What is the cheapest idea to make a house look nice all around?
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Wow! This is awesome
Wood pallet as siding. Its free, stainable, treated and easy to install. Use Pinterest for more ideas and visuals. Good luck.
What a great house and beautiful piece of property!
Make a list. What do you want to do first? Tackle one at a time. Cross off the list and move to the next item. If you can, have you thought about hiring out projects that might be too big or that you do not want to do yourself?
i would love to get someone else to do things but no money to pay them.
Clean ,clean, clean. Even the most humble abode looks nice if it's clean!
Clean, declutter, (seriously , if you can't upcycle in your own home, recycle, last resort trash it!) paint. Most all of us can do that without hiring a soul.
Google "people working cooperatively" with the name of your city and state to see if you have a local chapter that helps with home repairs. They will come out and evaluate your needs and see if they can help you with things like insulation, windows, possibly plumbing, etc. It is a volunteer based organization with lots of nice people and businesses involved in community service.
Also, check with your local United Methodist Church. Lots of them do "local" mission projects rather than sending their youth group or men's group to another area for mission work, and they might have resources for supplies, and lots of free labor. Again, lots of nice people involved.
Do you have a local Habitat for Humanity resource?
Google "People Working Cooperatively" with your city and state, to see if there is a local group. They can come and evaluate and see how they can help you with things like insulation, siding, plumbing, and maybe other items. It is a volunteer group with lots of nice people and businesses involved.
Contact your local United Methodist Church. Lots of times the youth group or Men's group will do "local" mission work projects instead of traveling away to another state. Again, lots of nice people involved.
Try contacting Habitat for Humanity in your area for resources.
Paint! Paint and work one side at a time.paint foundation the same color too. Ask friends and family for their perennial divisions. Certain plants need to be divided for better growth and if you got some from here and there you'd have some landscaping.
Stucco is cheap and easy to do. Google it how to put up stucco
Also maybe a veggie garden
Luv the pallet idea, just have to have a way of collecting them.
And paint,,,,paint,,,,transforms a place. Look on craigs list for deals.
What ever you decide to do you need to do it fast. You need to get something on the outside of your house or you are going to be on the outside. Like advised earlier craigslist free items, habitat, some warehouses have unused pallets they will give, rip them up and do a shiplap type to protect your walls. What ever you choose don't just sit back and wish someone would do it for you.
Follow others comments for your house, but for the ground,it would be easy to start some perennials like daylilies. They are low maintenance, you can usually find someone giving them away, and some versions are a bit taller (like the orange ones) so they will cover some of that concrete area on your house wall.
Start with just getting some in right away, and you can always add more, or add a simple border - htat will help the curb appeal of your home.
depending on the size of your home you could first pressure wash the exterior then repaint using a different color for the body and then repaint front/back doors, shutters and all trim in a tone that helps make your home stand out...do it yourself about $400. Contracted out on average $3,000 and up.
for the inside same thing repaint not only your walls but the trim and interior doors.
Add blooming florals or yard decor including small fountains or a cute fairy garden....
Ask a painting contractor if they have any extra paint on hand they'd like to get rid of inexpensively. Most of these companies have to buy special mixes if colors and they can't return them for refunds so they now have gallons sitting around hoeing someone will want give same color but it's highly unlikely so they may just give it to you free or for a little bit if cash another place is Habitat for Humanity as they sometines have a contractors extra paint donated to them and then they resale it cheaply, look around you'd be surprised what people will give away to get it out if their way! Hope it helps!
Where I live the city recycling center offers used paint for free. When properly disposed of, it ends up with the various "hazardous waste " products. They have someone that opens the cans (or 5 gal. buckets); stirs and checks for quality. The containers are resealed with a dab of color on the lid and placed in a room that is accessible to the public. You may take whatever you like. I have gotten many gallons of Glidden , Sherwin Williams, Valspar,etc. in the form of oil/latex, interior/exterior paints, stains sealers, primers, etc. Check with your local waste mgmt. get them to start a program if they don't have it. It reduces the haz.mat. and I, for instance, am able to give my home a very custom paint job by mixing colors to my liking. I have the stain/sealer to redo my deck am collecting and saving to do the exterior, as well -- for $0.00! I make less than $30,000 yr and doing this to offset my rent. (awesome landlord)
I would contact Habitat for Humanity as you can get work done if your low-income or disabled for sweat-equity. It doesn't even have to be you to do the sweat-equity if you can round up your friends to do some hours for you. I did it last summer for a disabled couple.
If your going to paint it make sure you do a coat of exterior primer first so the paint holds. If your going to clad it, make sure you wrap the house and replace the blown-off stuff that was on it.
Many churches have groups who go out and do volunteer work at seniors, disabled and low-income families to help fix up homes.
And there is a rural grant program... http://www.ruralhome.org/storage/documents/rd504_vli_repair.pdf
and single family homes http://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/single-family-housing-repair-loans-grants
Don't know your budget, but stucco is great. Insulates, has a water barrier, paint it when needed (5+ yrs) and lasts . Just a suggestion. Nice property.
Hi, your house is lovely. Sometimes when you look at a task you see all the things that need doing and it becomes overwhelming. Start with something small and work from there. You can do it!!!