How to Cut Costs and Save Space for a Tight Home Renovation

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Any home renovation is a challenge. Renovating a small, tight space is doubly difficult – especially when you need to save money, too.

For ideas on how to cut home renovation costs and make your space look bigger, check out these four simple tips.

4 Money-Saving, Space-Expanding Tips for a Home Renovation

Make keeping things small a creative challenge, not a headache-inducing black hole of stress. Here’s how to do it.

1. Buy Materials Off-the-Shelf

A common area where many homeowners splurge is the materials. They may go for custom counters, imported tile, or custom-designed furniture.

If you’re trying to save cash on your renovation, skip custom and go for materials you can buy off-the-shelf. For instance, instead of ordering that expensive, authentic Spanish tile online, get a nice look-alike that’s in stock at your local hardware store for at least half the price.

2. Reuse What You Have

Remodeling on a budget requires some ingenuity. Before you dish out extra money for new stuff, take a good hard look at what you already have and see if any of it is reusable.

Prime example: Your kitchen cabinets might look drab and dated now, but a fresh coat of glossy paint might instantly modernize them. The same goes for your old hardwood floors or furniture. Can they be overhauled or updated instead of replaced? This will cost much less in the end.

3. Keep Fixtures Small-Scale and Low Profile

If you’re renovating a small space, you need to think small at every turn.

For your tiny kitchen, don’t choose a gigantic sink and a huge industrial faucet – they will take over the room. Keep your fixtures to scale and your space will look bigger.

Similarly, choose lighting fixtures with low profiles, ones that don’t protrude too much from the walls or ceiling. This helps keep your sightline clear to the back of the room, which makes everything look more spacious.

4. Invest in Huge Space-Savers

Renovating a small space on a budget is tricky, but there are a few key places to invest the brunt of your money.

One of them is space savers that are ingenious and do their job incredibly well. Pocket doors, for example, free up lots of square footage because you get rid of the need to plan for extra clearance for a swinging door.

Other great space-saving investments? Try a solid set of bookshelves, a coffee table with hidden storage, or a modular desk that can fold up into the wall.

Small Home Renovations Should Be Big on Creativity

As long as you have a touch of creativity on your side, remodeling a home with a small budget and floor plan can be a fun endeavor. Use your noggin and create a versatile space that keeps you well within your means.