About a year ago, I made settlement on my quaint one story condo. The floor plan was everything I wanted and the price was right. I had thought about looking for new construction but knew that my budget wouldn’t allow it. And knowing myself and my DIY tendencies, I knew with a little elbow grease, and some hired help I could get this place looking ship shape in no time. These are the first three projects I did and MAN did they make a difference!!
Project 1: Replace grimy old outlets.
OK, here is where the Best Father of All Time award comes in. As a housewarming gift, my dad replaced Every. Single. Outlet in my house with brand spanking new ones. And let me tell you, this alone made me feel like I had purchased new build. Call me crazy but there is something so satisfying about fresh, white outlets. He swapped out most of the light switches too!
Project 2: Replace cheapy, flat apartment doors
Six panel interior doors. These stylish hinged beauties are the stuff of dreams, at least my home décor obsessed dreams. When I moved in, before me stood two doors. Behind door number one, I had the plain jane, distinctly “un” paneled doors that led to each bedroom, and behind door number two I had the terrifying, squeaky metal bi-fold doors that led into most closets. I hated all of them. Only one got to stay, her name is Lou, she’s the louvered door on the utility closet. She was kept for her function, and not her beauty. Back to the point, I had my uncle come and replace all the doors with six panel wooden doors, and the closets all got “six panel” bi-fold doors (except for one, but that’s another story… hint: it’s a barn door!!).
Project 3: Paint all of the things
Here is where my patience as a new homeowner was tested. A few weeks in, my uncle (different uncle… I have a lot of handy people in my family) came and helped me paint the ceilings in my family room, dining room, kitchen, hallway and master bedroom as a housewarming gift. This alone made a HUGE impact because the previous tenants, or original owner decided a dingy shade of cream was a good choice for a dimly lit first story condo’s ceilings.
Now that I had a taste of what it’s like to have fresh paint, I wanted more! But quite frankly didn’t have the time or energy to paint the walls myself. To paint a picture, it took me 5 hours to paint the living room trim and one wall. This is when I threw in the paint covered towel and called my uncle to talk schedules. After patiently waiting a few months he was able to come paint some walls! I focused on the master bedroom and the living spaces (kitchen, hallway, living and dining rooms). This helped immensely! Having fresh clean walls and ceilings really helped make this place feel new and entirely my own. I know this one is the oldest trick in the book, but it really does work wonders! Its relatively inexpensive, can be done yourself (if you have better patience and a steadier hand than me), and is completely customizable.
So that’s it. Might seem silly and straight forward, but I would not have believed the transformation this place went through with just these three steps. I have since done many more fun projects, but that’s a story for another time.
-Sarah