We all want our homes to appear the best they can be. At the end of the day, our properties are the biggest investment we’re likely to make in our lives. We spend a small fortune on rent or mortgage payments and we want to maintain value (or the deposits we’ve placed down) on the spaces we’re using.
On top of this, as the pandemic is slowing down, vaccines are being rolled out and life seems to be returning to normal, chances are, you’re going to want to start entertaining at your home again. You’ll want it to be in good shape for reuniting with friends and family!
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Finally, you’ll want this space to be nice for your own sake too. It’s where you retire to after a long day at work, when you’ve been out with friends or when you’ve been doing anything else! So, what can you do to improve your home in simple and efficient ways? Here are some suggestions that could get you off to a good start!
Deep Cleaning
The first step you can take towards giving your home an overhaul is conducting a deep clean. Often, we only deep clean once a year at the most. This is understanding. It’s time consuming and some of the tasks included really needn’t be carried out on a weekly basis.
But you should conduct a deep clean every once in a while to target the areas of your home that are often overlooked. A deep clean will give your home a whole new feel, creating a fresh environment that looks good as new. Here are just a few deep cleaning tasks you might want to give a try.
Cleaning Carpets
When you clean your room, the most care your carpets generally get is a once over with the vacuum. Now, this is fine. Your vacuum will pick up any crumbs and surface debris, creating a cleaner appearance. However, when you look at the sheer amount of wear and tear that your carpets go through on a daily basis, you’ll quickly see how much ground in dirt can build up deeper in the pile.
Consider this – family members, friends and other guests may walk through your home with shoes on, traipsing in mud, dirt and other mess from outside. If you have pets, dirt will transfer from their paws to your carpet as they walk in and out. When you have kids, spills and dropped food become more common. So does sick on the carpet.
All of this can be difficult to clean out yourself. Sure, you can encourage behavior that minimizes dirt on your carpets, such as asking people to remove shoes and wiping pets’ paws. But eventually, you will need to give your carpets a good clean that goes beyond the use of a vacuum cleaner.
So, where do you start with it? Well, you could technically take to the floors with a sponge and a bottle of carpet cleaning solution. But realistically, this would take a very long time, be exhausting and wouldn’t produce the best possible results.
The most effective and efficient way to clean your carpets is professional carpet cleaning. Here, you have two options. You can hire a person to come and clean your carpets with their own carpet cleaning machine. This is convenient if you don’t have much time on your hands.
However, if you are free and want to save money, you can simply hire the machine and do the work yourself. Make sure to find the right solution for the given machine and to read the instructions on how to use it properly before getting started.
You should also remember that they can also leave your carpets wet for a while, so may want to arrange to do this on a day where everyone is out of the house and won’t be walking on the carpets.
Cleaning Windows
Another area where professional cleaning can come in is cleaning your home’s windows. Sure, cleaning the windows from the inside is a relatively simple job. All you need to do is find a good quality window cleaning solution (where possible, try to find an eco-friendly option), a window cleaning cloth or rag and a window cleaning squeegee.
Spray the windows, rub them until they’re clean and leave them to dry. But when it comes to cleaning the outside of your windows, things can get a little more difficult. The ground floor can be okay, but the upper floors can often be harder to reach.
Rather than risking things yourself, use professional services. They’ll have the tools, equipment and expertise to safely give your external windows smear free shine!
Replacing Old With New
As we live in our homes for longer, we tend to notice further wear and tear in our living spaces. All too many of us simply adapt to these changes and grow used to them. But every so often, it’s a good idea to replace old for new, repairing any small problems and giving your home a fresher appearance. If you’ve had windows or door frames in place for a while, you might want to update with Renewal by Andersen Doors.
If your bath tub has discolored and the sealant is peeling away, you could have a new tub fitted. If you find that your kitchen work surfaces are looking a bit worn, new surfaces are aplenty and you can choose any style or design you wish. Sure, this is an investment, but it can make all the difference to the functionality and aesthetic of your living space!
Decorating
Something as simple as a fresh coat of paint can make all the difference to your home. Start out by choosing a color palette you want to use throughout your property or in an individual room. There are all sorts of different colors out there that are continually popular in home design. Some of the favorites tend to be neutral colors, such as white, beige, magnolia, mushroom or other muted tones.
Next, make sure you have the right equipment. Buy quality paints, rollers, paintbrushes and plenty of floor covers. This will help you to cover your floors and any furniture you have that may not be able to be moved outside of the room. Other, smaller items can be useful too, such as masking tape to cover areas that you don’t want to get paint on, such as skirting boards, coving or light switches.
Of course, if you’re unsure about painting your home yourself, there are other options out there. You could try calling professional painter decorators who have a whole lot of expertise in painting properties. They’ll finish the job in much less time and are much more likely to complete the work to a higher standard.
They also have ladders and safety knowledge for painting harder to reach areas, such as staircases. Read reviews of local painter decorators in your area and you’re bound to find someone with a good portfolio and plenty of happy customers behind them!
As you can see, there are countless different things you can do to make your home a nicer space for yourself, family and guests to spend time in. Hopefully, some of the suggestions above will help you to get your home improvement journey started out in the right direction. You can go big or you can go small – whatever changes you make will be some sort of improvement for you to enjoy!