Once you decide to sell your house, or to rent it out for some time to get extra cash, it’s only natural that you want to improve the value of the house and make it more appealing to buyers to get more money for it.
You can easily increase the value of your home by improving its interior design. Homebuyers are generally more attracted to houses with updated interior designs, especially when compared to those with worn out or outdated designs. However, the problem is that updating the interior of a home can be quite costly.
The mistake many homeowners make is that they dive into redesigning their homes because they believe it will fetch them more money from the sale. They usually fail to analyze the cost of the updates they intend to make and the expected revenue from the sale.
As a result, they often incur a huge loss because they make some costly updates that buyers are unwilling to pay for. This is why it’s advisable to seek the advice of a professional realtor before embarking on major interior design upgrade so that you don’t overspend.
A good condo and apartment realtor will be able to offer expert advice on the necessary upgrades you need to make, putting your target market into consideration. They’ll also tell you how important it is to spend within your means.
If you’re looking for ways to raise the value of your home by improving its interior design, we’ve got good news for you – you don’t have to spend a fortune to make your home look nice. As a matter of fact, your home’s design doesn’t have to directly reflect your pockets. With the tips listed below, you can easily make your home look like something out of the magazine even if you’re working on a slim budget.
1. Remodel the Kitchen
When it comes to increasing the value of an apartment or house, the kitchen is king. This is because the kitchen is generally considered to be the most important part of the house. A well-designed kitchen improves the entire outlook of your house and makes it easier to get your house sold for a good price. You can easily recoup 60-120% of the total amount spent on remodeling this room.
It is, however, important not to go overboard in remodeling your kitchen. You don’t have to spend a fortune to make your kitchen look more attractive. Always spend within your means and focus on making small changes that can positively affect the outlook of the room. Here are a couple of tips for improving your kitchen’s decor.
- Avoid Deluxe Upgrades: It’s easy to get tempted to make your kitchen look fancier than the rest of the house, or even the rest of the houses in your neighborhood. However, this may not be the best thing to do if you hope to get your house sold in good time and at a fair price.
Always consider the entire theme of the property and make sure that your kitchen fits into this theme. You don’t need to pay through the nose for the fanciest appliances to make your kitchen more appealing. - A Little Paint Can Do the Trick: Painting is one of the cheapest ways to add new life to your kitchen. You can make your kitchen look more attractive simply by adding color to it. Painting the walls and countertops can be a great way to start. It’s always better to choose paints that are eco-friendly so that you do not expose yourself and your family to the risk of breathing in harmful chemicals that regular paints emit.
2. Use Energy-Efficient Appliances
When shopping for a new home, most of today’s potential buyers are often on a lookout for homes that have energy-efficient appliances. This is why it pays to upgrade your home appliances to more energy-efficient ones. Buyers are often willing to pay higher rents if they’re getting apartments with a guaranteed energy efficiency of all appliances.
Interior upgrades that include energy-efficient appliances can be quite costly. So, it may not be a good option if you’re working on a tight budget. But, if you can afford it, it can yield 16% income in revenue when you get the house sold.
3. Update Fixtures
Fixtures are often overlooked when redesigning a home; but, as little as it seems, using attractive outlet covers, doorknobs, curtain rods, and light fixtures can significantly improve the overall outlook of the house. These fixtures don’t cost a lot, but they make your house look more expensive and modern.
Having worn out fixtures in your home can make your house look cheap and outdated. You may think it doesn’t matter, but a buyer might fall in love with your living room decor and then, while still thinking how great the place looks, their eye catches a dirty, old doorknob, and that puts them off.
To avoid such situations, try to replace your kitchen cabinet doorknobs too. If your bathroom ceiling light fixture is shabby, you should also replace it. The same goes for showerheads and kitchen sinks. Also, consider replacing plastic/aluminum window blinds with plantation shutters or wooden blinds drapes.
4. Declutter Your Home
The first step to improving the interior design of your home is to get rid of the clutter in it. Your home can’t look its best when you have useless items lying around in your home.
When you have a house full of clutter, it takes up so much space and makes your house look untidy and smaller than it is. You’ll be doing yourself a whole lot of good by going through your home and getting rid of items that are no longer useful to you.
Decluttering your house can be a pretty difficult job, your best bet is to do it in stages and focus on one room at a time. You can choose to begin with the living room.
One way to revamp your living room for less is to rearrange the furniture. Do away with cables that aren’t connected to your TV or home theater. Also, if you have kids, get rid of toys that the children no longer use.
From the living room, you can proceed to the bathroom. Begin with the cabinet and dispose of all outdated skincare and makeup products. Also, check the cabinet drawers and get rid of all items there that you no longer use, then you rearrange the drawers and keep the most used items at eye-level. Repeat the same process for your bathroom shower tub and sink.
Then, move to the bedroom and begin with your nightstand. Get rid of those empty tissue boxes, broken eyeglasses, mail, papers, chargers you no longer use, and every other item that appears to be just occupying space. Do same for your dresser top and drawers.
Next space to declutter is your closet. Sort out your clothes into piles for keeping and getting rid of. Feel free to give to charity the ones you no longer use and carefully arrange the rest in an orderly manner.
To declutter your kitchen, begin with the cabinet, go through the drawers, and get rid of every item you no longer use. Try to create as much space as possible on your countertops. Any item you don’t make use of daily has no business being on your countertop.
Finally, having decluttered your home, you can make it look more spacious and attractive by brightening it up with lights. Rearrange the furniture to create more space, and replace the carpets and curtains in your living room if they’re worn out or dirty.
5. Upgrade Paints
This is another cost-friendly interior design tip to improve your home value and make it look like a luxurious mansion. Sometimes, it’s possible to have an interior that appears to be way bigger than your wallet. Your best bet in such situations is to simply look to color as a way out.
You can transform the feel of a room simply by updating the paint. It’s even much better when you use lively colors that brings a creative vibe to the room.
Having walls with outdated paints and worn-out wallpapers makes your house look old and unattractive. By painting your house with fresh, neutral colors you can make your house look brighter, spacious, and more attractive to buyers. Even if you’re on a budget, you can still repaint your house. You can choose to repaint a single wall or object, instead of painting the entire room, you can decide to paint just the interior door, and it’ll still have the same effect.
If your kitchen cabinet is stained or looks old, a fresh touch of paint will do the magic. White is a very good color for kitchen cabinets as it brightens the room and it’s also easier for buyers to repaint if they choose to.
6. Add Smart Technologies
Introducing smart technologies in your home is a sure way to raise the value of your apartment. Smart technologies make homes more convenient and secured. This is why many modern home buyers are on the lookout for houses with smart home features such as lighting media, heating and security systems.
There are many advantages to using smart technologies in your home. Let’s say you have a video doorbell, for instance. You’ll be able to see who’s at the door once your doorbell rings and decide whether you want to let the person in or not.
This makes your home more secure against buglers and home invaders. It will also spare you the annoyance of rushing to see who’s at the door only to be greeted by an unknown door-to-door salesman or religious recruiters.
Conclusion
It’s important to improve the interior design of your home if you want to increase its value and make it more attractive to buyers. However, redesigning your home can be a bit challenging, especially if you’re on a budget. This is why you need the advice of professional realtors to help you determine what’s obtainable in the target market and the level of upgrade you need to do to make your house more valuable without going overboard in spending. The above-listed tips will guide you in upgrading the interior design of your home and transform it into a truly relaxing space.
