Great news: You’ve nearly made it to the end
of another year, so while you’re shopping for everyone else, it’s also time to
reward yourself with a little something special. A great way for homeowners to
get year-round enjoyment out of a gift is to make a small, simple improvement
to a part of your house that you use all the time … but haven’t yet splurged on
an upgrade for.
If you’ve got a few days off work around the
holidays this year, you can probably knock out a few of these projects yourself
before you head back to the office in the new year. Here’s a few ideas about
some simple improvements that you can gift yourself this holiday season:
Install a “smart” thermostat
A few years ago, a thermostat was a pretty
simple device: It turns things on, it turns them off. Nowadays a modern
thermostat can be scheduled through your phone, it knows when you’re home and
when you’re gone, it responds to your voice - it can even tell when you’re on
your way home and will have the temperature ready when you walk through the
door.
There’s no shortage of options when it comes
to a smart thermostat - your main decision is whether you want it to connect
best with Alexa or Google Home - and replacing a thermostat is (usually) a
pretty simple project. In less than an hour, you can be up and running with a
new and improved climate control center, and you’ll be giving yourself the gift
of not leaving the bed to turn up the heat in the middle of the night.
Fix up a faucet or swap out a
showerhead
If you’re still doing your dishes with the
same faucet that came with your house, or if you haven’t customized the
showerhead in your bathroom yet, you’ll be amazed at how much different an
experience either activity can be with the plumbing you prefer. And with the
amount of cooking that goes into your holiday meals, shouldn’t your sink
receive a little gift of its own? Shouldn’t your relaxing shower at the end of
a day come with a hand-held wand or a steam setting or a rainfall head?
A showerhead swap is quick and simple while a
faucet replacement is a little more involved, but both represent less than an
afternoon of effort for a significantly better experience year-round.
Freshen up some flooring
This is a bit more involved, but if that old
linoleum has got to go or your peel-and-stick tiles aren’t as sticky as they
used to be, a flooring upgrade could be just what you need. DIY flooring
updates have gotten significantly easier in a world where vinyl flooring simply
snaps together and doesn’t require nailing or adhesives.
If you can clear a full day from your
calendar, empty out a room or two and lay down some square footage, your feet
will thank you for years to come. Updating your floors to a more stylish new
look might even impact the value of your home, which is a great gift in the
long run.
Brighten a room with a
freshly-painted accent wall
If the shorter, darker days of winter are
starting to get you down, maybe it’s time to bring a bit more brightness into
your life. You don’t have to completely repaint a room to get the benefits of a
different color in a room; a couple coats on just one can give a room a great
accent and some contrast from the other colors in the house.
Consider colors that might be overwhelming if
they were covering an entire room: daffodil yellow, bright blue or lime green,
for example. If you have a wall without too many windows or trim to tape off,
rolling out a new layer of paint can take just a few hours of your time.
We hope we’ve inspired you … er, Santa
to send you some new updates this
holiday season. If you need some professional help with any of these, or if
you’re thinking of a larger “gift” like a basement remodel or a kitchen update,
the team at Final Touch
Construction and Remodeling
should be your first call
when it comes to figuring out your next steps.
Whether it’s a smaller “stocking stuffer”-size
project or something more significant, Final Touch has over 25 years of
experience working with hundreds of homes and businesses in the Cleveland area.
