Related Posts
The price of everything seems to have gone up since the end of the pandemic. This includes home improvements, which, according to reports, have gone up 40% in price compared to two years ago.
So, why has this happened?
There are lots of reasons impacting the soaring prices of home improvements, especially extensive changes like loft conversions and home extensions. As it stands, the following factors are combining to cause the rise in home improvement costs:
- Everybody is improving their home after the pandemic lockdowns made us appreciate our homes more. If moving house is not an option, home improvements are the next best thing. Demand has pushed costs up.
- The world has a construction bottleneck because construction and development has started again everywhere, causing shortages and pushing costs up.
- There is a shortage of tradespeople to do the work.
- Brexit has caused a huge shortage of workers in transportation, so even if items are shipped in, there is a shortage of people to move items around.
- Brexit has made it more expensive to import materials.
So, it’s definitely a complex situation, and one that is unlikely to change any time soon. Even when prices calm down, with inflation and a volatile global economy, the chances are substantial home improvements like extensions and loft conversions will still be higher in price.
Improving Your Home For Less
The good news is that you can improve your home substantially without having to have your garden landscaped, an extension built or anything converted. Are those dream home improvements? Absolutely. But in the meantime, you can elevate your home far beyond your wildest dreams. Here’s how:
Get A Log Burner
Log burners are a modern feature that look stunning, whilst also offering an alternative to gas, oil and electricity when it comes to heating your home. They’re an especially great idea if you have a fireplace you’re already looking to transform.
Declutter
It is one of the simplest tips in the book, and yet, it remains one of the most effective ways to transform any home, especially if you find your space totally overwhelmed with stuff most of the time. Mostly, it’s just really difficult to get started with decluttering, and that is the hurdle many people find the hardest to overcome. So, if all you need to do is persuade yourself to make a start, focus on that. Once you do get started, it’s a case of not only pushing through and getting it all done, but also making sure any ‘bottlenecks’ of clutter are transformed so that they become functional and don’t collect clutter in the future.
Utilise Other Senses
Create a scentscape for the home to utilise how the sense of smell connects to our emotions, feelings and memories.
Consider Affordable Self Storage
For those who cannot add extra room to their home, or move house, the lack of space can feel like a problem. One easy and affordable way to have extra storage space (and therefore more space to utilise in your home as living space) is with affordable self storage. It can be any size you need, it’s flexible, affordable, secure and convenient. Some people use it for seasonal storage of items that fill up the spare room or garage, like garden furniture, winter wardrobes and camping gear. Some people like to use affordable self storage for hobby items, or for functional spaces to use as a home office (although not all facilities allow this).
Add A Stair Runner
Simple and effective, stair runners are an instant way to transform your stairs and the instant WOW of your hallway as people enter your home. If you have wooden stairs, you could consider painting the vertical side of each step for a totally unique and exciting aesthetic.
Be Functional
Sometimes houses don’t feel very beautiful or easy to live in because they are not functional. There always seems to be messy corners and areas that are overflowing, even when they are tidy. The trick with this is to focus on not only decluttering these areas, but making them easy to keep tidy in the future, so you never get any bottlenecks of clutter making your home look untidy.
Be Creative With Colour
As a general rule, most people like to use neutrals in the home and brights in the garden. Very rarely do you find a lot of colour used in a home. The question is – why not? Sure, you don’t want to spend lots of money on tiling or worktops, flooring and other expensive items when a bright colour could not be your cup of tea after a while. But what about soft furnishings? How about paint? There are lots of ways to be bright and bold to create a gorgeous, exciting look in your home without having to commit to a big budget or sticking the colour out for years.
Transform Your Flooring
Why not paint your wooden floors or invest in new carpets? You could add a rug or two instead for an even cheaper transformation. Your flooring takes up so much visual and functional space of your home, why not enhance it for a total transformation?
Create Bespoke Furniture
Often, we can lose the space in the home by ramming in furniture that doesn’t fit right. This is common with spaces that have wonky or unusual shaped corners and areas. To transform how that room looks and make the most of the space, consider making bespoke furniture, or having it made to suit your needs.
Add More Light
Sometimes all you need to transform a home is more light, and there are multiple ways to do this, including:
- Installing bigger windows
- Considering floor to ceiling windows
- Adding roof lights
- Opening all curtains and blinds
- Having large bushes and trees trimmed outside
- Cleaning the windows
- Removing clutter from windowsills
Are You Ready To Transform Your Home For Less?
Although the cost of big improvements has shot up, ideas like our above tips can help you to make your home more functional, spacious and beautiful without having to break the bank.
Whether you utilise local self storage, or play with colour, your home can be beautiful for less this coming year.