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50 People Share Small Upgrades They Made In Their Homes That Made A Massive Difference
If you’re an avid HGTV viewer, you’re probably always thinking about what your next home project will be. Building a deck in the backyard? Painting your living room a new color to spice things up? Replacing the kitchen countertops? In a perfect world, the sky would be the limit when it comes to making your home yours! In reality, however, budgets and a lack of free time and energy tend to get in the way.
So if you’re looking for some small upgrades that can make a huge difference in your space, you’ve come to the right place. Reddit users have recently been sharing simple changes that significantly upgraded their homes, so we’ve gathered some of their best tips below!
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#1
Cat. She's pretty small but easily the most important thing in here.
RELATED:
#2
Blackout curtains for sleeping. Such a game changer.
#3
A dog. Best thing I've ever bought.
#4
Wall decorations. Literally anything at all. I lived my whole adult life without decorating at all because it seemed pointless and like a waste of time and money but man after meeting my soon-to-be wife and helping her move in and put up her decor, its astounding how much my house felt more like a home. The improvement of my mental state and comfort level was unexpected and eye opening. It inspired me to decorate my basement with common man-cave stuff like a flag of my favorite football team and bar signs and LED lights and its my favorite space in the whole world now. I feel dumb for scoffing at the idea of putting stuff up on my wall and wonder how much more I would have enjoyed living in my previous places.
Fancy Nancy 6 months ago
Yes! Don't rush it though. Find pieces you like over time. Add and rearrange as needed.
#5
A better shower. If you can't redo the whole bathroom, just replace the head. This also works if you rent, just keep the old one in a box, so you can bring the nice one to your next house.
#6
My wife and I getting separate blankets. No more fighting about who takes the covers while we’re sleeping. Highly recommend 10/10.
#7
Some of these answers aren't small at all!!
An actual small upgrade... Look at what areas of your house collect random piles of things, and put a basket or holder of some kind there. Example: My coffee table has the remotes, coasters, random books, etc. all laying around, so I got a pretty decorative basket that now I can put those items in. Another example: My kitchen counters were collecting random dog treats and dog-related items that I used frequently and wanted easily accessible, so I bought a breadbox-like-thing that holds them!
Things look so much more organized when you just put them in a container in the spot that they naturally get placed.
#8
Creating the habit of washing my dishes before bed. It took me 30+ years to develop the habit but it really changes the feel of the kitchen and my desire to upkeep everything else.
#9
I had a window above the stairs the neighbors could see through, so I went on Amazon and spent 40 bucks on some plastic window film that makes it look like stained glass. It turned out AMAZING and lasted forever.
#10
Methodically buying phone chargers with long enough cables to not have to ever move one again.
#11
Getting rid of grey walls when I started feeling the black dog rear its ugly head again. Life's too short to spend it living in a fogbank. Bring colour in wherever you can.
3 Otters 🦦 6 months ago
In the PNW (USA) I find it weird so many have grey walls or built ins. It’s grey outside mostly, why bring it in?
#13
Improved its curb appeal. Fixed up the front flower bed. Power washed the walkway. New shudders. New storm door. Redid the driveway. New mailbox. Sounds like a lot but if you do a new project every 6-12 months, it’s financially feasible.
Edit to add: shutters* because I’m a dumb a*s.
#14
Soft close cabinets and toilet seats.
Kimberley Wilson 6 months ago
Exactly why would you even make not soft close toilet seats ? Why are they not the standard
#15
Attic heat exhaust fan. Our attic used to get up to 140F on the hottest days, and on those days our ceilings were hot to the touch. The whole house was consequently uncomfortable. Now the attic fan is thermostatically controlled to 90 degrees, and the whole house is cooler.
WoodenLion 6 months ago
my grandmother had a attic fan. she knew which windows to open and how much to open them. the whole house had a breeze.
#16
Lost my neighbors. Everything got instantly better around me!
#17
Raised every piece of furniture off the ground with little metal legs, just enough for the robot vacuum to get the dust under there too. Still new to the place, but it should help with my allergies on the long run.
Short term, guinea pig is now allowed floor time in the entire living room and she loves it.
#18
We replaced our shallow double kitchen sink with a single industrial sink. So much easier for filling pots and doing dishes.
#19
Under cabinet lighting in the kitchen. Huge, huge impact on the look and feel of our home, minimal cost and work involved.
3 Otters 🦦 6 months ago
Pop lights with remote. Take ‘em with you when you go. Have one in each room also as our electric goes out a couple times a year. Works great.
#20
Fitted 4 solar panels to my shed roof attached to a lithium battery and inverter. Not the cheapest upgrade at about £1000. But unlimited free electricity in my shed. Can plug all my power hungry man stuff in there and it’s guilt free! and when there’s a power cut I just run an extension lead into the house and I’m good! and way simpler than grid tie in system .
