SIL Sept/Oct 2019

Interested in updating your home?
No idea where to start? Don’t worry,
you’re not alone! It’s easy to be overwhelmed
with ideas for home renovation.
Just deciding what style you’d like to
create in your home can be tough when
you’re surrounded by a constant stream
of HGTV, picture-perfect homes on social
media and products by Joanna Gaines at
your local Target. The choices seem endless!
The urge to revamp, redo and redecorate
is everywhere, constantly nagging
you about your home’s lack of tastefully
chosen shiplap. That urge can quickly become
complicated and very expensive if
you don’t consider your budget. As much
as I would love to customize my entire
home, this isn’t a reality show. However,
my husband and I have managed to make
several updates to our 1990s brick ranch
that made a huge difference, with only a
small dent in our bank account. I’d like to
share some budget-friendly tips you can
use to refresh your space, without tearing
the whole thing down and starting over.
First, I want to share my best-kept
renovation secret, and the No. 1 way to
make an affordable change in your home.
If you don’t love the look of something,
paint it! Do you wish you had beautiful
white cabinets like the ones you see shining
all over Pinterest? Paint them! Is your
old furniture starting to look scratched
and worn-down? Paint it! Would you like
your rooms to flow and make your space
feel larger? Paint those walls! Paint is
highly undervalued in the home renovation
world, as it gives you the opportunity
to completely change the look and feel of
something at very little cost.
When our family moved into our
home a few years ago, every room looked
like your dad’s favorite Hawaiian shirt.
We had a bright yellow living room, salmon
pink dining room, green kitchen, and
mauve and teal bathrooms. You needed
sunglasses just to walk around indoors,
and all of the rooms felt small and choppy.
One of our first projects was to paint the
three main rooms of our home our favorite
gray/beige color, allowing them to
flow together and give our home the open
concept feel we love, without knocking
down walls.
After we found sophisticated and
calming neutrals for our walls, we painted
several pieces of furniture white to
give everything a modern farmhouse look
without having to buy all new things. I
found a beautiful vintage buffet in downtown
Corydon for the centerpiece of our
family room, and three tables at a consignment
shop in Clarksville for next to nothing.
One can of flat paint later, and they
all look like a “Fixer Upper” reveal. Check
out your local flea markets and thrift
24 • Sept/Oct 2019 • Southern Indiana Living
Special Section: Home Improvement
Home Sweet Home
Updating your home doesn’t have to cost a fortune
Story and Photos by Ali Webb