7 Inexpensive Bathroom Upgrades That Will Up Your Home’s Value
Potential buyers can be thrown off by the littlest things (just consult any episode of House Hunters). Even if you’re not thinking about selling your home now, you can make small improvements while you’re still living there without dedicating a lot of time or money to the cause.
These 7 bathroom projects take only a weekend and a few hundred bucks, at most, but they’ll pay off in the long run when you decide to sell in a few months or a few years.
1. Clean or Re-Do the Grout
This is a choose-your own adventure project: If the grout in the shower and elsewhere around the bathroom looks good, just a bit dirty, give it a good deep clean. If you think the grout is beyond help, or you’d benefit from changing up the color, try a full removal and re-do.
→ This Weekend: Get Your Grout Looking Like New
2. Change Out the Light Fixture
The easiest way to bring a dated bathroom into this millennium is to replace the light fixture(s) around the space to something more contemporary. You’d be surprised how something so small can give the whole space a facelift.
3. Install a Green Low-Flow Toilet
It might be the most expensive project on this list thanks to the hardware required (that is, a whole new toilet), but this one will definitely pay off. If you bought your home many years ago, local regulations might require the toilets in the home to be low-flow before you can close a sale. So do the repair now and enjoy the savings on your water bill while you’re still living there.
4. Apply Fresh Caulk
Step 1: Use a razor or box-cutter to cut the old grout out. Step 2: Try not to gag at the mildew underneath as you clean it. Step 3: Pretend you’re a Ghostbuster while you use a caulk gun to apply a fresh seal and make the bathroom look and feel brand new.
5. Update Cabinet Pulls
This could be a really cheap project depending on how many cabinets you have in the bathroom, but it will no doubt pay off handsomely. Splurge on something really luxe to elevate the space; like handbags and shoes, you really can see and feel when it’s a better quality product.
6. Replace Any Chipped Tile
This is your official nudge to take care of that tiny-but-inevitable fix right now, while you’re still the one enjoying the (soon to be pristinely-tiled) room.
7. Install a New Shower Head
Whether for function, form or both, you can change out the shower head yourself with just a little bit of direction from YouTube or the manufacturer’s website. It’s one small step to a more spa-like bathroom that buyers love to see.
Re-edited from a post originally published 5.11.2016 – LS