Spencer's slave no longer 6 months ago
I changed my electricity plan with my provider, who I've been with for over a decade, and now I get free power every Saturday and Sunday 9am to 5pm. $80NZ a month is my average power bill.
#21
King-sized bed.
Fancy Nancy 6 months ago
Doesn't dò any good if you sleep with pets. You will still be falling off the edge, with them pushing you off while you sleep.
#22
Towel warmer in the master bathroom. We not only get warm towels (it’s on a timer) but also don’t need to wash our towels as often because they don’t start to smell after a few days anymore. 10/10 would recommend.
#23
Spending a day mounting my artwork. It felt so much more like my home after that.
nomnomborkbork 6 months ago
Seeing things we love, particularly artwork or family photographs, really is uplifting.
#24
Putting extra shelving in the pantry. Why the previous owners only used one wall when there’s three is a mystery.
nomnomborkbork 6 months ago
I'm always amazed at how many people (especially builders) fail to maximize storage.
#25
The toilet paper roll holders that are U shaped and don't have the spring thing.
SkippityBoppityBoo 6 months ago
I just plonk my loo roll on the radiator that's right opposite the toilet! 😄
#26
This is your reminder to change your central air filter.
#27
I got one of those floor vacuums like they have in hair salons. It just sits in the corner and I sweep stuff into it. I didn’t realize how rarely I swept until I got that thing.
Sunshine Lady 6 months ago
It was the cordless vacuum, I can't live without it! So much easier to clean and even with 1 hand (started using it when I had baby in the other hand). Also kids love to clean with it and it just makes everything better.
#28
Motion lights on the stairs. It is functional and looks great.
#29
Replaced dated lighting fixtures - fixtures are now properly grounded, the interior looks more updated, and there is more/better light.
nomnomborkbork 6 months ago
Quality and placement of light define a space and change its livability immensely!
#30
After living here for 35 years. We had all the windows in the house replaced 5 months ago. The house is so much more comfortable and quiet. It was expensive, but worth it.
Edit; Didn’t expect such a big response.
We replaced 11 windows of varying sizes with Renewal by Anderson. All had to be custom made because of their outdated sizes. The largest was 5’X7’. They are composite materials with heat reflecting glass. It is incredible to stand behind the window in direct sunlight and open and close them to feel the difference of the heat they block out. The house was definitely more comfortable during the hot summer, and the electricity bill was about 20% lower. They look beautiful and the crew of 6 guys removed the old and installed the new in one day and did not leave a mess of any kind. We ordered them in the last week in March, and they were installed in the first week in June. Total cost was $23K.
#31
When you open the pantry door the light comes on and when you close the door it goes off.
#32
Asking my ex-wife to move out.
#33
A roomba.
living in a house with many small siblings, you have no idea how much time a roomba saved.
#34
Dishwasher. It has changed our arguments over dishes.
DE Ray 6 months ago
A dishwasher isn't only a time and work saver, but they use less water and energy than hand washing, as well. Someone got me a tiny countertop dishwasher when I was living alone in an apartment. I thought that was ridiculous - I only ever had maybe two plates and glasses, a handful of tableware, and maybe a pan to wash at one time. But turns out it was not only faster and money saving, but it also did a better job than I did! Totally worth having. For a couple hundred USD and as much counter space as a microwave.
#35
I installed outlets with integrated USB power on every wall.
#37
Solar tubes. House would've been really dark without them, especially the kitchen and entry, we only need lights when it's dark out.
#38
For a small upgrade: we added an attic fan to our brick home built in 1905 that doesn’t have AC. This paid off huge for dealing with the summer heat and kept our place comfortable. We ran the fan at night when it was cooler, then shut the windows and drew the blinds during the day to help fight the heat.
For a big upgrade: we’re the last house in our neighborhood to get rid of the old chainlink fence. We’re on a corner lot and that ugly fence wrapped all the way around. We just replaced it with a cedar privacy fence for the backyard and 4ft fence in the front. Even as soon as we demoed the chain link we were getting compliments from neighbors and folks walking/driving by.
#40
Under-sink water heater. Don’t have to waste 5 gallons of water just waited for it to get even warm.
#41
Rice cooker. I save so much time and energy. Plus there's less washing up to do since all I need to wash is the pot inside, instead of a saucepan, a wooden spoon, and a colinder.
Jill Rhodry 6 months ago
My daughter bought a rice cooker - takes 13 minutes to cook a cup of rice. I use the absorption method on the stovetop which takes 13 minutes. No colander, no wooden spoon - ok, I fork to fluff and a spoon to serve but same with rice cooker.
#42
I only have one bedroom in a rental house with three roommates, but for my bedroom, organizational storage.
I bought a small shelf, I bought a small coat rack, I bought short rolling bins that go under my bed, I bought tall square bins that sit on the shelf in my closet.
