As you are probably aware, buyers love new luxury construction. If you own an older home, you’ll be competing with newer homes for buyers’ attention. To attract these buyers, you may need to make a few updates. But that doesn’t always mean digging deep into your pockets or spending weeks to renovate. Here are a few quick Westfield home improvement projects that will make your older home look new again.
Quick and Easy Westfield Home Improvement Projects
Bathtubs
One area that can date your bathrooms is the caulking in your tub. Yellowed, cracked, and peeling caulking makes tubs look dingy. Luckily, this is one of the Westfield home improvement projects that take little time or money to fix. Visit your local home improvement store for tips on how to update the look of your bathroom in about an hour or so.
Walls
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Are your walls all the same color? Build interest in an otherwise bland room by creating an accent wall. The foyer, dining room and family room tend to be the areas of choice for accent walls in a Westfield home. You don’t have to have an accent wall in every room, though. Decide on just one room to do this in. Choose a color that ties in with the accessories already found in the room. Also, many homeowners like to refresh the look of a room with new artwork, photographs or other wall hangings. Unfortunately, this leaves nail holes behind. They can be unsightly. Take a few moments to go around from room to room filling in the old nail holes with spackle. Then, use touch-up paint to blend the spackle seamlessly into the wall.
Lighting
Next, look at your light fixtures both inside your Westfield home and out. Add dimmer switches in place of standard ones. And don’t forget your exterior lighting. Add solar lights to your walkways and around the driveway. Many options include wireless models that use the sun’s light to charge their batteries. No messy wires involved. Simply stake them into the ground wherever you want them. Just make sure the areas you place them have plenty of access to direct sunlight.
Windows
Now, let’s focus our Westfield home improvement projects on to the windows. Torn screens and broken shutters make a house look worn and uncared for. A new coat of paint freshens up old shutters. Replace ripped screens quickly and easily with a screen replacement kit that can also be found at your local home improvement store. They’re easier to replace than you think.
Stairs
Wooden stairs are beautiful. And in an older house, they can be especially pleasing to the eye. However, the treads wear down with use. Add life back into your stairway by replacing the treads with easy-to-install carpet stair treads available in a wide variety of colors and styles. You can order them online or purchase them at a home improvement store. Just fit them to the width you want, add heavy duty carpet tape, and stick them in place. Learn more about keeping your treads in place here.
Garden
Finally, the last of the Westfield home improvement projects I’ll be talking about today involves your garden. Pretty flowers and trimmed shrubs are a definite must. But you can add a little more interest simply by installing a birdbath, hummingbird feeder, birdhouse, and/or fountain. Even large painted vases add beautiful focal points and take no time at all to install.
When competing with newer homes on the market, you need to make your home stand out. To do so may involve updating your property a little. Luckily, these Westfield home improvement projects don’t take a lot of time or money to complete. But they’ll definitely make a lasting impression on buyers.
Scott Gleason, CRS at Coldwell Banker Realty – East, NJ Luxury Homes