Five Inexpensive Ways to Instantly Upgrade the Interior of Your Home

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of CORT. All opinions are 100% mine.

Our home refresh is in full swing!  I still have a to-do list that’s as long as the Empire State Building is tall, but we’ve been tackling some projects over the past little bit that I can’t wait to give you a peek at today! It’s funny, because for the first little while here in our new-to-us, 1950’s home, I felt like I was living in someone else’s house.  It wasn’t until we started making changes to it that it really started to become our own.  Since we’re limited by a budget and can’t do all the major renovations that I want to immediately, I started with some smaller, inexpensive projects.  But, they ended up having a huge impact on the overall look of the place. Here are five simple, cost-effective ways to really upgrade the interior of a home.


1. Paint.  It’s amazing what a fresh new color can do to change the look of a room! When we moved into our home just over a year ago, this living room had four different colored walls-pink, purple, blue, and green.  Yikes! I knew this needed to be one of the first projects we undertook-getting rid of the previous homeowners’ clashing tastes.  🙂 Paint is one of the most cost effective, easiest ways to transform a space!  We love spending time in this room now that there’s not so much going on, on the walls and the room looks so much classier in this new, calming blue/gray hue!  Good riddance pink, purple, blue and green walls.  Ha!
2. Add Baseboards.  This seems like a total no-brainer, but most of our house didn’t originally have them and it’s been bugging me for the last year! There’s just something about trim that gives a space the “finished”, clean look.  The hubby and I conquered the living area this past weekend together.  I did the removal of the pitiful existing “trim” (if you can call it that) and caked-on caulk while he did the cutting. I’ll give you quick run-down of how we did it.
You’ll first want to make sure the area is clean of debris.  In our case, that meant removing the small wood edging pieces, old caulk, and then sweeping.  Next, measure your space and use a power saw to cut your baseboards to size.  You may need to do some seams, depending on how long your wall and baseboards are.  You’ll need to cut at 45 degree angles for the corners and seams, ensuring they’ll fit flush together.   Use a nail gun (this will make your life MUCH easier) to set the boards in place.  Use painter’s acrylic latex caulk to fill in the gaps where the seams meet and any areas that aren’t exactly flush with the wall or floor.  Use wood filler to fill in the nail holes, paint the baseboards and that’s it!  We still need to paint ours, but I’m planning to do that when I give the walls a fresh new coat in a few weeks.

3. Add an Area Rug.  Our home has beautiful wood floors, but definitely needed a little something to bring it all together.  Rugs provide a warmth and give interest and character to a space.  Plus, my kids would much rather play there than on the hard floor.


4. Consider Furniture Rental.  Moving can be such a hassle (the myriad of emotions from relocating our family last year are still lingering in my mind), so if you’re one of those people who do it often, furniture rental is the way to go! It removes a lot of the fuss from an already stressful time, since it can be there when you need it and gone when you no longer need it. CORT Furniture Rental is the national industry leader in the furniture rental space.  They offer move-in ready packages in many beautiful styles and at varying price points.  This is perfect for big city living too! Or those times when you’re starting over or accept a job that may be temporary and don’t want to invest in a furniture set quite yet.   CORT is ideal for those times in life when you need some flexibility, but still want to have a nice, put-together place to come home to every evening and kick up your feet.  Because we all know how furniture really makes a house feel like a home. If you’re looking for a non-committal, temporary way to spruce up a space, you may find it convenient to rent furniture.
5. Tidy Up! This is possibly the easiest method for making a space look nice. 🙂 A quick pick up goes a long way to making a space livable and relaxing. I set the timer for ten minutes every evening as part of our bed time routine and the kids help pick up their toys and belongings.  It does wonders!   What tips would you add to this list?  Are you working on any home projects right now? I’d love to hear about them in the comments section below!