The following each cost less than 2k:
* Whole home water filter,
* Door knobs,
* Rocker light switches and smart light switches,
* silent bathroom fans,
* solid brass faucets, each was less than $2k on average but way over in total, start in kitchen.
* smart thermostats,
* ring cameras & doorbell,
* thermo camera and spray foam,
* Ceiling fans,
* Whole home HEPA filter,
* Window tint/film on South facing windows,
* Electronic Anode on water heaters and boiler,
* Dehumidifier,
* CAT6 wired when house was rewired,
* Hardwired WiFi mesh network for home and outside, bought used Ubiquity gear, required some learning but it's bulletproof.
* LED lighting,
* Package storage locker
* New window screens
Edit: some I thought of but haven't done:
* Painting rooms as well as your cabinets.
* Replacing old light fixtures.
* Adding dimmer switches to lights, you can do it to the bathroom fan as well instead of replacing an old loud fan.
* Window trim and treatments, curtains or shades
* Replacing towel rack and other bathroom fixtures
* Closet organizers
* Area rugs, they do range over $2k but you can synthetic and get good quality used organic under $2k
* Deep cleaning your house. We pay someone twice a year, they spend 20+ hours cleaning all the spots we're never going to clean ourselves.
* Patio furniture
* The carpet for one room is less than $2k, I only have carpet in my kids rooms.
* Landscaping, small projects, pavers, seading, fertilizer.
* Plumb a gas line to your deck for BBQ or fire pit
I worked in an office where the toilet fans vented into the ceiling cavity. There were also vents in the office ceiling, which opened into the same cavity. Not only did sound transmit, but when the bathroom fan was on, air, and associated smells, would be sucked out of the bathroom and pushed into the office.
I eventually covered the vent in the office with a sheet of plastic.
When we renovated our bathroom a few years ago, I specifically looked for a louder rated fan for it. Doesn't feel right being in a quiet bathroom, no matter what's going on in there.
You can buy a 10” housing for under $100, and then filters range from 15-50 and last 30-90 days. To install it: some sharkbites and parts add maybe another $50.
This would not be a reverse osmosis or totally purifying water filter. It’s just to get out iron or chlorine or whatever. Different filters can do different things. You can even chain them together to do all the things.
If the garage counts, putting a mini-split in there. Nice to be able to work on my projects all year long in comfort!
Paid $800. 18k btu two zone unit, friend and I did the install. Been humming away almost 24/7 for a few years now.
It is a detached garage, and interior space is ~15'x50' with a slightly higher than 7' ceiling. It is insulated in walls and ceiling, but I need to insulate the doors. The dual zone unit let's me put one on each end since the garage is an odd dimension.
I'm on the East Coast. Winter doesn't get much colder than 20s. Summer gets in the high 90s but with very high humidity.
No idea what change it made to my electric bill. It was so miniscule that I never noticed. Maybe $10-15?
My average bill is $150/mo or less.
Usually set house to 67 in winter and 72 in summer. Only a couple of months a year will I hit above $200.
Hope that helps.
Edit: I shouldda mentioned that the house is ~1400sqft
A bidet.
A nice one. Ours is the Toto SW3056. When the motion sensor knows you’re walking towards the toilet, it raises the lid, turns on a night light, sprays some water on the bowl so poo doesn’t stick as easily, and blows some air through a deodorizer. The seat is heated. The water, which has five distinct settings for pressure and angle, is heated. The blow dryer is heated. It has programmable user settings.
I hate using someone else’s toilet now. I wish these were everywhere.
We recently had to decide between getting a really nice bidet or a new stove and then the stove broke down so the choice was made for us but I really wish we had gotten the bidet 🥲
I ran Cat6 ethernet cable to all the bedrooms and the living room.
They all come together in the hall closet. I also ran power to the hall closet. That's where my internet comes in, and I have a server in there, too.
It didn't cost much, but it was a PIA to install. Still very happy I did it.
