Small renovations can have a huge impact! (Personal Experience)

Everybody knows that a new coat of paint, new light fixtures, upgrading the backsplash in the kitchen, replacing the facet in the bathroom and kitchen will produce a big impact in a house without breaking the bank. Sometimes small renovations produce a huge impact.

I want to share a personal experience. When we bought our home we had a small storage room situated next to the garage in the basement. The previous owners had set up this space as part study, part closet and part storage. It was a Mix match of several uses that didn’t make any sense. When we started to use it we didn’t see any sense to use it as a study it was too small there were no windows, it was a very unpleasant place to work or do homework, it was nonfunctional as a study. So we decided to use it as a storage room, with time everything ended up in there, stuff that belonged in recycling or used for a big garage sale etc.. To be honest we didn’t know what to do with that “weird space”. Until it hit us one day.

We live in Canada where we have to store a huge amount of clothes during the winter months, we had a tiny closet upstairs that was also not functional and unable to hold winter jackets/attire for a family of four, and unfortunately, winter lasts almost six months of the year. We got creative in finding places for all our winter attire. So one day we took a real good look at the “undefined room” and a light bulb went off…having that space so conveniently located next to the garage we decided to convert that room into a very practical mudroom. We did it without breaking the bank (approx. $1000.00). We just removed the outside wall and the door and made it an open space, then we built a closet at the far back of the room for all our jackets/shoes/boots, with the help of IKEA “As-Is” we also built a “custom made” furniture for storage to keep our gloves, hats, umbrellas, my wife’s purses and more. We turned it from an unpractical storage/office room to a very beautiful and practical mudroom. Every time that I look at the room I feel proud that we made that dramatic change in our house with less than $1K. Now we have a “five-star” mudroom, although my wife laughs at me every time I say that. It greatly improved our morning routine with our kids. Getting them ready for school is so much, much, (I said much?) much easier. Be creative! Don’t get scared of small renovations sometimes a very simple change can make your home a lot prettier and also a lot more functional

BEFORE

AFTER