10 low budget home upgrades with a big visual payoff

Sometimes small changes make a big difference in your home! Here's my go to list of affordable, easy to do upgrades.

Renovating and updating your home can add up quickly and I know for a lot of people bigger updates just aren’t an option at the moment. So, I thought I’d share my list of the best bang-for-your-buck home updates that are low lift projects that can have a big impact on a space.

Swapping standard door hardware. This tip applies to kitchen cabinet doors and interior and exterior doors, but an often overlooked door for hardware updates is the closet door. Especially the bi-fold accordion style closet doors. They often have cheap plastic or generic wood knobs. Changing that out with a unique vintage one or a beautiful hand painted ceramic one can instantly elevate the space. Then everyday when you open your closet door to get dressed you’re greeted by a beautiful piece of hardware.

Painting your ceilings. Painting ceilings can feel scary and like a big deal, but painting the ceiling can create a huge transformation of the space. I’ve been struck by a few rooms with creamy white walls and millwork paired with a soft blue ceiling—those inspiration images live rent free in my brain. Most ceilings are a standard neutral to cool-toned white color. If your walls are painted a different white than the ceiling, the subtle contrast between the two can make the colors feel “off.” Paint your ceiling the same white color you use on your white trim work and it will tie everything together. I did that in our current home, because our ceilings had a variety of angles where it meets the walls so I drenched the entire open-concept part of our main level in the same warm white—”Swiss Coffee” by Benjamin Moore. I used different sheens, so there is a very subtle difference between the shades, but they all harmonize together nicely.

Bring your shower curtain up to the ceiling. Raising your shower curtain up near the ceiling will instantly make your ceiling feel tall and bathroom feel bigger. If you have high ceilings in your bathroom and a standard shower curtain would be too short for your room, consider using a pair of curtains for length. You could do a double rod—one for the curtains and one for the waterproof shower liner. I love bathrooms that use curtains and pull each off to their respective sides. Feels really elegant and hotel-like in the best way.

Piggy backing off the tip above, also bring your regular curtains up close to the ceiling and extend them at least 6 inches past the window frame. If you already have curtain rods hung, just trust me on this one that it’s absolutely worth the effort to take them down, fill the holes, paint the patches and rehang. It will make your ceilings feel taller, your space bigger and overall feels more “designer.”

Add a basket to the top of your toilet. This might sound like a strange idea, but hear me out. Adding a pretty woven rectangular basket on the back of the toilet is a great spot to store toilet paper for easy access and add a touch of warmth if you choose a woven or wood option. Bathrooms often lack warmth through natural materials. I usually find mine at a thrift store for a few dollars. I also love how it makes the toilet feel more like a little furniture piece and less of, well, a toilet. If you don’t need a basket to store extra TP rolls, you could roll up replacement hand towels to stick in there or if you’re like me and have little ones in the midst of potty training it’s a great place to stash baby wipes, cleaning wipes and pull ups for easy access.

Use trays to corral things that just need to live on the countertops. I actually don’t love a bunch of trays in a home, but what I do like is the intentional use of trays in certain areas. There’s something about corralling everyday items onto a tray that instantly makes the space feel calmer and more simplified even though you actually just added something instead of taking things away. My favorite spots to do this is next to the stove where we often see oil, salt, pepper and other frequently used kitchen bits lined up on the countertops. Just put all those items on a cute tray and boom it looks better. Same for the drop zone where you enter the home each day for keys, wallet, change, etc. If you’re a skincare lover like me a pretty little tray to store your different potions on really makes the bathroom counter feel better. Plus, it makes the counters easier to clean!

Unbrand your daily items. Decant liquid soaps into a glass pump or drop dishwasher pods into a pretty ginger jar. You don’t have to make your entire kitchen “aesthetic,” just the stuff that’s always out. You also don’t have to go out and buy new containers. Use an old kombucha jar (remove the label) and add a pump to the top for a cute dish soap dispenser or thrift a unique dish to house your sponge. Then, anything that doesn’t need to live on your counter should be stored out of sight. I don’t know about you, but when my kitchen counters are cluttered, my brain feels cluttered too.

Same hue light bulb throughout a home. Light can hands down completely transform your home. Super bright white lights can instant clinical vibes to a home and are the antidote of cozy. Here’s an excellent guide to the exact light bulbs to use throughout your home by Carlotta Cisternas.

Hanging your wall art at the right height. A good rule of thumb is to have the center of your art or collection of art to be around 58” to 60” up from the floor. Often, I see art hung too high on the walls and simply lowering it a few inches can make all the difference. If you’re hanging two stacked frames, measure the overall height of the frames with about 2” space between them. The middle of the that measurement should rest at 58” to 60” up from the floor. All that being said, I also love an unexpected art moment. I’d say most of your wall art should be hung at the 58" to 60” height throughout your home paired with a few unexpected pieces like a plate above a door are tall vertical gallery wall going from floor to ceiling moment. Think the 80/20 rule here, but also just have fun! It’s just wall art. You can always change it up.

Switching out your switch and outlet plates. I’ve been slowly replacing my discolored off-white plates for brass ones throughout my home and man does it installing make a home feel more vintage in the best way possible. Brass is just one idea, but you could go as fun and quirky as you want here! Wallpaper, colorful, scallops, ornate and million more options.

Sometimes it’s little upgrades like these that can refresh a space without having to spend much or nothing at all!