Cheap and Easy Home Upgrades

Whether you’re trying to sell your home or you’re just hoping to make your biggest investment more livable, there are scores of cheap and easy home upgrades you can do yourself. From adding a touch of elegance to making a room more functional, the list below brings you new and cheap home fixes.

Secure your kitchen cabinets

Over time, the screws in kitchen cabinets tend to come loose as a result of normal wear and tear. This leads to the hinges coming off because the screw holes are widened and the screws fall out.

To get a screw back into the hinge so you can secure it, start with a couple of matchsticks. Cover the wooden tip of a match with wood glue and stick it in the screw hole.

Take a hammer and bang the wooden matchstick into the screw hole as far as it will go. Break off the protruding tip of the match and let the glued portion dry for 24 hours. This creates a solid base for your screw.

Once the match and glue are dry, drill your screw back into the cabinet and re-secure your hinge. The total cost for this fix is under $5.

Enhance your décor with dressy table lamps

Find a fat vino bottle or a bottle with some sort of interesting shape. Drill a hole through the side using a glass drill (these cost about $3).

Scour garage sales for unique lampshades or ceiling lamp casings. Look for a casing that has the bulb and wire attached. Run the wire down through the wine bottle and out of the hole you drilled. Attach an electrical plug mount to the end.

Apply epoxy for stability where the lamp shade and the wine bottle meet.

Fill the wine bottle base of your lamp with sand. This will keep it stable, making sure your lamp doesn’t fall over once you’ve mounted the casing on it.

The total cost of this recycled wine bottle lamp runs around $22.

Smooth up any sticky doors

Houses shift and age, often leaving original door frames slightly skewed. This means the doors attached to those frames no longer close as easily as they should.

Observe the part of the door that’s catching and mark the length of it with a pencil. Take a block plane (about $15) and run your plane up along the marked edge of the doorframe.

Take your time and continually check the door to see if you’ve shaved off enough. When the door closes easily, you can pat yourself on the back for saving the $100 it would have cost a contractor to fix it.

Spruce up your windowsills

Over the years, most windowsills become susceptible to water damage, also known as wood rot. Instead of spending $400 to have them professionally repaired, do it on the cheap.

Take a metal spatula and chip away at the water-damaged wood. Shave the elevated wood pieces right off the windowsill. Then take a small drill bit and drill holes into the bared wooden areas, making air gaps.

Buy wood hardener and put it in a spray bottle (wood hardener is available at any hardware supply store). Spray the wood hardener on the bared wooden area and let it dry for 24 hours.

Once the wood hardener has dried, spackle the area to fill in the gap and make it level with the rest of the window sill. Sand any spackle overflow once it has dried, then repaint the surface of the windowsill.

This window dry rot fix adds up to an easy $5.

Add a wine rack for sophistication

A wine rack adds class and provides convenient storage for your wine collection. Here’s how to make a lovely looking rack on the cheap:

Take four-inch plumber’s PVC piping and cut it in lengths about equivalent to the height of a wine bottle. You’ll also need precut shelving, which you can get from any hardware store. Stain or paint it to suit your taste.

Form a box with the shelving (the box height and width is up to you). Secure the corners with brackets for safety.

Place the PVC pieces inside the shelving box, laid next to each other in honeycomb fashion. Use silicone caulk to glue the piping in place.

The total cost for your fine wine display?  About $25.

Create tidy storage with homemade shelves

Get a few pieces of pre-cut wood. Stain the wood the color of your choice. Nail the bits together in a tic-tac-toe fashion.

Mount two brackets on your wall and be sure to screw them in tightly (it’s best if you mount them on a stud).

Total price for this project?  $18.

Cheap home fixes are easier than you think

Ultimately, most home improvement projects can be fixed for cheap. You’ve simply got to take the time to investigate inexpensive fixes and then follow through on the job.