Professional interior designer shares 60+ ideas for home improvements that are simply fantastic

Many of us have used lockdown to get creative with our DIY home decor projects. Interior design is incredibly rewarding, and it doesn’t always cost thousands of dollars, either. There are plenty of ways you can spruce up your home, in projects both big and small, to make it more modern and comfortable – and you don’t have to blow your budget in the process.

Whether you want to impress your friends with your artistic design skills, you need to make more space out of what you have, or you’re simply looking for productive ways to pass your time, you’ll love these 70 home improvement ideas and hacks.

1. Add a frame to your bathroom mirror

Bathroom mirrors are pretty bland. They don’t always have a uniqueness to them, but that’s a good thing, because it gives you the chance to make them personal to your own tastes. Adding a frame to your bathroom mirror is a great way to improve your overall bathroom design. You can match the frame to your other bathroom furnishings, too.

2. Install seating near to your fireplace

There’s nothing more relaxing than sitting close to the fire when the weather’s cold outside. If you want to be extra space-efficient, build seating into your fireplace to make a cozy little hideout. Saves you having to drag your armchairs closer to the heat.

3. Fix chipped concrete

Concrete is a really cheap and easy way to line your front drive and fashion steps up to your home, but it can become chipped and weathered over time. Considering your concrete steps are one of the first impressions your friends and family will get of your home, you might want to learn how to patch yours up, the easy way. Two Feet First has all the information you need on how to do it.

4. Add in a deck

There’s nothing that quite gives the vacation feels than starting the day at one with nature on an outdoor deck. If you appreciate those small things in life, you’ll love having a deck outside your master bedroom. It doesn’t have to be anything too fancy, and if you have a sloping roof, it’s surprisingly easy to put one in.

5. Paint over your linoleum

Linoleum should have disappeared for good with damask curtains and inflatable chairs, but unfortunately some of it still lingers today. If your home’s linoleum floors are too much of an eyesore to ignore a moment longer, it’s time to get creative and paint over them. No need to rip the floor off – it provides a great surface for painting straight onto.

6. Build a bathtub fireplace

We all want to feel like we’re living in a 5-star hotel when we’re at home! To make your bathtime routine that extra bit cozy, install a fireplace behind the tub. You can listen to the flames crackle away while you wind down in bubbly scented heaven.

7. Stain your oak banister

Oak is an incredibly durable and practical wood that’s used for many banisters in homes. While some people like its color, for others, it looks a bit too “hardware store” when left natural. Luckily, you can stain your oak banister with whatever color suits you, so you don’t have to stick with the orangey wood color!

Practically Good
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Practically Good

8. Use pull-out cabinets for extra space

Most of us don’t feel we have quite the amount of kitchen side space we need. The problem is, the more space we add, the more we fill it with countertop appliances. If you need a dedicated area for chopping, you’ll love this pull-out cabinet idea. It’ll always be clean, empty and ready to go whenever you need it.

9. Use concrete for your counters

Most people think of concrete as being purely practical, but did you know it can be beautiful too? It’s really cheap to use, and looks great once it’s set and you’ve added your finishing touches. A Beautiful Mess described how they made their concrete countertops on their blog, here.

The Inspired Workshop
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The Inspired Workshop

10. Install a bedroom skylight

Sleeping under the stars sounds blissful and romantic… but sleeping quite literally in your back yard might not be the most enjoyable way to do it. If you want to sleep under the stars in relatively more luxury than a tent, install a skylight in your bedroom. You’ll be able to wake up naturally with the sunrise, too.

11. Create thicker baseboards

Thick baseboards in your home look expensive and generally more appealing than small, thin baseboards. Adding a thicker baseboard is actually a lot easier than it seems – you just fit the larger baseboard over the smaller baseboard, a bit like fitting a crown over a tooth. Find out how to do it here.

12. Add chutes for garbage and recycling to your kitchen

Taking out the garbage is one of those unpleasant chores that seems to seems to get more and more boring as the days go on. If you detest lugging a trash bag outside your home, install garbage and recycling chutes in your kitchen. When you have trash to throw out, you can simply push it through the right chute and send it straight down to your outdoor trash cans.

