8 DIYs to Tide You Over Until You Can Do Better

Many homeowners are faced with the same problem: not being able to afford their dream home. In our fragile economy, we're faced with sky-high housing prices, which means we might need to choose homes that need a little TLC. While renovating your house can be an exciting project, what happens when your kitchen remodel needs to be put on hold? When your funds are limited, you might have to settle for a few simple DIYs to tide you over until you can do better. These small projects can tide you over until you have the time or money to do the full reno.

1. Paint the Walls

One of the easiest ways to make a dull room sparkle is to paint the walls. A fresh coat of paint can make any room feel cleaner and newer, and in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't cost much. It also doesn't take very long to paint an entire room (perhaps a day or two). If your walls are looking lackluster, are patched up and in need of repair, a fresh coat of paint will at least make it look nice enough until you can do a full renovation.

2. Grout Stain

Eventually, tile floors look old and worn. Instead of ripping the floor out and laying down new tile, you can give it a quick and simple makeover using grout stain. Grout stain can return your dingy grout to a clean white shade, or any color that looks good with your tile.

3. Peel-and-Stick Vinyl Tiles

If you're planning to replace the flooring in your house but can't do it right now, you have three options: leave it as-is, cover it up with an area rug, or install peel-and-stick vinyl tiles. Peel-and-stick tiles are an excellent way to make your floors look and feel new without putting a ton of work or money into them. So instead of keeping your dingy carpets, rip them out and stick down some tiles until you can install your preferred flooring.

4. Ceiling Light Fixtures

Ceiling light fixtures can be installed in no time at all! And if you do go through with a full renovation later, you can simply take them down and put them back up when you're done. This is a great option if the lighting in your home isn't up to par, but you don't want to install anything fancy before you finish the rest of the renovation.

5. Window Curtains

Over time, many window treatments like blinds or shades go through natural wear and tear and can have a real negative impact on the overall feel of the room. As the homeowner, you might not notice it yourself very often since you see them every day, but other people probably do. A simple fix until you can put in new blinds is to just take them down and replace them with curtains, which are cheap and easy to maintain in the interim.

6. Cupboard Knobs

If you're dying to renovate your kitchen or bathroom but don't see it happening any time soon, a quick and easy fix is to replace the knobs on your cupboards. This is a good idea if you have really old cupboards and want to move toward something more modern. And when you are ready to replace the cupboards altogether, you can save your new knobs.

7. Paint Countertops

Countertops can be quite expensive to replace, but instead of just dealing with old laminate counters that make the rest of the room look ugly, why not paint them? There's a specific type of paint you can buy just for laminate countertops. In fact, this usually comes as a kit that also includes a coating to seal it and give it the look and feel of laminate.

8. Freshen Up Furniture

Furniture gets old and worn over time, and as much as a lot of people wish they could replace their stuff every so often, it's an expensive investment. If your furniture is looking tired and in need of replacement, there are so many DIYs to make them look new. For example, wood bookshelves and tables might just need a fresh coat of paint or stain.