Removed a lot of the clutter with these things, almost like my room is bigger now.
BoredBranzino 6 months ago
Living in SFO for 14 years taught me to think vertically: Put your bed up on risers, very cheap, and you can get higher bins under the bed, plus all out of sight. Instead of heavy/cumbersome chests of drawers, I use wire shelving for clothes, other textiles, daily use odds and ends (dollar store baskets are ideal for those) -- easy up and easy to take down. I put beach shower curtains on the fronts of mine so it looks like a mural against my wall (cheap decor).
#43
We painted several rooms in our house. My husband and I gained a new skill, saved a lot of money by doing it all ourselves, learned how well we work together, and we love the results!
Hiram's Friend 6 months ago
76 years old and never hired a painter. Six different houses (military family)
#45
Basically anything you touch or interact with daily. Creaking door/handle? Adjust and oil it up. Small hobby/work stuff laying around constantly? Buy a small cabinet of drawers. Cant look at horible wall while sitting on a shitter? Do some diy weekend remodelling. I can go on and on. Basically there are a lot of minor things that you even dont think about that you dislike in your home. Last example would be a nice non-slip and correct size bathroom mats that we bought. I may be getting old but I was more excited about them than the last luxury items I bought. Roombas are cool. Good coat hangers are cooler.
S P 6 months ago
Yes. I have a mindset now that if I get annoyed by something, I solve it. Clothes don't fit in the drawer? Purge some clothes and get extra storage. Closet too dark? Install a small inexpensive light. Can't sweep around the backpacks? Install hooks. Any time I get annoyed by something repeatedly, I find a fix for it. Life's too short.
#46
Mine are mostly kitchen based because I cook dinner pretty much every night.
A couple of those magnetic wall mounted knife holders, frees so much room on my countertops.
Wall mounted spice rack and glass jars. Keeps my spices where I can see them and monitor levels. Much easier to access than storing them in a cabinet or in the pantry.
Wall mounted hooks for pan storage. No longer need to make a ton of noise grabbing pans from the corner cabinet, pots are still down there, however.
All three cost me *maybe* $70 and have vastly improved my quality of life in the kitchen.
DeoManus Argentem 6 months ago
I got some magnetic hooks for my refrigerator that can hold smaller things like kitchen shears, knives, can opener, oven gloves, meat thermometers, other accessories. Love them, and no installation required at all! Love everything about my place, but the small kitchen, and they help.
#47
A built into the wall bench in the walk-in shower. Now i walk into the shower fully clothed to pensively sit on my bench while brushing my teeth. I also sit on my bench while showering my toddler, shooting water at him from the handheld shower head, just sitting on my bench resting while he's having fun. Helps kill the time and entertain the toddler. I'm sure it will also be very useful if we get sick or old. Just shower sitting down on our bench.
#48
Insulation from walls to ceiling and roof. It cost a small fortune but its so worth it. Cool in summer warm in winter.
DE Ray 6 months ago
So many houses are under-insulated. I currently live in a 4BR house and talk to many people living in homes half the size who are spending double or more per month on electric to heat or cool - typically, hiring someone to add insulation to a house will cost less than the difference in electric bills in 2 years time.
#49
I dont know if it counts as small but the cost was fairly small as i provided all the labor. i think i have about 2500 total into a 6,000 gallon koi pond in my back yard, this includes a huge sunshade so the fish dont get over exposed to the sun and helps with birds while providing a nice shady place to sit and watch the fish.
not only is it nice to have a pond to watch fish but the water/plants have attracted all kinds of wildlife that were not present before. koi were babies when introduced to the pond, are roughly 2ft with one being closer to 3ft.
Dogcat vet (retired) 6 months ago
One suggestion that might help with birds (not sure on cats) is to put some inflatable beach balls in the pond so that they blow around with the wind: is supposed to be really useful to keep ducks and such out of pools at least.
#50
Motion activated light switch for the laundry room. Never have to worry about turning off the light when leaving with an arm full of clothing.
#51
Those little battery powered lights that light up only when someone passes.
just enough to not to kill yourself because some little s**t left a wooden train on staircase, but not enough to wake up whole family.
#52
Bought an espresso machine cuz i was tired of how expensive Starbucks got. Life-changer if you’re into coffee.
UncleJohn3000 6 months ago
Starbucks primary product is not coffee. They're selling self-esteem for eight bucks a cup.
#53
Dimmer switches on all lights and heated towel racks.
Fancy Nancy 6 months ago
Heated towel racks aŕe the best! I used them in Europe and immediately bought them for home. They cost very little to run and you are warm and cozy after your shower. There are also basket type warmers available.
#54
A riding lawnmower. 45 minutes to cut instead of 2.5 hours.
