Easy Home Improvements Before Holiday Guests Arrive

Worried your home isn’t ready for Christmas visitors?  You still have time, and we have the quick, easy ways to freshen your home without blowing the budget. 

Light it Up and Make it Tidy

Start at the street.  Take a good look at your home, and act like you are a once-a-year guest just pulling up for a cup of eggnog and a piece of pie.  The days are shorter and more cloudy, and the leaves have fallen from the trees in your yard, which can all work to make it look a little drab and uncared-for.  Get out the rake, clean up the leaves, and consider adding lights to walkways.  New outdoor light fixtures on the house are also a great way to revitalize your front entryway, immediately making visitors feel warm and welcomed.

Shut the Front Door...

…And paint it!  If your front door has always been the same, boring neutral color, it might be time to change it up.  A red front door is always classic, and will accent holiday décor.  If red is too bold for your tastes, choose a natural tone, like dark brown or deep blue, that compliments your home’s outdoor color scheme.

Touch-Up the Walls

Anyone with small children understands smudges on the walls.  Especially in high-traffic areas like bathrooms, kitchens, and stairways, fingerprints and smudges can make an otherwise clean house look dirty.  If the smudges don’t wipe away easily, it’s probably best to simply cover them with paint.  Instead of a new color, use leftover wall paint that matches what’s already on the walls.  Most of us have a leftover can of paint tucked away in the garage or basement.  Use a roller, not a paintbrush, to cover the stains on the wall so that the texture of the new paint more closely matches that of the old.  You’ll be surprised how new things feel when all the smudges and stains are covered, and the whole task shouldn’t take more than an hour or two.

Change Hardware and Fixtures

One of the easiest ways to update a home is to replace outdated hardware.  Although gold and brass fixtures have lately made a trendy return, the wrong style can instantly send your home back to the early ’90’s.  Be sure to take careful measurements so that your new hardware will fit appropriately without needing new holes drilled.  If you are a true home repair novice, it’s a good idea to take the old doorknob or old cabinet pull with you to the home improvement store, where experts can compare and be sure the new ones will fit perfectly.

Just like hardware can send your home back in time by decades, so can outdated fixtures.  Replace kitchen and bath faucets and towel rods with modern fixtures in an appealing finish to bring your home solidly into 2017.  All it takes is a trip to the home improvement store and a couple hours of your time to make your holiday guests feel more at home. 

Do all of these easy home improvements or do just one, and it will make a big difference in how your guests feel when they walk through the door to celebrate.  What they really want to is feel welcomed and comfortable, and that’s where your time as a host should be spent.  It’s a great bonus if your home gets a pretty make-over in the process, too!

Peggy Slappey Properties, Inc. is a Metro Atlanta real estate brokerage celebrating 35 years of experience in real estate sales and marketing.  From new home construction to resales, we can help you find the home of your dreams.  To see our current listings, visit www.psponline.com and call us for expert advice at 770-271-5555.  Keep up to date with the latest PSP events and offers by checking in on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/peggyslappeyproperties and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/psponline.

PHOTO CREDIT: http://www.hgtv.com/design/decorating/design-101/decked-out-holiday-front-doors-pictures