Finding ideas and ways of improving the value and comfort of your home is relatively easy nowadays with dozens of home related magazines, television programmes demonstrating interior decorating and the thousands of home improvement websites.
In our towns and cities, we see an increasing array of home decoration shops, unique furniture shops and just looking in the DIY store this morning, I was amazed at the amount of home products and paints that can be purchased readily.
However, there is a slight drawback to all of this - Money. Buying comfortable or luxury home items will make us happy and feel good and of course, if you move home, you will take these items with you, including those lovely light fittings you spent out on and the beautiful garden furniture made from oak.
But what about the expensive home fittings that you need to replace but either can't afford to or just worried that this expense will be lost when you sell your house.
Of course, I am talking about replacing that poor, tired old kitchen of yours and those shabby looking windows and doors. Two of the most expensive home improvement jobs you can undertake when refurbishing your home.
Well, let me tell you a little known secret I use when refurbishing property to sell with my limited budget and limited time:-
I have my kitchen cabinet doors, drawers, end boards and kick boards Spray Painted to any colour of my choosing! Yes you did read that right, I have my kitchen cabinets spray painted.
This is such a major cost saving over replacing a perfectly normal but ugly kitchen and it is so much quicker too. Did I also say less messy!
First I choose a colour of my liking and to blend in with the house design. I then contact my local spray painting company and book the work in, advising them of my colour choice (which can be any RAL or Pantone colour). They then visit my home, remove the kitchen doors and drawers and take back to the factory for spraying. Within a few short days, they return and fit the doors and drawers and mask up the remainder of the kitchen for spraying the end boards etc.
For extra impact to my kitchen design, I also have my appliances spray painting in a matching colour to colour coordinate everything the kitchen has to offer. Bang, you now have a stunning, unique kitchen that nobody else has and at a fraction of the cost of replacement.
I do tend to colour code the walls, kitchen cabinets and appliances in different shades of the same colour just to break up the mass of colour. Next time, I aim to use different colours around the kitchen to see how this works.
So at this point, I guess the question you are asking yourself is "How long does the paint last?"
Well that is a great question. As long as you choose a professional spray painting company your paintwork will last for 10 years without fading, bubbling or minor scratches. Obviously, if you are heavy handed with the paint, it will scratch. Unlike hand painted kitchens which fade and scratch quickly, a spray painted finish is far more professional looking and much better quality.
Now for my next money saving trick...
If the property I am renovating has either aluminium or UPVC windows, doors and conservatory, I use the same spray painting company to mask up and re-spray the windows and doors, again in a colour of my choosing. This is normally a bright, clean white. But sometimes, I am a little braver and use a lovely contemporary colour to make the property really stand out.
Just be careful about requesting colours other than white. Not every home buyer likes non white windows and not many people know they can have them resprayed at a very little price.
Finally, also think about other areas of your home which could also be spray painted:-
Garage doors
Guttering
Soffits
Down Pipes
Radiators
Gates
Conservatories
Swimming Pool Covers
Weather Boards
And so on...
Good luck with your home project and I hope the above has been useful.
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