Thinking of selling your home soon, but stuck practicing social distancing? Try taking on some do-it-yourself home projects that not only will make you feel more productive, but also might pay dividends when it comes time to place your house on the market.
Here are some easy-to-do living room chores that can give you a sense of accomplishment, while also leading to a cleaner, more organized (and more attractive and sellable) abode.
1. Upgrade your lighting
Consider replacing old bulbs in your living room lamps with energy-efficient LED bulbs that have a longer life, and don’t heat up as much as incandescent or fluorescent bulbs.
You also might consider taking a hard look at the shades on each of your lights. If you have a similar size lamp in another room, swap the shades to give your living room a new look.
2. Hang (or rehang) a gallery wall
Redoing your wall design is a fast way to upgrade your living room’s look—and it costs almost nothing except your time and a few picture hooks and nails. Always wanted to try a gallery wall? Go for it! And if you already have one, it might be time to change it up. Either way, lay your frames on the floor to plan the arrangement. If you already have a gallery, play with the order of the grouping or add new pictures, and then rehang.
3. Wash living room curtains
Although this is one of those household chores you’re supposed to do every six to eight months, it can easily fall to the wayside. Now that you have some extra time at home, however, you might want to take a couple of hours to clean any curtains that are washing machine-safe. If your curtains aren’t meant to touch water, then take them off the rod, go outside and give them a good shake to remove the dust.
4. Wipe down baseboards
Baseboards, crown molding, railings, and other wall details often get overlooked during regular weekly cleaning sessions. Fix this situation by dipping a sponge in a mild wood surface cleaner diluted in warm water and gently swabbing these surfaces to rid them of grime and dust.
5. Restyle your bookshelves
Another quick and easy task is sorting through all your books, magazines and CDs, and then letting go of what you no longer watch or want to read. Next, take the time to organize your books in a way that makes sense to you, whether by genre or author, color or another method.
6. Rearrange the furniture
While you might be in need of a furniture refresh, the home quarantine and the fact that most home goods stores aren’t open right now might make that difficult. The answer? Try to give your room a new perspective without spending a ton of money by rearranging the furniture. Now is a good time to evaluate what is and isn’t working for you. Toward that end, consider removing a chair or two to make the room seem more spacious, or try moving the sofa or switching out an area rug with a lighter one that has been sitting in another room.
7. Fix wall marks with paint
It only takes a few minutes to remove any unsightly black scuff marks from living room walls using a Magic Eraser. If you’re handy, you might try repainting a wall.