Quick Home Improvement Ideas to Give Your Home a Stylish Refresh

If your home is looking a little tired and you would like to freshen things up, then you don’t need to call in the professionals. Home improvements aren’t always huge projects, so let’s take a look at some quick home improvement ideas you can undertake to spruce things up with minimal effort.

1. Create a gallery wall

One of the most contemporary trends in picture hanging is the practice of creating gallery walls. Whether for artwork that you love or family photos, rearranging pictures that you might have dotted around your house can have a profound effect on the look and feel of a room. Choose a single wall to hang your pictures and decide whether you want to mix or match your frames. 

A gallery wall can be made up of a collection of smaller pictures, but it can work equally well with a few larger complementary pieces. All you need is a hammer and appropriate hooks, or command strips, to create a sweet gallery wall. Before you start your DIY project, research online to discover some great gallery wall ideas for your home improvement project or take some inspiration from Pinterest.

2. Add mirrors for quick home improvement ideas

Are you looking for ways to increase the size of your small rooms but don’t know how? It isn’t necessary to knock down walls to achieve the feeling of spaciousness. Simply hanging a larger mirror (or better yet, two mirrors facing one another), can help to bring in light and banish the idea that your room is cramped – even if you haven’t actually gained a single inch of room. 

Adding mirrors and other hanging to your walls are just some great quick home improvement ideas that can transform your home with ease and let some light into dark spaces. Just be careful to use strong enough nails to hold mirrors into the wall, especially if they are on the heavier side.

3. Use up leftover paint to revamp your home

Have you got some leftover paint sitting around in tins from your last big house refresh? Now is the ideal time to use it up and enjoy some DIY home improvement fun at the same time. Check that the paint is appropriate for the surface you want to use it on and that it matches any existing paintwork if you are using it for touch-ups. Whether you need dust sheets or masking tape, John Nicholls have all the painting and decorating materials you will need for your own DIY paint job. 

You could simply touch up your patchy walls with the original paint or try something different and even jazz up your skirting boards, ceilings, or hallway. Read these tips on how to cut skirting boards. For a more striking visual impact, use leftover paint to give your front door a makeover, add a contemporary twist to your alcove or mantelpiece, or even repaint a bookcase in true upcycling style. You could even try something a bit more creative and detailed with your home improvement like painting a wall arch to try something different that helps accent your alcoves and bookcases.

4. Change up your room layout for simple home improvement

We can get very used to our home and believe that everything has a certain ‘place’. But one of the easiest tricks to make any room feel brand new is by simply rearranging it. This doesn’t have to cost anything or involve bringing in new furniture or accessories, you just move around what you already have to try something different.

You might want to move furniture around to try utilising the natural light more, your floor space, and make communal areas more homey and fit for everyone. You might want to even consider some Feng Shui techniques that will help you organise your home more effectively. Even tiny changes to your room layouts can make you feel like you have made a huge update.

5. Hang string lights to brighten up your living space

While replacing your old lighting fixtures is a job best left to the professionals, you can still bring a little magic and elegance into your home with just a string of fairy lights. Not just for Christmas, these lights are popularly used in bedrooms to wrap around headboards or dressing tables and create a brighter and warmer atmosphere. 

Consider whether you want warm string lights or cool string lights depending on the atmosphere that you want in each room. For something bolder, you might want to consider coloured lighting too. You can also add lights to your mantelpiece or even drape them across your gallery wall to illuminate your favourite art or to draw focus towards any special features of your home.

You don’t need to be an expert to enjoy some simple DIY projects – with a few tools and a little time, you can update your space and feel excited about your home again.

Eve Crabtree

Eve Crabtree is a journalist with a passion for interior design. She keeps up to date with the latest trends in the interior industry and regularly tests her hand at crafting and redecorating during her spare time.