13. Install wood or tiles over popcorn ceiling

One of the most dated things about an old home is popcorn ceiling. It’s ugly and annoying – why it ever became popular in the first place is a mystery to us! If you’re doing a floor-to-ceiling renovation, don’t forget to cover up your popcorn ceiling with wooden beams or tiles. You don’t need to take off the original ceiling if that’s too much fuss.

14. Make a secret room

There’s something incredibly exciting about having a secret room in your home. You could hide your office or games room behind an unnoticable entrance, like a bookshelf on concealed hinges. You’ll have so much fun asking strangers to guess how to get inside.

15. Compartmentalize with a roll-out pantry

Pantries don’t have to take up an entire kitchen corner’s worth of storage space to be effective. One of the greatest inventions of this decade is the roll-out pantry, which allows you to stack your tins and bags and keep them stored in a very tight space. You can install yours anywhere that suits you, like between your fridge and your counters.

16. Store your bed underneath raised flooring

By day, this relaxation space offers a cozy area for relaxing on cushions with a good book. By night, the pull-out bed can be used for sleeping on. This is a great option for homes with a lack of spare space, as you can hide the bulkiness of your bed out of sight in the day.

17. Create see-through cabinets

Plain wood cabinet doors can look a bit lifeless and ugly. If you’re neat enough to display your kitchen items, replace the wooden fronts for decorated glass. It’ll have a much prettier effect, and give the illusion of extra space. Just maybe have a couple of cupboards with no glass front that you can reserve for storing your uglier cooking bits!

18. Add storage to your baseboards

Now this is an example of how you maximize every possible inch of space. Talk about inventive! In your kitchen, you can easily store flat trays and dishes in baseboard drawers. When they’re shut, you won’t even know they’re there.

19. Make a DIY screen door

In the summer months, having your own screen door to help with ventilation while keeping out insects is a must. It’s much easier than it seems to make your own door using recycled materials. You can find a step-by-step on what to do by Designer Trapped.

20. Install a bookshelf beneath your stairs

For some people, just one bookshelf isn’t enough. That fits, what, 50 novels at most? What about all the other hundreds of books you own?! Instead of buying multiple separate bookcases, think about installing one big one. Extra points if you can make it a really cool design feature in your home – like installing it underneath your staircase.

21. Save space with a sliding door

In homes with not much space, having too many doors opening into one small area can get annoying. A simple solution to this problem is to install a sliding door, which, as the name suggests, slides instead of swings open. Once the novelty of sliding instead of pulling wears off, you’ll be left with a much more convenient space-saving solution.

22. Shed transformation

Who said sheds only had to be used for storing your outdoor equipment? Old sheds make for great art studios, pub sheds or she sheds. You could even add rows of windows and turn your shed into a greenhouse. It gives you more reason to be in your garden, away from the children, for a bit of me-time.

Awesome Inventions
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Awesome Inventions

23. DIY crown molding installation

You don’t need to call in an expert to install your crown molding for you. Once you have a clear idea of what you’re doing, it’s actually very easy to do yourself. You can find step-by-step instructions, courtesy of Popular Mechanics, here.

24. Install a walk-in shower

Walk-in showers are much easier to maintain, as any dirt and debris will only ever build up on one level. Mopping and sweeping is much simpler, and you don’t have to bend at an awkward angle to clean your shower screen. Walk-in showers are the future for sure, so if you don’t have one already, it might be time to make the investment!

25. Paint your own stripes

If you’re painting your kid’s bedroom or perhaps even the bathroom, experimenting with stripes is always fun. Making the stripes neat and even is the hard part, but it’s not too challenging if you know what you’re doing. You can turn your boring wall into artwork to be proud of, with stripes as thick or thin as you want, and in any color.

26. Create a tree mansion

Got some extra time on your hands? Make your kids’ friends jealous and build a tree mansion. With the right materials and a lot of patience, you can build a full tiny home up in the tree tops. Because plain old treehouses are so last year.

27. Add a tile backsplash

Fed up of scrubbing cooking splashes off your kitchen’s walls? A tile backsplash is so much easier to clean, and it looks really modern, too. Whether you choose to add a color pop to your otherwise neutral kitchen or you just want to keep things natural, it’s worth shopping around and seeing what you can find. If you don’t want too much installation fuss, you can keep things even simpler by simply buying a faux tile sheet and cutting it to shape.

