Great Home Improvements You Never Thought Of

To keep our homes as comfortable and attractive as possible, we need to make various home improvements here and there. Fixing squeaky hinges, all the way up to massive projects like kitchen remodelling or extensions can all come under the category of “home improvement”. While you may have some pretty big plans for your home, there are certain improvements which a lot of people tend to overlook. Here are a few you may never have thought of…

Gutter Protection

From Flickr

This is one smart move that’s exceedingly simple, and yet consistently overlooked by the majority of homeowners. Clogged and dirty gutters, if they’re left alone for long enough, can cause serious issues for homeowners. If you want to avoid a lot of costly damage to your roof and any wooden panelling, then gutter protection is the way to go. With this cheap and easy home improvement, you’ll be able to avoid paying for gutter cleaning and repair, or doing this gruelling work yourself. When you come to sell your home, it will also be one more selling point that prospective buyers will notice.

Refreshed Insulation

Over the last few decades, the energy efficiency of a home has become a bigger and bigger selling point for a lot of home buyers. With more concern over conventional energy supplies and a general growth of international “green” initiatives, this certainly isn’t going to change. Even if you haven’t given any thought to selling your home, changes like refreshing your insulation can save you a small fortune in heating bills. Sure, your home may be insulated as it is, but is that insulation really up to scratch? This is an especially important thing to consider when it comes to older homes. Proper insulation is necessary for keeping your home thoroughly heated and cooled, which can be an issue all year round depending on the area you live in. While I’m all for saving money on your home improvements, this is one thing that really needs to be planned and executed by a professional.

Tighter Security

Like most people, the possibility of your home being burgled probably doesn’t cross your mind all that often! However, crimes like this are a very real possibility, and one that no home owner can really afford to neglect. Take a moment to think about how secure your home is. How easy would it be for a determined burglar to gain entry? If you don’t like the answer to this question, it may be time to plan for a few improvements which will tighten security. If you wanted to go all-out and really minimise the chances of a break-in, then I’d recommend hiring a company to install a full prevention system, complete with motion sensors and cameras. Alternatively you could save a little money and see how to install a security system yourself. While having a modern security system in your house is a best-case scenario, there are other, simpler ways that you can make your home more secure. Improved outdoor lighting is cheap and effective. Replacing your windows with thicker glazing and tighter latches can also be a smart move. Often, simply landscaping to remove hiding places in your front and back garden can be enough to scare off would-be burglars.

More Storage

From Pixabay

This one is mainly for people with a view to selling their home in the near future. If you needed more storage than you have, then you would have noticed and done something about it by now. However, storage is one of the major factors which can swing a buyer’s decision, and adding more of it is one of the simplest ways you can inject greater appeal into your home. In the meantime, it can even motivate you to keep the home more clean and organised! Cabinetry and storage is more versatile than ever these days, so think of any vacant spaces you could use.

Paint!

This is one thing that crops up again and again in posts on home décor and improvement, and there’s a reason for it: it works! While it’s not the most practical kind of improvement out there, a home with a fresh coat of paint in a colour scheme that works can have a massive impact on the overall mien. It’s also exceedingly cheap compared to some of the other things on this list. I don’t like painting walls any more than the next person, and that’s probably why a lot of people overlook this improvement. Set yourself a reward at the end as a kind of carrot on a stick!