CuriositiesNOV 17, 2023

“What Has Been Your Favorite $100-Or-Less Upgrade You’ve Done To Your Home?” (30 Tips)

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Having a home to call your own is a blessing. Especially in this day and age when downpayments and mortgages are through the roof. However, once you have your home, even if it’s older and mustier, you don’t have to break the bank to make it look good and feel great.

The r/HomeImprovement online community shared some of their favorite tips on how people can upgrade their homes for $100 or less. We’ve collected some of their top pieces of advice to share with you. Make sure you’ve got a notepad ready, you might want to ‘borrow’ some of these ideas as you scroll down.

#1

“What Has Been Your Favorite $100-Or-Less Upgrade You’ve Done To Your Home?” (30 Tips)

I LOVE my soft-close toilet seats. The only problem is that now when I visit people who don't have them, I end up slamming a lot of toilet seats...but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

parasolfinish, amazon

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102points

#2

Convert any shelf in the kitchen that's lower than your chest to a drawer. You'll want good ones, so you probably can't do more than one or two for $100. Start with the ones you use the most. I did that for my parents and it made such a big difference. My new kitchen won't have any shelves under the counter, only drawers.

Chrthiel, Max Rahubovskiy

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92points

#3

Weather stripping around poorly insulated doors.

Echochrome3, JulieAlexK

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89points

CNN reports that home affordability is in a pretty bad situation. The income of a typical American homebuyer rose from $88k in July 2022 to $107k in July 2023. Considering that the median income of someone living in the US is around $75k, this puts homeownership out of reach for many families. Especially those with kids.

Or, to put it simply, if you’re rich(er), you’ll have a far easier time buying property because you have more flexibility. You can outcompete everyone else. “In a still-competitive housing market, more well-off home buyers were able to have their bids accepted by offering larger down payments and even by paying cash,” Jessica Lautz, the deputy chief economics and vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors, said.

#4

This was a fun one - before and after: https://imgur.com/a/9VbpnCC Whole project cost around $80...the shelves were I think 2x10s, cut to fit. Gave em a good sanding and stain/poly. Pretty cheap, standard brackets. Also did a light white wash on the bricks (wet the bricks, paint on a 50/50 mixture of white paint/water, then lightly blot).

mrspetie, mrspetie

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76points

#5

Well, I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but investing in a powerwasher made such a difference with our exteriors. Cleaning up stones, walls, siding etc. has a huge impact on optics!

bonesonstones, rick kloeppel

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76points

#6

I just installed a slide-out trash can and recycling bin. My wife and I were debating it for a year and we finally got one. It's so nice to have the garbage and recycling hidden away, and as a bonus, now we can just pull out the bin and sweep crumbs directly into it from the counter!

MiniXP, lovinkat

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75points

The issue isn’t just big downpayments and mind-melting mortgages, however. There’s also a problem with home supply. The average age of a first-time home buyer in 2023 in the US is 35. That’s down from 36 a year ago, but higher than before. Meanwhile, average repeat home buyers this year are around 58 years of age.

According to CNN, families with young children are having a tougher time affording property. 70% of recent buyers didn’t have kids who were under 18 years old in the home. Compare that to way back in 1985 when only 42% of home buyers didn’t have kids under that age in the home.

Another trend that we’re seeing is that remote workers are more willing to move to find affordable properties.

#7

LED shop lights for my garage. ~$20 a piece to replace the failing fluorescent fixtures. They were so cheap and easy to install, I doubled up on the number of light fixtures. Now you can see my garage from the ISS.

flying_trashcan, William Hook

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71points

#8

Putting my dog bed under the stairs.
Moved into a new home and im fully renovating. We dont have as much room so we decided to put a false wall under the stairs, cut a square hole and use a gate as a door.
Cost me a bit of trim, some wood and some boarding, probably £50-£80. Yet saves me the massive space the dog crate took up!

https://imgur.com/gallery/zEOfTzb

B23vital, bugfatcatballs

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68points

#9

A cat door to move the litter box to the basement

jvhatch, Justin Baeder

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66points

When it comes to upgrading your home, learning some basic DIY skills is your best bet. There are plenty of free tutorials on the internet and on YouTube for whatever small project you have in mind.

In some cases, however, your home might be in a bad state, and you may need a handyman’s help. That might up the cost of your upgrade, though. What you’re paying for is experience, speed, and the ability to be creative in complex situations. But in order to get someone who doesn’t cut corners, you should look at their previous work and check out recommends them. If they’re reliable, they’ll have a good reputation. And they might even give some tips on what else you can do at home by yourself.

#10

Invest in a curved shower rod, especially if your shower is narrow. It's so nice not to have the shower curtain sticking to you when you're showering, and it really makes a difference in the overall amount of space you have to move around!

thereverend666, Poolarity - Life Hacks

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62points

#11

a bidet. I feel like I'm in the stone ages anywhere else.

alanbdee, Ben Stanfield

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60points

#12

When we moved in, we replaced all the 1980s gold door handles and all the outlets & light switches from beige to white. It upgraded every room of the house dramatically.

More recently, we added a Subway tile backsplash to the kitchen where there was none.

Wall mounts for TVs can make a huge difference of making a space look neater and tidier.

Also, I second the curved shower rods. And a shower head you love.

That's several favorites, but they were all favorites when we did them!

sydneyface, Jonathan Petersson

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59points

#13

I paid $100 to repaint my kitchen cabinets, and it was the best decision ever. It's simple, too — all you have to do is clean them, scuff them up with sandpaper, prime them, and paint with two coats

VORT3XXX, Mikhail Nilov

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56points

#14

Stationary vacuum! I got a Eye-Vac for a Christmas gift. It’s stupid how much I love it.

Hard floors throughout the house with two dogs, two cats and a toddler. I hated sweeping but love having swept floors... now I get so much joy from seeing that huge pile of gross get whooshed up into a nice little box that I only have to empty once a month. No more dustpans! It’s silly what a big difference it makes.

klodklodklod, Stephany B

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55points

#15

$20 showerhead to replace the dumb expensive rainfall one that was there. Best $20 I spent this decade.

Turd_of_Paradise, Pete

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53points

#16

I spent $7 on a wooden threshold, for a spot where my living room hardwood floor joins the sunroom parquet floor. Previously there was a big gap there and chippy parquet edges. It made such a big difference, that little strip of wood!

OrangeCosmos, u/huaraches_n_fries

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46points

#17

Refinished my ugly brass ceiling fans.(https://imgur.com/a/QgT35Ux). Took them all apart, got rid of the weird little points on the end of the blades, painted the metal with oil-rubbed bronze rustoleum, finished the blades with gel stain. Looks pretty good for under $20 (I already had the gel stain), and it changes the feel of the room.

CountingSatellites, CountingSatellites

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46points

#18

Timer switch for the bathroom fan. Before we’d either not run the fan long enough or keep it on all day. Now it shuts itself off.

pennyx2

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44points

#19

Some USB outlets

jonos7, Brent Ozar

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42points

#20

Have done so many little upgrades, but the ones I see every day that bring me joy are so trivial. I replaced the super cheap beige outlet and light switch covers in our kitchen with [ceramic/stone ones that almost perfectly match the backsplash](https://imgur.com/gallery/bqaAtb8). Made such a huge difference. Still blows my mind the people who built our house used some many builder grade and base price products.

beley, brandoneley

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39points

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