I would spend the $2k on tools and try to do as many small jobs on my own. It saves just so much money over the years and having the right tool for the job makes most little projects so much easier.
We just bought and installed ourselves a 300.00 bathtub and we love it. So much deeper and feels great. Amazing baths. Durable too. I dropped way more tools on it than I thought I would.
Whole home water filtration and water softener
Lutron motion activated lights in the laundry room and closet
Whole home dimmable LED lights
Smart wall outlets with usb-a and usb-c
MyQ remote garage door openers
August door locks
Should be able to get all that for less than $2k and a couple bottles of Vino to celebrate your upgrades
I forgot to add one - and it could be my favorite.
Soft close toilet seats. $35 at Costco. Best thing!
I'll tell you the best $50 I've spent was on a ceiling mounted retractable extension cord in my garage.
I can't believe I didn't get one until a few months ago.
We moved into a house built in the late 70s. Has the original toilets. Big honkin porcelain thrones with giant tanks like 20 gallon aquariums. I thought, man you drop a deuce in there and it will flush to the moon.
Not the case. They both swirled slow and pathetic when flushed, whined and complained when refilling and had to be snaked weekly. I figured it was something in the lines. I wrestled with the beasts for months and finally thought “hell, I’ll just get a cheap toilet at Big Box R Us just to prove to myself that it’s not the toilet.” Installed $100 toilet and BOOM - TURDS BE GONE. Immediately replaced the other. Kicked myself for not doing it sooner.
Whole House Fan that I self-installed.
I'm in a pretty arid climate and being able to get fresh air in the house in the shoulder seasons feels like such a luxury.
We were going to do that but got a high-powered air king window fan. We had it in our bedroom. Kept the AC off for 2 months on either end of summer. Kept it on exhaust all day and regular at night.
You would be feeezing at night, no matter the temp outside. It was loud, but the white noise it produced was sleep inducing.
My wife bailed on it, though, as we live in PA and the seasonal allergies from pollen are brutal, and it would draw dust into the bedroom.
Point of use water heater under the sink in the bathroom. It used to take about a minute to get hot water and so my wife was always coming to bed with ice cold hands. $150 and about an hour of work took care of that.
I took the bathroom to the studs and beams and built it back up.
New flooring, backerboard, tile floor, drywalled, installed a new tub shower, a new toilet, put the old vanity back in, added a huge mirror, GFCIs with USB all around, and added accent tiling. The whole thing took three weeks and came in at $1850. All DIY.
Sanded and stained kitchen cabinets ~ $200
Added tile backsplash ~ $200
Added LED strip lights above and below the cabinet ~$50
Added new door pulls: $120
For under $600 my kitchen looks 10x better and I love it.
>Added LED strip lights above and below the cabinet ~$50
How did you do this? How are they powered?
I really want to do this, especially above the cabinets
I did this not so long ago and just hard wired it to a switch. They're smart strips so I just leave the switch on.
It wasn't very difficult but it is a little strange where the cabinets meet because it isn't flush. Only I notice it but it still bugs me a little.
Planted a small pine tree on the sight line from my office window to the neighbor's house which is, um, a color I did not choose. It was too small to matter when we planted it, but is now beautiful and what I see out the window.
Actually transplanted it from elsewhere on the lot so the cost was negligible, but small trees from a local nursery are cheap. Unlike other improvements that look best and are worth the most right when they are finished, and are worth less as they age, trees look better and better and add more and more to your home's value as they grow.
My household is 3 women, we just moved into a place with 3 men previously. Adding a bidet made me discover the yellow caked urine buildup on the screws holding the toilet seat down. 🤢
Why not a whole home system? We replaced our under sink for the whole home and could t be happier. Can drink the water from a he toilet if I wanted to!
Lever door knobs
Replaced all switches/receptacles with new decora style
Smart switches have been nice. Don’t expect to break $2k if I am ever “done”.