28. Relax in your shower

Anyone who loves spas will have probably seen these shower lounge chairs. They’re incredibly comfy to lie on, and create almost a “no gravity” feeling. There’s no rule to say you can’t bring the spa to your home and install your own shower lounge chair. You might not have the money for a sauna just yet, but this is a good start!

29. Add a magnet to your hammer

To avoid having to search for nails when you need them, add a small, circular magnet to the bottom of your hammer and stick all the nails you need for the job straight to it. You’ll save yourself plenty of hassle, and you won’t have to hold anything in your mouth while you wait.

30. Double your dishwashers

For big family gatherings and dinner parties, having an extra dishwasher is a must. Yes, you’ll have to pay double the initial price for purchase and installation, but once you’ve got them both installed, you won’t regret a thing. No more double rounds of washing – simply load everything in at once!

Architecture And Design
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Architecture And Design

31. Use a squeegee to pick up pet hair

If you have a squeegee in your bathroom, you’ll know how great it is for cleaning your mirrors and shower screen. But it can be used in other areas of the home too, especially if you have a pet. Simply running a squeegee along your carpet will pick up all the flurr and fur that the vacuum won’t get out of your carpet.

32. Make an office under the stairs

Under-stairs living spaces don’t have to be as dingy and depressing as Harry Potter’s bedroom. Make use of the space by turning it into a small office. You only need enough room for a desk to store your computer, and a bit of drawer space underneath. With it being tucked away, you won’t feel like your work affairs are constantly on show, either.

Basement Remodeling
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Basement Remodeling

33. Cleverly hide your spare key

If you’re still hiding your spare key underneath your doormat or a random rock near your door, you’re asking for trouble. Burglars will check these spots to see if you’ve given them an easy means of breaking and entering – but they won’t check the tiny rocks and pinecones in your garden. Just put your key in an empty prescription bottle and glue a rock or pine cone to its lid.

34. Make a cozy nook

We’ve seen how you can turn your under-stairs space into a bookshelf and a home office, but if you’re looking for something a little less work-y, you’ll be all for this cozy nook idea. Just add a raised section a few inches off your flooring and top it with a made-to-fit cushion. A little window looking outside is the final finishing touch.

35. Make a foam noodle door stop

Prevent your doors from slamming into your walls by adding a pool foam noodle to cushion the blow. It’s so cheap, and you’ll save yourself from the future pain of having to repaint your walls or mend chips in the plaster. Even better you won’t have to deal with the sound of your doors slamming reverberating around your home. You can also add foam noodles to your garage walls to prevent car doors from hitting them hard.

Today's Homeowner
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Today's Homeowner

36. Add a fold-back window to your kitchen

On those warmer summer months, kitchens can get incredibly stuffy. Simply adding a fold-back, accordian-style window will help to get the air in and merge indoors with outdoors. You can even have a table running along the outside of your window that you can eat on when the weather’s nice.

37. Hang your pants on a shower rail

Save space in your closet and hang your pants on a shower curtain rail in your spare room. You’ll have more room to store your more delicate fabrics in the safety of your closet, and having a designated rail for your pants will help you to see exactly what you have.

38. Install built-in bunk beds

If most of your house guests are children, you’ll save a lot of space installing built-in bunk beds in your guest room. They’ll look a lot classier built directly into your walls, and whoever’s staying over will love the sleepover vibes of sharing a room together. This might not be one for adults, though!

39. Hide your unwanted electrics behind canvases

There are certain things, like thermostats and gas boxes, that look ugly and out of place in a home. You can easily cover these up by hanging a canvas photo directly in front of the unit. Just make sure you’re not making it difficult to access something you might need to programme immediately, like a home alarm system.

40. Add under-stair storage space

Bulky cupboards and cabinets aren’t everyone’s thing. To stash your bits and bobs out of sight in a less obvious storage space, install an under-stair set of pull-out drawers. They’ll blend into your wall, so guests won’t even know they’re there. Meanwhile, you have racks of room for keeping items out of sight.

41. Use a shoe organizer in your pantry

Piling foods on top of one another can make it hard to see how many of what you’ve got left in your pantry. Instead of doing this, hang a shoe organizer from the back of your pantry door and store your foods in different categories. This is a great idea for kids’ snacktime, and you can quickly see what you need to buy more of.

