Sometimes I am guilty of thinking that you can only have a big impact on your space if you are also willing to throw a lot of money at said space. In light of this, I wanted to just write a quick little post about a few things we did at Haven House that were not expensive, but made a huge impact.
Paint the vent covers
Haven House is forced air, so there are duct vents along the baseboard in many places throughout the home. These vent covers are what I am going to call "old timey sized", meaning that they don't look as if they are necessarily the same vent covers that you might go to a hardware store and buy today. They also looked pretty beaten. Some of them were rusting in places, others were just odd colors. I asked the Mr. if there was anything we could do to spruce them up and he offered to sand and spray paint them. I have to tell you, this micro update has really improved the look of the spaces around the house. I still notice how nice they look and it puts a smile to my face.
I didn't take a lot of pictures of this, but to give you an idea - here is an example of a "before" vent cover.
Here, we see an "after" picture of a vent cover.
This is just one vent cover, but imagine multiplying this small change across the 20-30 vent covers on the main living level and let me tell you -- the difference is bigger than you would think.
2. Replace switches. outlets, and plate covers
Haven House had many original light switches, outlets, and plate covers. One thing I never realized until moving here is that light switches from the 1960s really required some "umph" to flip on or off. Also, the color of the switches and plates was the dreaded biscuit color which I never much cared for. In many cases the switch plates were also sort of gross after 60 years of use and abuse. The Mr. stepped in to the rescue yet again and we swapped out all of the outlet and plate covers with modern switches and plates that are white. I still appreciate the ease with which the switches flip and the white blends in much better with the overall look of the home.
Pictures to come...
Approximate costs:
Spray paint x4 = $20.00
Switches, outlets, plates: $120.00 - includes some 3 way switches and GFCI outlets
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$140.00
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