When you’re looking for a new home, you will likely find some features you love and other features that you can’t wait to change. Whether the problem is bad paint colors, outdated bathroom fixtures, tiny closets, old electrical outlets, or broken hardware, our real estate agents know that even small updates can make a big difference in a home. Take a look at the ways you can make your home more comfortable and user friendly.
- Brighten Up Your Spaces
To appeal to a wider range of buyers, homes for sale often have walls and ceilings painted in shades of white, beige, and tan. While these colors provide neutral spaces for a potential buyer’s furnishings, they don’t always create an interesting or inviting room. They get dirty faster, making your rooms look dingy and outdated, especially when the paint gets old. Adding splashes of bold or bright paint colors is a great way to make your interior spaces feel cleaner, comfortable, current, and more inviting. - Update Your Bathrooms
Unless a house is new or recently remodeled, you may find bathrooms with old bathtubs, showers, and vanity cabinets with little storage. To update style, consider refinishing the tub, adding new shower features, and installing a modern pedestal sink. Add a pedestal sink cabinet, a shelf above the sink, and several wall-hung shelves or baskets above the toilet for storage. If you want to keep the vanity cabinet for hidden storage, give it a fresh coat of paint, a new tile or granite top, an updated faucet, and shiny new hardware. - Increase Your Closet Storage
Whether you live in a sprawling estate or a cozy three-bedroom cottage, you may find small closets that don’t provide enough storage for your clothes, linens, and other household essentials. A lack of closet space is especially common in older homes. Building new, larger closets can be expensive, but you have some easy, less expensive options:- Create an open closet for clothes and shoes on a bedroom wall
- Turn a smaller spare room into a closet
- Install a ready-made storage cabinet down the hallway
- Add hooks to walls and the back of doors for small items
- Use under-bed storage with vacuum-sealed garment bags
- Store seasonal items and linens in stackable containers
- Install New Electrical Outlets
Many older homes in Long Island neighborhoods only have one or two double wall outlets in each room. While this was normal 50 years ago, it’s hardly adequate for today’s homeowners with advanced technology. You can double your plug-in space for electronics and other essentials by installing additional outlets in each room. Consider adding grounded four-outlet plugs and rotating adapters to eliminate the need for extension cords. If you need extension cords, try multi-line colorful extension cords that stagger their outlets along the length of the cord. This gives you three plugs for each one you plug into the wall in three different places. - Replace Old or Damaged Hardware
When you move into a new home, you may discover old or damaged hardware that doesn’t work properly on cabinets, windows, and interior or exterior doors. If you find faulty hinges on cabinets or windows, replace them so they will open and close properly. While damaged locks on interior doors will prevent privacy, damaged locks on exterior doors will pose major safety concerns for your family. It’s important to check for damaged hardware and replace it correctly.
If you’re considering a move to Long Island, contact us to find out more information on available properties, including Westbury homes for sale.