Organizing Home Life
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Organizing Home Life

42. Create a peaceful nap room

Wallpaper your walls with a sky-like print, and add white pillows to your floor to turn a room into a dreamy nap room. You could also use this space as a quiet time-out spot for your children. Be warned, though – you’ll be tempted to spend all day in there.

43. Use fuzzy socks instead of swiffer pads

Swiffer pads are pretty expensive for what they are, and you can get exactly the same effect with an olr or unwanted winter fuzzy sock. Just pull the sock over your mop end and use it for your usual cleaning duties. Toss the sock in the wash, dry it and re-use it in the future.

44. Put a jet sink in your laundry room

While your non-delicates are getting washed in the machine, get stuck into your delicates with a laundry room jet sink. No need to wash one load after another when delicates fare best being hand-washed anyway. Plus, your room will smell extra beautiful with so much laundry scent in the air.

42. Use aluminum balls in your dryer

Scrunched up aluminum foil works just as well as dryer sheets, so you’ve always got an alternative if you find out at the last minute that you’re all out! They’ll get rid of the static from your clothes, but, of course, they won’t give that nice floral scent that you get from the real thing.

46. Lower your living room

There’s nothing that screams luxury more than a lowered living room. To make your living space look like a Maldives over-sea bungalow, add a sunken area for your couch, coffee table and television. You’ll feel so cozy snuggled up in your little nook in the evenings.

Architecture Ideas
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Architecture Ideas

47. Use coat hangers to hang your ironing board

Ironing boards are definitely not display items, but what if you don’t have a closet big enough to store yours away in? An alternative option is to hang your ironing board from a set of two coat hooks. It’ll make it easier to access, and you won’t have to keep shoving it behind other furniture out of sight.

The Wood Grain Cottage
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The Wood Grain Cottage

48. Install vacuuming baseboards

Vacuums are heavy and annoying – it’s about time we all installed vacuuming baseboards and skipped the chore entirely! All you need to do is brush your dirt to your baseboard opening, then let it vacuum everything straight down to your trash. The initial installation isn’t cheap, but you’ll love the end product.

49. Make use of command hooks

When you’re renting a place, adding nails to your walls typically isn’t allowed. Command hooks are a fantastic alternative option – just peel off their backs and stick them to the backs of doors and the insides of closets for that extra bit of hanging space. Just make sure you buy from a good brand – some are more durable than others.

50. Under-stair dog bedroom

This idea is way cooler than putting your canine friend in an outdoor kennel overnight. He can have his own little hidey-hole under your stairs, where he can sleep at night, or simply use to catch a bit of peace and quiet when the kids are getting rowdy. Now you just need one for yourself!

51. Put your detergent in a glass dispenser

Big detergent bottles don’t look very attractive in a laundry room. But there’s no need to hide yours away under your sink – just transfer your liquid into a fancy glass dispenser. It’s so pretty to look at, and you’ll have a much easier job portioning out your detergent.

Your Little Birdie
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Your Little Birdie

52. Make your own stepping stones

Here’s a gardening hack that will save you hundreds of dollars: DIY stepping stones. Instead of buying them from a store, just make your own out of quick-setting cement and a bag of tiny stones or shells. It’ll cost you no more than $50 in total, and takes only an afternoon to do. You can even get creative and carve them into shapes.

How Stuff Works
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How Stuff Works

53. Save paint in baby jars

Once you’ve opened a tin of paint and used most of it, the best way to keep things nice and clean is to transfer the remaining paint into a baby jar with a lid. You can store the paint in a cupboard and take out the jar whenever you need to make a touch-up.

54. Install raised garden beds

Building a raised garden bed gives you much more control over your plants and helps you to keep the insects out. Plus, is could add value to your home and you’ll be able to grow your own herbs and veggies – no need to buy them from the grocery store! It only takes a weekend o build your own raised garden beds.

Gardeners' World
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Gardeners' World

55. Use mail organizers for storing shoes

Some shoes, like sandals and flip-flops, don’t need to be on show in your wardrobe. Rather than piling them up in your closet, organize them by category in mail organizers. You can buy these in sets for less than $10 at pretty much every stationary store, and you can even label them to be certain of what’s in what.

