RENOVATIONS THAT ADD VALUE

Looking for home renovation ideas to increase your home's value?

Domestic bliss:
Brighten up spaces with paint

Just picking up a paintbrush yourself can be one of the best renovation ideas to refresh the look of your home and boost its value.

Depending on your budget, you can repaint a room or two or the entire house. A top tip from the professionals is to use a neutral palette that appeals to buyers imagining their own lives in your home. A colour like ivory is a great way to brighten up spaces in your home and give it a modern, appealing look.

Another tip is to tackle easy to access walls yourself while getting a professional painter to do trickier ceilings.

Home remedies: Refresh the kitchen and bathroom

One of the best ideas on how to maximise house value is a great kitchen. But it’s often an area where you can overspend with fancy granite or marble bench-tops and all-new appliances. In most cases, a full kitchen renovation is not necessary and costs more than the value it adds to your property.

Affordable kitchen renovation ideas include replacing countertops, repainting the cabinets and adding new handles and knobs. You could also consider changing the backsplash, adding a new sink and taps. A portable island adds more counter space and can make a kitchen feel like it has been completely renovated.

Bathrooms are also places where homeowners overspend. A cheaper renovation to increase home value is to be smart about your bathroom upgrade. Start with a new paint job and replace old, chipped tiles and dirty grouting. Fit new, modern matching taps that will automatically suggest good plumbing. Replace an old sink or toilet with a new one to give your bathroom an instant modern look. Even a couple of house plants will add colour and make your bathroom feel new.

Lighting the way: Bright ideas with lights

The right lighting can make all the difference to the ambience and feel of your home. It can literally showcase your home in a better light and add some real value. With the right light you can create a welcoming and inviting environment.

Making the most of natural light always helps. Letting natural light in creates the feeling of space and air. Using white LED bulbs also brightens a room far more than warmer yellow globes. Cool white light has more blue light and also creates a more spacious and airier feel.

Layering your lighting from several sources can also help. Placing floor lamps in dark corners or shadow spots, accented lighting that might highlight a focal point for some architectural feature or art piece and think about soft wall lighting as well.

Home grown: Landscape the yard

Dead plants, overgrown gardens, and unkept lawns also detract from a home’s first impression and its overall value. You don’t have to invest in elaborate landscaping and water features, just working with what you have and adding more green pants is one of the most affordable home renovation ideas.

Trim back bushes, weed the garden, and then use a high-pressure hose on paths, driveways, and exterior paintwork. Clean the barbecue and give outdoor furniture a scrub. Then assess what additional greenery, rocks, and ground cover you’ll need to transform your yard.

A trip to Bunnings or your local plant store and a couple of weekend’s work in the garden can create a great first impression of your home and is one of the cheapest renovations to increase home value.

Extend your family: Add a bedroom

One last way on how to maximise house value requires a larger investment on your part, but the return is also larger.

First, talk to an architect or builder on reconfiguring your floor plan and determine the total cost. Then match this against the potential value it adds. It may well end up being one of the best renovation ideas on how to maximise your house value.

A granny flat can be a great idea as it can be used by a guest or as a rental property. Leasing your granny flat can generate additional income that can be used to cover some of the investment costs.