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If you’re tired of living in an outdated home, but you don’t want to have to completely overhaul everything to make it more modern, you might feel a bit stuck and unsure about how to move forward and what to do next. It could even leave you feeling depressed or unhappy because you have to live in a home you don’t particularly like or feel comfortable in.
The good news is that there are ways to modernise your home without having to take everything apart and start from scratch. This means a smaller budget and shorter timeframe, and you can get the home you want with much less effort than you might have thought. If that sounds intriguing and you want to know more about how to modernise your home without having to completely change everything and put in a lot of work, keep reading.
How To Modernise Your Home Without Starting From Scratch
Have A Budget In Place
Before you can actually start doing any modernisation or making any changes, you’ll need to have a good budget in place. Remember that modernising your home doesn’t have to break the bank, and you can certainly do it for a small amount of money, but unless you have a budget in place, it’s always going to be easy to spend far too much.
Work out how much you can comfortably spend, and once you know that, it will be easier to determine where you’re going to start and what work to prioritise. It will also help you work out what kind of modernisation you might want to do – some will mean more work and funds than others, and if you sort out your budget right from the start, you can make suitable choices and know precisely what you’re doing.
Update The Lighting
Lighting can really make a difference when it comes to your home looking more (or less) modern, and if you want to update things, getting the lighting right should certainly be close to the top of your to-do list. Look around at every light fixture and fitting you have in your home, and you’ll quickly be able to see if they’re modern enough for you. Remember that your idea of modern might be different from someone else’s, so it’s always going to be down to you.
One way to make everything look more modern is to make sure that things match properly. Right now, you might have lots of different styles of lighting, including different fixtures, bulbs, and shades, not to mention different switches. If you change everything so that it matches, your home will instantly look more put-together and up-to-date. It will look intentional, and that is a really important part of a modern home.
Something else that’s modern is having LED light bulbs rather than traditional ones. These are great for the environment because they use less energy (and they’re good for making your energy bills lower for the same reason), so they’re well worth the investment.
Freshen Up The Paint
One excellent way to modernise your home without having to tear everything out and start from the beginning is to paint the walls. Although it’s a bigger job than some of the others on this list, it’s still not as big as removing walls or adding an extension, so it shouldn’t be dismissed right away. It really can make a huge difference to how your home looks, in fact, it might be the only thing you have to do to create the ideal look for a modern home.
The way to make this work is to choose neutral colours that are light and bright because these create a contemporary look and feel. Something like white, grey, cream, or even soft pastels, if you want to have a little more uniqueness and personality to your home, could work brilliantly.
Upgrade Your Flooring
Along with the walls, your floors might be what’s making your home look less modern than you’d like it to, so upgrading your flooring could be something to add to the list. If you’ve got carpet, for example, and especially if that carpet is a few years old, it’s got to be worth thinking about what could go in its place that would be harder wearing and look more modern as well.
Some of the best modern flooring ideas could include laminate, luxury vinyl, tiles or a wood floor. In fact, most materials other than carpet will look more up-to-date, and if you know you’re going to miss the soft feel of carpet under your feet, you can add some rugs. Buy the right ones, and you’ll instantly make your home look more modern, but you’ll also make it more comfortable, and that’s important.
On top of the fact that your home will look modern and feel comfortable with these types of flooring in place rather than carpet, you’ll also find that it’s easier to clean, and that’s another important element to consider. A modern home isn’t going to be a great one to live in if it’s dirty and messy.
Declutter And Organise
Following on from the point above, as we said, a modern home can’t be a messy one. A modern home is one that’s neat and tidy and where everything has its place. That’s why, if you want to make your home look more contemporary, you’ll need to do plenty of decluttering and organising.
This is actually one of the simplest things to do, and it won’t cost you anything either, so it’s an ideal place to start, no matter what your budget is for your modernisation efforts. In fact, decluttering could potentially make you money if you decide to sell the things you don’t want anymore, and you could put that money into your modernisation budget, helping you to make more changes.
Decluttering is all about removing anything that you don’t want or need from your home and only keeping the things that are most useful and that make you happy. You don’t have to dispose of souvenirs and trinkets from your childhood if they make you smile and boost your mood, for example – but you do need to find somewhere safe to keep them. This is the other side of decluttering; you’ll need to organise what’s left behind.
The best way to make your home more organised and stay looking as up-to-date as possible is to get plenty of storage. This could be the kind of storage that’s filled with things you don’t want to get rid of but also don’t want on display and then kept in the loft or garage (like sturdy, waterproof boxes, for example), or it could be the kind of storage that just keeps things tidy, but there for all to see (like shelving or display cabinets, for example). Once you’ve finished decluttering and you know what’s left behind, you’ll know what kind of storage to get.
Make Repairs
No matter what you do to your home to make it look more modern, your efforts will be in vain if there are still repairs to do. In some cases, you might even find that not doing the repairs undoes the modernisation work. Leaking taps can make bold wallpaper peel away or ruin your new paintwork, and that’s just one example.
That’s why it’s crucial to make repairs before you modernise your home and to keep up with repairs once you have made the changes you want to make. A modern home is going to be one that works exactly the way it’s meant to, and that looks great while it does it. Cracks in the walls, water stains and damage, old electrical wirings, and even structural issues are going to cause a lot of problems.
For smaller repairs, it’s best to learn how to do them yourself to save time and money. If you have a toolbox full of various tools and pieces of equipment, such as black threaded pipe, you’ll quickly be able to make small repairs as soon as you notice there’s a problem, which prevents them from getting worse and making more mess and trouble. Of course, if the problem is already big and the repairs are complicated or dangerous, it’s wise to call the professionals. You’ll need to make a judgement call, but safety has to come first, no matter what.
Make It Energy Efficient
If there’s one thing that all modern homes have in common, it’s that they’re energy-efficient, so if you want to modernise your home without starting from scratch, this is a great option, especially as it will save you money as well (over time, at least).
Some of the best energy-efficient upgrades you can make include adding solar panels to your roof, installing double-glazed windows (or even triple-glazed if you prefer), making sure your insulation is good enough and adding more or replacing the old insulation if need be, and switching your current appliances (like your dishwasher and washing machine) for more energy-efficient ones.
You can do this bit by bit, so although it does involve spending money, it can be a long-term project that you work on over the course of years rather than weeks or months, and the end result will save you money over time.
