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Top 10 Simple Do It Yourself House Improvement Projects The jobs below are all ones you can finish in an afternoon (or at the very most, a leisurely Weekend), does not need any electrical or plumbing know-how, and require a small number of tools. They will greatly enhance the beauty and performance of your home at a low expense, and without the need for employing a professional. 1. Perform a restroom mirror facelift. Large mirrors running countertop-to-ceiling in 50s style bathrooms are overbearing and old-fashioned, but can be daunting to remove. A quick repair is to "frame in" your mirror with very wide borders made from baseboard molding, decreasing the overall quantity of mirror area and making it look like a hanging wall accent. You can use a fast-acting epoxy to glue 4 pcs of molding directly to the mirror to serve as the "frame", then mask and paint the molding with an accent color. What to use: wide baseboard, epoxy, paint, miter saw, measuring tape, masking tape, plaster, and little brushes. 2. Frost some windows. You can increase your privacy without compromising natural light by replacing dull drapes for a do-it-yourself window frosting kit. If you follow the guidelines carefully, these thin plastic films look like the real thing, and will not peel up in time. Frosting the windows on our powder room and front door (please do not ask me exactly why the home builders installed a clear window in a bathroom) took me about half an hour, and it looks great. What to use: a window film, like these sold by Home Depot. 3. Change old hardware on cabinets. http://guttercleaningservicesinseattle.wikidot.com Old kitchen cabinetry gets a fresh lease on life if you replace used or ugly hinges, knobs and handles on bathroom and kitchen area cabinets with new ones. Brushed nickel hardware is appealing and economical, and will give your cabinets a more modern appearance. Things that you will need: hardware and a screwdriver. 4. Apply a basic coat of paint. Paint is inexpensive, but is one of the most convenient methods to revitalize a space. If you are prepping your home for resale, select a neutral shade. Yes, your wine-colored dining-room walls are beautiful and add style to the entire home, but it's your style. Potential buyers want to see the home as a blank slate, not as something with your finger prints all over it. Your buyers may ultimately choose that the dining-room would be classy and distinctive with a coat of wine-colored paint, but let them believe it is their original concept. You can often employ students to paint your home at a comparatively low rate, you can save cash by doing it yourself or by at least doing the masking and priming actions. And honestly, if you're going to go that far, why leave the last step (the fun part) for student painters to do? Things that you will need: paints and primers, trays and paint rollers, little brushes, masking tape, and drop fabrics. 5. Paint over awful wood paneling. The wood paneling popular in the 1960s and 70s still haunts lots of living room and basement dens. Ripping it out is a big job. If you prepare the paneling ahead of time by sanding away the glossy surface and priming it with a good thick coat (or coats) of primer, you can paint right over it. Make certain to get both primer and sandpaper into the little grooves in between the laminated panels, so that the ghost of paneling past does not reappear at the end of your job. Specifically dark paneling will definitely require several coats of primer before you use a light-colored paint. You will need: sandpaper or motorized sandpaper, mask, primers and paints, paint rollers and trays, little brushes, masking tape, and drop fabrics. 6. Bring in some bedding plants. Add a splash of color to the patio, garden, or window boxes by planting a few colorful, splashy perennials. If you don't have a green thumb; bedding plants are an economical method to make your outdoor areas more appealing without having any gardening knowledge so do not worry. Geraniums, petunias, and marigolds are hardy options that make a dramatic visual effect. Arrange your bedding plants in odd-numbered groups (three, 5, seven, and so on) for a more natural look. You will need: various bedding plants, a trowel, and gardening gloves (if you're nit-picky about your fingernails). 7. Install molding and baseboards. Adding baseboards and crown molding surfaces off a space and offers it a designer look. If you have rooms that are generally rectangle-shaped (i.e., there aren't a great deal of nooks or other irregularities), this could be an easy task to do in a few chosen locations, such as the dining and living spaces. In my experience, the most challenging thing about this job is the mathematics associated with calculating the various cuts in crown molding, which is set up at an angle (versus baseboards, which are installed flush to the wall). My other half and I discovered this online calculator very useful in setting up the molding.|Bring in baseboards and crown molding finishes off a room and gives it a designer look. In my experience, the most difficult thing about this project is the mathematics involved in computing the numerous cuts in crown molding, which is installed at an angle (versus baseboards, which are set up flush to the wall). What to use: pre-primed baseboards and MDF moldings, white paint, caulking to fill gaps and joints in between the trim and ceiling, a measuring tape, a nailgun, a miter saw, and a friend. Installing trim is a 2 person task. 8. Hide unsightly cables. The piles of cables running from your television to the wall several feet away, or from your wall sconce to the wall socket near the floor, look unfinished and messy. You can hide these behind baseboard moldings if you have them (see above) or make them virtually undetectable with a cord concealer, such as this one made by Philips. Cable concealers are snap-together plastic tubes offered in a few standard colors and lengths, through which your unpleasant tangle of electrical wiring can pass unseen. What to use: cable concealers and a few minutes of your time. 9. Design an ornamental tile backsplash. Put tile mastic to a sanded and prepared wall according to the manufacturers instructions. Make use of tile spacers to equally area the tiles. Fill the areas in between the tiles with grout and the area between the tiles and the counter tops (and overhead cabinets, if applicable) with caulking. What to use: tile mastic and tiles, grout, a tile cutter (rented, if you don't have one), a notched trowel, tile spacers, a tape measure, a caulking gun, sandpaper,and cleaning cloths. 10. Install an ironing board cabinet. A wonderful addition to your laundry room or kitchen area is an ironing board cabinet. Mounted on a wall, these cabinets keep your ironing board useful without taking up important flooring space. Materials needed: ironing board cabinet, power drill, tape measure, stud finder, and level.