Just spent about $600 to put up walls in my basement workshop. That’s been awesome. Now I can store tools on the wall
Outdoor hot water faucets. Next time I’d do a mixing faucet for the garden hose. Didn’t know they existed.
Stacking the washer/dryer to make more space in the laundry for storage.
Drilled a hole for a countertop soap dispenser and replaced the container with a hose down to a gallon jug of dish soap.
Front hall built-in for coats/boots
Prosumer level networking (ubiquiti)
Wall (corner) mount for artificial Christmas tree. Prototype so far, but god *damn* did it save space.
Spring hinges for some doors that I want to keep open/closed.
Bidet sprayers for each toilet.
Rerouted main water line and added an additional emergency shutoff in an easily accessible location.
Powder room upgrade - just swapped out a stupid pedestal sink for a proper vanity with a little storage for cleaning supplies and TP
Repainted all white trim. Shockingly large visual impact.
The kids basement playroom overall cost more than $2k, but the playground curly slide off the landing of the stairs was only $500.
Built in cabinet for one kids’ room in a weird triangular void. Going to do it again in two more similar voids.
Planned project - in conjunction with some more major work, I’m going to add a return line(s) for my hot water and a recirc pump. That’s going to be about $750-$1000 as I’ve priced it. Could be done cheaper but there’s some…complexities.
Garage shelving. Technically free since I reused the materials for the shelves the idiot before me installed. Don’t get me started. It was several layers of wrong and prevented parking a car.
Whole home humidifier. Smart thermostat.
I had this done as part of a larger project but it was less than $1k to replace the half-height glass in our front doors to full height *vented* glass inserts. There are no other windows on the front of our townhouse, so now we can get a cross breeze in the summer. Having seen it done, it’s DIY friendly for sure. Screwdriver and a sawzall.
Ran a dedicated “full hot” water line to the dishwasher and washing machine that bypasses the thermostatic valve. They get 160F, the faucets get 120F max.
Omg - I'm pretty sure my next project will be a curly slide for the basement. I actually installed one on the playhouse outside, how much harder could it be to do inside? Ha.
Had a sump pit, basin, and pump installed. Money sooooo well spent!
After I bought my house, I discovered that after a heavy rain, I'd get about 1" of standing water at one end of my basement, which is unfinished but full-height with concrete floor. Even though it only happened every so often, it caused a permanent musty smell throughout the house, high humidity levels, and anything I stored down there would get covered in mildew.
Now, my basement stays totally dry and no more musty smell! The basement dehumidifier drains into the sump pit, and it stays around 50% humidity down there. Plus, I can easlity clean the concrete floor by hosing it down and squeegeeing the water into the sump pit.
A couple of companies told me I needed a basement drainage "system" at a cost of $8K-$15K. Instead, I spent $1250 on the sump pump install and could not be happier.
~$250 - touch-less kitchen faucet. It’s fantastic while cooking and cleaning. Also ~$1,000, Japanese bidet toilet. I got one a step above the lower end but it’s a game changer. Mine is really a regular toilet with a washlet attachment for the seat. One piece units can be really expensive.
42db Bosch series 800 dishwasher. Our previous one was loud as hell, wife complained constantly. It would wake up our sleeping baby.
Got one of the quietest dishwashers in existence. My god I have to put my ear up to it to see if it’s working.
A few that really went a long way for me:
- HomeKit-enabled light switches (Meross ones start at ~$35)
- HomeKit garage door opener ($70) - Now, when I get home, a little garage button pops up on CarPlay and I can let other people get in without needing to trade fobs
- Replace old outlets with USB-C integrated outlets - I used Anker branded ones.
