Older Home Improvement Hacks and DIY Renovations

Need to spruce up your current home? Take a look at these Older Home Improvement Hacks and budget-friendly DIY Renovations you can do on your own!

Older Home Improvement Hacks

We live outside the District of Columbia, in Northern Virginia. Many of the homes here are older. Not as old has our famous monuments, but not far behind (I kid…sorta.) It’s easy to find friends in homes that are a 100 years old and also friends in homes 50 years old.  Some homes are in such terrible shape that they are scrapped altogether and a huge mansion is built on .25 acres of land (did I tell you that land cost more than the value of all of these homes?) Additionally, it’s hard to get more than a postage stamp of land the closer you are to the city.

DIY Renovations

With each showing and new home I visited, I had a Pinterest board on my mind (I love these hidden boards! Especially for an account that is so public!) Every visit, I asked myself what could I do to improve the quality of this home and update it. My in goal was to be able to make each home enjoyable environment for our large family of 7 but also with the intention of “flipping” the house to make adequate profit on any future sale we might have. Pinterest became my best friend for DIY Renovation Ideas.

So this post is, once again, for me. Since my board is hidden, I also wanted to share with you what I learned from a number of bloggers to help you with our own older home improvement. Maybe we can pick up some of these Renovation Hacks together and all improve our home project by project, weekend by weekend.

Older Home Improvement Hack

Cassidy is my favorite and chances are high I might be using her $60 Carpet to Hardwood Stairs Home Improvement Hack. Remodelholic is brilliant.

So using a return air grill that is 50 years old is quite gross! I think this DIY Home Improvement Air Vent Idea brings a vintage look to the home. Out with the old (grossness) in with new!

You bet this is on my list. I will be repainting bathroom tiles and improving them with stencils! Repaint your builder grade beige tiles with this Home Improvement Tutorial. All the items you need are included in the Hometalk post.

With these older homes cords are all over the place. Either hire an electrification or learn to cut into the wall yourself or try this Quarter Round Cord Hack from Home Depot. Snake your wires through your baseboards.

An updated banister and painted stair rail will pop with just a touch of color. Paint the spindles white and the hand rail black and you will have a classic and clean look for the cost of paint (and your time!) You might consider adding a seagrass rug runner if you are that talented!

Change the warmth of a hallway or living space by painting gray interior doors and changing the hardware.

Sometimes you are blessed with a vintage green bathroom. Don’t worry if money is not in your budget. In this day and age, we are blessed with a Joanna Gaines who gives us three looks for keeping that green tile until you want to paint or replace it.

So fire places are another thing. I love to flip at switch and it’s on, my husband loves to work for his wood and have a wood burning fire place. Most of these old homes favor him and I had to find a good Older Home Improvement White Wash Brick Fireplace Tutorial.

Cabinets are a whole different story for us. They are old and ugly. In some cases you can almost see the multiple layers of paint throughout all the years and home styles. Upgrade Bathroom Cabinets with this Simple Home improvement Idea. Gorilla Wood Glue, wood pedestals, and scrap wood give this bathroom an updated look!

I love plantation shutters, but they were not in the budget (yet.) I was in desperate need of redoing our window treatments. The house we bought had curtains that were from the original purchase – 1960! For this new home, I went with budget friendly window treatments – light and airy IKEA white drapes, black curtain rods and natural bamboo shades.

Some older homes had terrible ceilings. Follow this tutorial for how to Easy Hide a Popcorn Ceiling. Bella Tucker’s entire kitchen and living space was done for under $500 with Styrofoam Ceiling Tiles. Blah to wow!

Turn an ugly bathroom into a spa oasis. Paint Bathroom Title with a Rust-Oleum Tile Transformation kit. Pink Little Notebook walks you through the entire process.

If a full kitchen renovation is not in your budget, simply replace your and reface kitchen cabinet doors with solid wood doors. This completely upgrades the entire look of your kitchen without the price!

Don’t replace the garage door, instead update your garage door by staining it. We recommended this Minwax Gel Stain.

Shutters can completely change the look of a home. Either paint your existing ones or if you don’t have any, make your own home shutters with this tutorial.

The switches. The light switches have touched 60 years of hands. Blah. Replace all old switches with new style switches.

Add towel bars to any of your fake kitchen drawers under the sink. Gotta utilize all that unused space!

Update the outdated half wall. Turn your half wall into a built-in bookcase with this DIY tutorial!

Guess what? You Can You Tile Over Linoleum. Good thing because ours in from 1960! IN all honestly, I will probably get down to the concrete floor first, but good to know!

These updated shower fixtures are new fixtures without the plumbing work. The total cost is only $35!

Are you moving? Take a look at our Moving Binder to get you organized! Pin to Pinterest.

These Fixer Upper Farmhouse Style Ideas will transform your home. Pin to Pinterest.

Also get inspired by the lady we love, Joanna Gaines, with these DIY Fixer Upper Ideas. Pin to Pinterest.

WHAT’S TRENDING? Get inspired this Valentine’s Day with these Galentine Valentine’s Day Ideas for the girls.


Also access our Free Frugal Coupon Living Printables to help you find joy through embracing the chaos of motherhood more easily!



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