Home makeover ideas you can do in a weekend

Between the demands of work and family commitments, finding time for a full-scale renovation can feel impossible. For most of us, Monday to Friday is fully booked. But a standard weekend – or even better, a long one – can be enough to breathe new life into your place with a mini home makeover if you’re prepared to do the mahi.

Tip: Always wear the appropriate safety equipment (safety glasses, gloves, ear muffs and a mask, for example) and always follow the instructions for the product or equipment.

At a glance: Home makeover ideas you can do in a weekend

• Use paint to refresh skirting boards or add colour to a ceiling.
• Add ambient lighting with floor and table lamps.
• Switch up items in the sightline of a room.
• Update doorknobs and cupboard handles.
• Add shelving to a room or wardrobe for display storage.
• Instead of new wallpaper or paint, add tongue-and-groove wall panels.
• Replace old toilet seats.
• Paint a piece of furniture or add artwork to a room.

How to use paint to brighten your home

Whether it’s drenching all four walls in colour or just refreshing skirting boards and trims, paint is one of the quickest and most cost-effective ways to revitalise a room. There are so many options to try, says interior designer Megan Harrison-Turner. She loves these ideas:

• Painting a ceiling: “Ceilings don’t get painted in a colour often enough, in my opinion,” says Megan. “But using a dark colour like an inky blue on a ceiling can create instant drama. It can also give the room a cosy, cocoon-like quality.”
• Painting a wall to match your sofa: “[This] can have a great impact,” says Megan. “It doesn’t necessarily need to be an exact match; for example, if you have a mossy green sofa, you could paint the wall one or two shades darker.”

Tip: With weekend paint jobs, factoring in prep (cleaning, sanding, masking and priming) and drying time is essential.

Easy ways to refresh a room

A simple ‘eye-level refresh’ can be a game changer. Assess the items in the sightline of a room, such as doorknobs and cupboard handles, lighting coverplates, artworks, and floor and table lamps, to see if any can be changed up.

Lighting is an easy fix, and a practical way of creating everyday cosiness is to set floor and table lamps on a timer, suggests Megan. “Lighting makes such a difference, but I often find people forget to turn on ambient lighting, relying on ceiling lights most of the time,” she says. “Try setting a timer to turn on lamps when you arrive home.”

Home makeover ideas for your storage

Storage and organisation projects, such as sorting your pantry or wardrobe, are not always immediately obvious to guests, but these small tweaks can have a big impact on your household. Try these tips to change your home storage:

• Consider how you and your family use a space. D.I.Y.er Kate van den Bergh, who is renovating a heritage villa, says accessibility was a key consideration in her busy home. “We customised shallow shelving in the kitchen for recipe books, and separate low shelving for kids’ bowls, cereals, snacks and pet food, so everything is within easy reach and the kids can help themselves,” she says.
• Similar considerations should be made for wardrobes. “If you need to see your clothes to decide what to wear, drawers might not be the best option,” advises Kate. “Telescopic pull-out rails and a mounted folding rail can make everything easier to view and access.”
• Use clear plastic boxes in cupboards. “We use clear, stackable boxes for the kids’ toys and rotate things in and out, which helps keep the clutter down and makes old toys feel new again,” says Kate. “Being able to see what’s inside also makes everything much easier to find.”

How V groove panelling can transform a room

Tongue-and-groove panels (V-groove MDF) and slat wall panels are an easy way to lift the look of a room and can suit a number of interior styles, including Japandi, coastal or even a ’70s retro vibe. Here are some ways to use them to make a difference:

• Paint them. Kate van den Bergh says she loves the transformative quality of panels. “We’ve used Laminex wall panels in our son’s room and plan to use them in our daughter’s room later this year,” she says. “They’re easy to install and make a big impact – we added a coat of paint and a trim detail on top to suit the space.”
• Use V-groove panels to hide tricky features. “I’ve used them in a room with a dated built-in wardrobe,” Megan Harrison-Turner says. “We removed all the trims around the wardrobe, put tongue- and-groove across the entire wall and doors, then painted it a dark colour so the wardrobe blended into the wall.”

Tip: Before installing V-groove panels, leave them in the room for 48 hours to help them adapt to the conditions in the room and prevent warping and buckling. This is a critical issue in New Zealand homes, which can have moisture issues.

What are some easy home makeover ideas?

Giving a room a complete overhaul won’t realistically be achievable in a weekend, but these small changes might be an option, particularly if you plan to save big renovations for the future:

• Hardware, light globes and shades can be easy to switch.
• Replacing a yellowed toilet seat will help to modernise a bathroom.
• Paint over dated tiles. If you’re saving up for a full bathroom reno, this can be a temporary fix, says Megan. “Try stencilling over the top using a sponge to dab on paint. If there’s a dated listello – those decorative trim tiles that were popular in the ’90s – try painting over them in a solid colour.”

Tip: Watch our video on how to paint over old tiles.

• Give tired cabinets a refresh with paint. “Good prep and the right tools make all the difference,” Kate says. “I always rinse new rollers before using them to remove any loose fibres, and use mini rollers for the larger areas and angled brushes for the details. Lightly sanding between coats helps keep the finish smooth, and using a durable paint – we went with a water-based enamel – makes cabinets hardwearing and easy to wipe clean. Just make sure you allow proper drying time between coats.”

Tip: Do you have laminate kitchen cabinets? Use this handy guide to give them a paint freshen up.

• Add artwork. “If you’re doing a feature wall, always echo that same colour a couple of times throughout the room to make it feel finished,” says Megan. “You could do this by introducing an artwork.”
• Paint furniture instead of the walls. Statement pieces in a child’s bedroom can be a particularly effective way to inject personality, advises Kate. “Incorporating their preferred colours in small ways – like painting a bookshelf instead of a wall – helps personalise the space while still allowing it to grow with them over time,” she says.

Keep in mind...

• Any hardwired electrical fixtures must be installed by a licensed electrician.
• When using power tools, always protect ears and eyes with ear muffs and safety glasses (gloves and a mask are also recommended), follow the manufacturer’s instructions and work in a well-ventilated area.
• Paint colours may vary on application.

Keen for more ideas to rejuvenate your home?

Check out our 10 decorating upgrades for renters.

Photo credit: British Paints, Dulux/Lisa Cohen, SpecRite, Dulux.