We recently purchased a new home and within the first year, have started to make some pretty big changes. All of these changes have been on a strict budget and I’d like to share a few ideas with you. The new year is almost here so it’s the perfect time to plan and prepare your new home ideas. In this post, I will share some of our favourite projects and tips to help you achieve your perfect home renovation. Your new home journey starts right here.

Your new home doesn’t have to involve massive construction projects and can be something as simple as a good clear out and reorganisation of your things. We decided to remodel our bathrooms, add some new flooring, and paint the walls and ceiling, all done on a modest budget. So whether you have £200 or £20,000 you’re bound to find a few ideas to get you started. One thing we found incredibly useful during our new home makeover was skip hire. Without this we would have struggled to dispose of all the rubbish and waste. You could take all the waste to the local recycling centre but you might not have a suitable vehicle and could end up paying for some. You can get your skip hire sorted with ease and you won’t have to worry about the disposal of large or awkward items.

Out with the old and in with the new year

The new year is a perfect time to renovate your property. It will give you a fresh outlook on life and a clear head. Here is a list of great ideas that can give your home a new look and feel for the new year ahead.

Create more space and refresh your kitchen

One of the first things we did in our house was to clear the kitchen and create more space. We spend a lot of time cooking as a family so this is an important space for us. It’s where we catch up on all our day-to-day activities and socialise with family and friends.

Our renovation included:

• Creating more worktop space by removing some cupboards
• Instal under-counter fridge freezer
• Installed some rustic shelving
• Replace tilling
• Add a kitchen island

Each of these small changes made a huge difference to the overall look and feel of the kitchen. We removed a tall cupboard which also housed a built-in microwave which made the room feel much more open. This then made space to extend the oak worktops the whole length (3m) of the kitchen. Once the worktops had been extended I retiled the splashback area with a modern design and matching colour.

We decided to continue the oak worktops around the kitchen as we love the look and feel of the natural material. With several layers of oil applied, we know they will last a lifetime. If you’re looking for inspiration, House of Worktops has a great selection of different wood worktops perfect for this type of kitchen renovation project.

To finish things off I installed a couple of rustic industrial shelves and we purchased a kitchen island breakfast bar to add some further worktop space and storage. For everything, the kitchen renovation cost use about £1000. The small amount of work makes a huge difference to the look and feel of this regularly used family area. In the future, we might change the cupboards but this is a bigger job for another time.

Ensuite makeover

The bathrooms were the same age as the house and not to our taste so we decided to replace them. This gave a great modern feel to these areas and only cost about £1000 per room. I’m still working on the other bathroom but here is the completed one. We completely started from scratch with this, removing all the old items, flooring and tiling. If you have some DIY skills then this is a great project to undertake. I am self-tough about most things so I believe this can be achieved by most people, as long as they have the desire to learn some new skills. I learned tiling and basic plumbing to complete this job. Here are the before/after pictures.

We love the tall green tiles and hexagon tile flooring. Matched with the golden cooper colour fixings this made our ensuite absolutely beautiful.

Make use of your outdoor space

Making the most of your outdoor living space can make a huge difference to your home. It creates extra places to sit, relax, work or socialise with family and friends. A covered area also adds protection from the wind and rain so you can use it all year round. We decided to add a veranda on the back of our house for this purpose. Some seating, small tables and swinging chairs make this a place everyone can enjoy, whatever the weather.

Building your own veranda is relatively easy and can add value to your property. We enjoy this space throughout most of the year and mostly during the summer. If you would like to know how I built this veranda you can read how to do this in another post.

Have a good clear out

Sometimes all a house needs is a good cleanout. A new year can bring a new start and a new start can be great with a clearout of all your old and unwanted items. Start with storage areas, such as your attic, garage or spare rooms where things have accumulated. Make use of the skip and try and be ruthless with your clearing. Clutter can get in the way of your life so sometimes it’s good to get rid of it. Make piles of rubbish, things that can be recycled and another pile for things that can be sold or taken to the charity shops. Make use of Facebook Marketplace, eBay and other online selling platforms.

This is by far the cheapest way to make your home feel fresh and new. You can even make a bit of money along the way. We installed some loft boards and shelving to increase our storage space. I then used some carpet left over from another home renovation project. It’s helped make the space easy and comfortable to use and organise our things much easier.

Refresh your flooring and walls

Replacing old carpets or worn-out laminate flooring is a great way to give your home a new look and feel. If you paint the walls and ceilings at the same time you can completely transform your rooms. You don’t have to do them all at the same time. Simply start with the rooms you use most. Paint can cost as little as £25 can is easy for anyone to complete. Try and use light, bright colours in all areas to help reflect natural light around the room. This will help you mentally and is known to improve your mood.

We recently replaced our living room and bedroom flooring after painting all the walls white. This was an easy project that only took a couple of days to complete. We used engineer solid oak flooring which is warm under the foot and quite easy to install with a special type of glue. Here is a before and after picture from when we had carpet.

Conclusion

As you can see, we have made some very exciting changes to our house. Some have been low-cost and easy whilst others have required more time and money. But the results are significant and provide a whole new dynamic to the property. Not to mention increasing the value.

These projects are just a glimpse at our recent home renovation journey but hopefully enough to inspire your own. Take a look at some more of our projects on the My Projects page and on the home page.