned out.We painted our guest bathroom, master bathroom, and laundry room SW Alabaster.
   Then, both bathroom vanities are SW Inkwell (it’s like a blue-black color).
   Then our doors to the bathrooms and the HVAC door in the laundry room are a beautiful mixture of SW 1/2 Stardew and 1/2 Uncertain Grey. It’s SO PRETTY.Eventually I would love to paint all the doors inside that color! Who knows, by the end of the week I just might take to our back door to the patio. Having these done truly took our home to a new level. It feels so fresh and like the renovation that was started before we moved in is complete without the ugly blue bathroom and mis-matched sea foam green that was our laundry room. O_0
7. New Hardware: We had the classic early 00’s shade of honey cabinets with some cheap silver hardware. (Our kitchen is still that). But I bought this set of gold pulls from Amazon (the price is RIDICULOUSLY GOOD!!!) for our master + these for our guest bathroom to really transform it fully into the moroccan theme, and it’s amazing what new pulls on the a freshly painted vanity will do. It feels like a new build!
8. GET RID OF “STUFF”: For real, I have been working on this for about a year, and it feels so good every time I fill up another bag of clothes or toss more stuff I just don’t use anymore. I encourage you to empty your closet and keep only what you love. Get rid of the rest to make room for more items you LOVE. Then, it won’t matter if all laundry is done at all times, because you will always LOVE what IS clean rather than hoping your only favorite top to go out in got washed in a load last night. You feel me?

I linked below the items mentioned + my next investments (lighting!). Love y’all and I hope this helps you narrow down easy fixes to freshen up your own home.

xoxo,

Han