This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
The family cabin needs a little love? Despite inflation, you can still get away with it. The proof with five small budget suggestions that are easy to make yourself. To your brushes!
1. Declutter the space
The basic principles of home staging work, regardless of your goal, whether you’re hoping to sell your apartment or rejuvenate your cottage. “People often bring all the stuff they don’t want at home to the chalet,” notes Stéphanie Guéritaud, the stylist behind the blog Déconome. The decor is then cluttered with all sorts of disparate objects, sometimes for decades.
His advice? “Pure and keep only the essentials. It can be to turn the large library that takes up too much space or to remove the shelves that only accumulate dust, ”she gives as an example.
2. Refresh the paint
It’s a fact: repainting doesn’t cost too much, in addition to being accessible even to Sunday do-it-yourselfers. It is not for nothing that painting is inevitably at the top of the low-budget decoration charts! “Painting can work miracles,” emphasizes Stéphanie Guéritaud.
In fact, there’s nothing quite like painting a wooden wall white — a cabin classic — to freshen up a room. Because too much wood is like not enough, says Daphné Morin, who shares her renovation and decoration tips on her blog, Daphlive. “It allows you to better showcase the other woodwork,” she says. To avoid any yellowing (especially if your walls are made of pine), be sure to apply the correct primer first.
Why not also repaint the old wooden or melamine cabinet doors, the obsolete kitchen backsplash or even the electric baseboards and the fireplace? For the latter, get some high-temperature enamel paint.
3. Upcycle old furniture
On her blog, Stéphanie Guéritaud recently told how she transformed an oak dresser found in the street in order to install it in the kitchen of her chalet. “It cost me absolutely nothing,” she explains. . To bring it up to date, after a good cleaning, she used leftover white paint mixed with water to whiten the wood, whose reddish tint made it old-fashioned.
“You can paint anything,” says Daphné Morin. There is even spray paint designed for outdoor fabrics. » Perfect for old cushions or sun-faded umbrellas!
4. Stain the ceramic joints
The bill to change a ceramic floor or redo the shower can quickly mount, especially if you have to call in an expert for the installation. Know that there is an easy way to rejuvenate yellowed or dirt-encrusted ceramic joints: grout stain. You will find them in all colors in hardware stores and specialty shops.
“For $25, it completely changes the look,” says Daphné Morin, who has just tried the experiment (successfully) in her shower.
5. Change grips
In the kitchen and the bathroom, simply think of changing the handles of the cupboards. A small gesture that can make a big change, according to Daphné Morin. “Without getting into the plumbing, you can also change the faucets, advises the specialist in low-budget renovations. Also, remember to replace any bathroom fixtures that show signs of corrosion. »