#55
Raising the countertops to 42" in my kitchen and bathroom. It's not really an upgrade, but for a tall family, it really makes a difference in comfort.
#56
Smart outlets for Christmas lights, both inside and outside. I have them scheduled to turn on at sunset and turn off at midnight.
#57
A fold down table on the wall near the dryer to either use to hold a basket or fold clothes on. A wall mounted drying rack that pulls out when needed.
Light switches that have a remote to dim/turn off the lights. It’s great when we’re watching tv and don’t have to get up. It’s so lazy, but so great.
Removing the very small, old ground level deck that was here and having a new concrete patio installed. This is our first house having an actual backyard and now we have a nice patio to spend time out there.
#58
Replace the toilet seats and locks.
Paint before you move in.
Remove popcorn ceilings if you have any.
Judy Reynolds 6 months ago
Our popcorn ceiling has asbestos in it. Not sure where or how, just that the neighbours had theirs covered rather than replaced.
#60
When we built our house we raised our kitchen bench to be 105cm instead of the standard 90cm and it honestly makes such a difference to our back when doing meal prep and washing up.
Going to other peoples homes where they have the standard bench height is awful, bending over..
DE Ray 6 months ago
These people must be extremely tall. Having countertops at 42 inches rather than 36 inches would be uncomfortable for me, having to keep my arms raised above elbow height - and I'm 5'10"/180cm. Tall countertops aren't better, short countertops aren't better - having counters at the right height for you is the best thing.
#61
Smart lights in my bedroom lamps! I now have a 'routine' setup so every morning my lights automatically turn on, and my alexa starts playing nice wake up music. It makes waking up in the mornings SO MUCH EASIER. I think the bulbs were like $7 each?
#62
A whole-house humidifier system.
Used to have nosebleeds all winter and massive static electricity issues - kept a small metal rod in my pocket at all times to ground myself before directly touching anything conductive and my cat was generally terrified of being pet from October - April because of the *powerful* static shocks.
IIRC, it was around $400 for the unit and I DIYed the install in about 2 hours.
EDIT: For perspective, the static electricity issue was so bad that I killed a thermostat, a small stereo shelf system, an Xbox controller, and a television remote through static shocks the winter before getting the humidifier.
Upstaged75 6 months ago
I had no idea you could stop static like that! I always touch things with my elbow if they're likely to shock me. I tend to generate a lot of it for some reason. I've never blown anything out, but I've made "lightning" before when I touched metal during the winter.
#63
Two things made a surprising improvement to my quality of life:
* For $140 and about an hour of time, I installed a Reverse Osmosis water filter under my kitchen sink. I now have amazing fresh clean filtered drinking water on tap.
* Using a $150 GC my sister gave me for my birthday, I picked up a RoboRock Q5 robot vacuum ($70 out of pocket after the GC). I have it running on a daily schedule at 2pm while i'm at work, and my hard floors are always immaculate.
#64
Bidet. We only put one in the master bath because young grandkids come over and we don't want them to spray the room. Now that bathroom is the only bathroom in the house I'll go poop in. I also no longer like staying in hotels until they catch up. I feel like some kind of caveman wiping with paper now.
Barong 6 months ago
I’ve spent a lot of time traveling and this is definitely one that made me think “I need to do this back home.” It does make me feel like a cave man to use paper. Seriously, if any normal person got poop on their finger or other part of their skin, they wouldn’t be satisfied by just wiping it off with paper. They would want to wash it off.
#65
I got a Dorai stone bath mat and never looked back; Never having to think about moldy bath mats were so nice I ended up getting the stone dish mats and those have been serving me well so far.
#67
A whole home water filter.
Fancy Nancy 6 months ago
You could die before seeing better water from your local municipality. If you can't afford a whole house system a pitcher type may be affordable and will at least render a better taste. This will cut down on one use plastic bottles.
#68
Keypads on your entrance with internet connection
* Don't have to take keys when you exercise
* Did I Forget to lock the door? I did and I'm 100 miles away. Beep bop boop done.
* Walk to the front of the house form the back but the front door is locked. No keys, no problem.
* Hey Hon when did you get home last night? Uhuh.. the log says not!
What do you think ?
Alvena Ferreira 6 months ago
Changed out my dated curved kitchen cabinet handles to trendy 5" long straight handles. Made a tremendous improvement for a paltry $10.
Green Tree 6 months ago
An outdoor grade ceiling fan on the front porch. It not only cools things off but also helps keep the bugs away. We spend a lot of time out there in the summer and the fan really improved things
Alvena Ferreira 6 months ago
Changed out my dated curved kitchen cabinet handles to trendy 5" long straight handles. Made a tremendous improvement for a paltry $10.
Green Tree 6 months ago
An outdoor grade ceiling fan on the front porch. It not only cools things off but also helps keep the bugs away. We spend a lot of time out there in the summer and the fan really improved things
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