Spruce up your space this weekend with these quick home-improvement projects.
1. Kitchen revamp
A fast way to give your kitchen a new feel is to replace the factory-provided handles on the cabinets and drawers. There are so many styles of handles out there, so spend time choosing ones that reflect your personal taste. While sleek, metallic handles work well with most kitchen styles, don’t be afraid to experiment. Antique-looking handles used in one corner of a kitchen, like on a set of drawers, can complement the more modern handles used alongside on cupboards – the mix of which will be an eclectic look unique to you. These can be fixed by your local fundi. To further boost your weekend revamp, ditch all the tatty kitchen towels and replace them with bright, new matching sets.
2. Refresh your backsplashes and floors
Give your kitchen and bathroom an instant makeover with gorgeous peel-and-stick tile stickers for your basin, sink, and oven splashbacks, which you simply peel and stick onto any smooth, porous surface. Glue-down vinyl flooring is another fast way to revamp dull floors. Vinyl flooring has undergone a design revival in the past few years, and today’s beautiful, luxe-looking options will instantly add impact. Try Floor Decor Kenya or Ideal Floor Systems for swoon-worthy options.
3. Create a feature wall
Add hotel chic to your home with an accent wall in the bedroom or sitting room. Use a vibrant colour for instant drama and depth, or play it safe and paint the focal wall a few shades darker than the surrounding walls. A smart way to choose which wall to paint is one that already highlights another focal point, such as an attractive bed headrest or a couch. Crown Paints and Basco Paints have useful online colour charts to help you find the perfect colour. If you aren’t the DIY type, get a painter to help you achieve the desired result.
You can also use wallpaper instead of painting for a unique feel and look in the room. Wallpaper is readily available in several interior design accessory stores where you can request for some samples that you can test against the walls to see if they complement.
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4. Light it up
A new light up is an easy and effective way to change the look of a room. Whether it’s a striking new ceiling fixture, a bold oversized standing lamp, a small table-top lamp with a trendy shade, or pendant lights strung up in the kitchen, new lights can instantly dress up a room, and even become an attractive focal point. Give thought to what the light source is for so that you can buy accordingly, advises Alen Ribic, Co-founder of SweepSouth. Will it be the main source of light in a room, will it be used for a specific task, like reading, or would you like it to create a low-light mood? Installing a dimmer switch will also allow you to switch up your lights according to what you need them for – bright for everyday use or a softer glow for added ambiance.
5. Eliminate dust
The cold season is just around the corner, and this means that windows and doors stay shut, resulting in decreased air quality. Make sure a dust-filled interior doesn’t add to the problem, especially in terms of curtains, lampshades, lights, and especially carpets, which feel great underfoot, but act as a trap for dirt, hair, and dust mites.
Humans lose around 1 million skin particles and between 50–100 strands of hair every day, and even air pollutants like pollen, fungi, and cigarette smoke get trapped in carpet fibres, triggering allergies, asthma, and eczema attacks. Experts recommend vacuuming carpets and rugs at least twice a week, and more frequently in high-traffic areas. A thorough deep clean takes time and may mean getting extra help, so consider hiring a SweepSouth cleaner to assist you.
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6. Replace interior doors
A home’s interior doors are often the last item on a revamp list, yet replacing worn, chipped doors can have a huge effect on the visual appeal of a room. With so many low-cost door options on the market, switching a door is a quick and reasonably affordable way to upgrade your home over a weekend. Before you buy, make sure the new door you choose is the same size as the old one, advises Ribic. Consider the style of the room the door is for and select a finish to match—whether it’s classic, modern, or antique. And, if the budget allows, he recommends upgrading to solid-core doors, which are far more effective at noise blocking than the hollow-core doors commonly found in new-build homes.
7. Weekend workouts
Combine home and self-improvement by creating a workout space. Gym memberships can be expensive, and with the rising cost of petrol, who wants to drive to the gym when you could get fit at home? Create space in the corner of your bedroom and convert it into a “mini gym” that can accommodate equipment depending on your fitness level. This can also work in any other room in your house that has some extra space, or if you have a balcony, even better—you get to enjoy a lovely sunset or sunrise view as you work out.
Be sure to get equipment that can easily be moved around if you want to take your workout outdoors or to another room.
8. Be inspired by new trends
If you’re looking for new decor ideas for your home, be inspired by Airbnb!
TikTok and Airbnb revealed some trending design buzzwords used by their respective communities. There were some common aesthetics that popped up including eclectic, vintage maximalism, cottagecore, and the ever popular botanical trend. At the top of the list was cottagecore – an aesthetic that appears in the descriptions of over 110,000 listings on Airbnb. According to TikTok, the buzzword is quite new having appeared as a hashtag on their platform in recent years. Since then, TikTok has seen the hashtag take off, possibly due to the uplift in crafting since the start of the pandemic. The aesthetic embraces the idea of living a simple lifestyle, utilizing materials like patterned vintage wallpaper, floral upholstery, and wood. For more inspo, check out Airbnb’s full list here.
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