How to revive a shabby interior? You don’t have to invest tens of thousands

Do you feel that your home’s interior doesn’t look as good as it did some years ago? You don’t have to plan a complete renovation right away. Bring your home back to life with relatively inexpensive renovations. Which ones?

How to treat old paint and tiles?

The paintwork condition has a big impact on the overall impression. It loses its uniform colour over time. In addition, yellow will turn slightly grey or more yellow, and coloured paint will fade for a change. On top of that, there are mechanically damaged areas – scratches or child drawings. None of this looks good.

If you manage to paint it yourself, this step will cost you a few hundred at most. The individual rooms will look amazing. There is no harm in changing the shade away from the original paint, which will make the change even more noticeable.

When it comes to ceramic tiles, there is a way to make them shine again relatively inexpensively. Often it is not the tiles themselves, but the joints that degrade and create a shabby impression. Instead of a complete replacement, just clean the joint or scrape it out and replace it with new filling. You'll be amazed how little it takes to get a great result – again, for next to nothing.

Don’t forget the wall decorations

New accessories are a good match for new decorations. Some interior pieces will naturally age over time, whether in terms of fashion trends or material degradation. Replace older wall clocks with more modern ones, add new shelves or pictures to the wall. Any little thing that’s not too expensive will help.

Renovating textiles in the home

You don’t have to replace an older sofa with a new one right away. Instead of spending thousands, you can solve the problem with new upholstery. An even cheaper solution, which will also give you a great result, is to buy new sofa covers. Buying them early will also protect the original covers well.

Carpets will benefit from a thorough cleaning with dedicated products. If your carpets are really tarnished, you may consider a getting professional carpet cleaning service.

Decorative cushions will also appreciate new covers, and if you don’t want to change the curtains, wash them gently. There are many age-old tips for returning them to their original snow-white colour (e.g. using baking powder, table salt, baking soda, vinegar, etc.).

Make furniture look like new again

For older furniture, the best option is to sand down the paintwork and apply a new coat of paint. Again, this is a matter of only a small price, and it will make the furniture look like it was just purchased. All you need is a little skill and determination.

Of course, furniture restoration makes sense, especially for more expensive pieces made of solid wood. But even cheaper pieces made of laminate can be restored. They can be reupholstered with a new decorative foil, which also makes it easy to hide small defects that have appeared on the furniture during use.