56. Freshen up your front lawn

You’d be surprised at the difference a bit of cleaning and maintenance can make to your front lawn. Get rid of weeds, moss and algae and plant colorful flowers and trees. Keep your lawn nice and green by mowing it regularly and feeding it grass seed. You can actually increase the value of your home just by tidying up your outdoor space.

57. Organize your water bottles

There are so many cool water bottles to choose from nowadays, you might just find yourself with a whole drawer filled with them. To prevent them from getting lost, give them all a designated storage space – in a hanging shoe rack. Get one with clear shoe slots so you can see exactly what you’ve got without having to rummage inside.

My House My Home
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My House My Home

58. Modernize your countertops

It’s possible to replace your kitchen countertops without replacing the counters themselves. To modernize your kitchen, the old, shabby countertops have got to go. Marble, granite, wood and quartz are all popular materials to use on modern countertops today – though unsurprisingly, they don’t come cheap.

Designer Trapped
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Designer Trapped

59. Use an extra shower rod for storage

Rather than storing all your bathroom essentials on the edge of your bathtub, install a shower rod parallel to your wall and hang baskets from it. You can easily grab the stuff you need without having to bend down to retrieve it, and you’ll have a whole wall’s worth of extra storage.

60. Replace your faucet

Replacing your kitchen faucet is a really simple way to give your bathroom an upgraded feel. New faucets don’t cost must, and they’re relatively easy to install. There are plenty of statement faucets that will take your bathroom from drab to drop-dead gorgeous instantly.

61. Update old lighting fixtures

Like a faucet in a bathroom, a lighting fixture has the power to make or break the interior decor of a home. They’re often overlooked, which is why many homes still have fluorescent lighting that gives them a harsh, uninviting feeling. Ugrade your lighting and choose warm, modern options that’ll create welcoming atmosphere.

62. Get painting

When your budget is tight, simply adding a fresh coat of paint to the most used areas of your home will make the world of a difference. We don’t usually realize the gradual fading of color on our walls, but painting them over with the same color will make it obvious.

63. Install a coffee station

Think coffee deserves to be hyped up in your home more than it is? Install a coffee station and you can feel like you have your very own in-home Starbucks. You can have shelves for storage, and a countertop for your milk frother and coffee maker. Let your imagination run wild!

64. Prettify your ceiling

A great idea for kids’ rooms is to add wallpaper or paint to the ceiling. Children are extremely observant, and your young ‘uns will probably spend a lot of time flat on their backs, staring at the ceiling, as it is. You may as well give them an interesting view.

House Beautiful
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House Beautiful

65. Use stick-on marble paper

Marble is a very expensive material, and not everyone has the funds for it. But that doesn’t matter, because there are some stick-on marble papers that look exactly like the real thing, and they cost less than $50 for a reasonably sized roll. Use them on your coffee table and your bedroom desks.

Our House Now A Home
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Our House Now A Home

66. Switch up your couch legs

It’s all the range at the moment for couches to have art-deco style legs, and this relatively small touch can make a big difference to the overall feel of a living space. Rather than splashing out on a whole new couch, if there’s nothing wrong with how yours looks now, just cut off its old legs and replace them with some that add a bit more character.

67. Add gold to your drawers

A set of plain white IKEA drawers is basic and not very original. You can add a bit of life to them by simply using gold foil on two or three of the drawers in the set. It’s not too OTT, but it makes all the difference. We can imagine it’d look great in a white bedroom with gold accents.

68. Spray paint old chairs

Some of the best home renovation projects come from repurposing old furniture. There’s no need to throw out your old fold-out chairs, for example. Spray paint them in bright colors and let your kids have them in their playroom.

69. Update your knobs

Here’s yet another simple hack to add your own design flare to a room: update your boring drawer knobs. There are some really cool options available on stores like Etsy, from fancy brass and marble handles to retro 60s designs and rustic rope handles. You can even make your own if you have something specific in mind.

Apartment Therapy
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Apartment Therapy

70. Install soft-closing cabinet hinges

Nobody likes the slam and rattle of a drawer when it’s pushed shut. Modern kitchen cupboards are designed with soft-closing hinges, which slow down the close at the very end and prevent the drawer from banging against the unit. You can buy these hinges and install them on your own drawers for less than $100.

Popular Mechanics
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Popular Mechanics

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