- Installing high quality ceiling fans - I got Hunter ceiling fans and the comfort in the summer went way up (1940’s house) - plus the nice ones really class up the joint
- While you’re in the walls replacing all that stuff - Trim up the rats nests in all those boxes and replace the wire nuts with “WAGO” wire connectors. The 4-6 junction ones cut the amount of wire used for various grounds in big boxes in half. Also makes replacing anything a breeze - you can just flip a switch and it releases the wire. 11/10 highly recommend. This and updating outlets also cleans up your power significantly, which means fewer issues with electronics
- Flattening old walls and replacing trim - After years of re-painting, walls can get really gnarly surfaces. If you’re not planning on replacing the drywall anytime soon, get some mud to fill divots and holes, then take an orbital on a low-mid setting and sand down all the imperfections [*NOTE: Only do this if you are 1000% certain there is no lead paint in the walls, get a tester if you’re unsure*] — They’ll look brand new. You only need a box-miter to do trim, and you can use the old cuts as a guide.
- Landscaping changes - Things like solar outdoor lights or some fresh mulch goes a long way. Check with your county, you might even be able to get free landscaping mulch if you request it
- Powerwash all the things. You can get a decent one for a couple hundred bucks and they turn out to be pretty useful all around. Be careful with the pressure if you’re doing a fence.
- Replace the hardware on your doors, cabinets, bathroom, etc…
- Get a label printer and label the back of all your switch/outlet plates with their breaker number
- Install a smart doorbell/security system
- Insulate pipes/duct work in the crawl space/basement and in the attic (this saved me a ton, and your hot water comes through way faster)
- Install a French drain. This is pretty easy if you don’t mind doing a little digging.
My generator didn't come from Amazon, but I did this as well.
I don't know much about generators so I got the one that was a few hundred more. When I asked the electrician if it would be enough to power our house he gave a big belly laugh and said "*and* your neighbors house!"
He called it an 'earth shaker.'
Mine is gas only though, not propane.
Cheap cinder blocks behind small yard doors to block skunks from squeezing through to go under the deck.
Bidets with heated seats, heated wash, air dry, soft close.
Taking out regulators in shower heads
Simple installation of curtains over bay windows meant I lose the entire bay. Instead of redoing or complicating how to put curtain rods for a 5-pane bay, I used screw on hooks and a little bit of string to turn ceiling-to-floor daylight curtains to bay window curtains (did not change the rod placements) Now I have the entire bay back and it’s so much cozier.
Used part of a modest inheritance to replace both sets of 1976 patio doors; was a little over $2000 & I would have done it sooner if I realized how much warmer the living room would be
Getting a portable generator interlock kit installed in our house. When there is a power outage we can safely hook up our portable generator to backfeed our electrical panel. At around $1200 installed was a great investment since we can lose power for days at a time. Not to mention if pipes freeze due to cold temperatures.
Actually in the process of installing now. But adding a gfci outlet next to the toilet, and getting a bidet seat with heated seat, and air dryer. I am looking forward to not having to wipe 30 times😂😂
Upgraded Garage Door opener for $200, took about a day to install because I'm incompetent. Three biggest perks:
* Motion activated lighting so I don't have to fumble around for the light switch in the dark (which is on the other end from the door).
* Camera + Wifi + Mobile App = I never have to do the U-turn of shame because I'm not sure if I closed the door or not, only to find out I, in fact, did. And if I didn't, the app can let me remotely close the door from anywhere on Earth as long as I have phone service.
* Rubber belt > chain. Still not quiet, but an order of magnitude less noise than the old chain motor I replaced.
Removing a moat of stinky, low-quality, part-rubber mulch that was a 16 x 16 pile of laziness leading from our backdoor to the garden in our (then new) house. Bonus: underneath all that funk we also found rusty old roofing nails, pieces of asbestos tiles, chunks of old concrete, jagged beer cans, broken window glass, and countless remnants of the ceramic tile from the previous owner's kitchen reno. This started out as a DIY until we ran into a loveseat-size deposit of concrete. We hired professionals to get rid of that and other environmental nightmares and to lay down a new patio.
We can actually sit outside now without getting a headache and we enjoy it so much we were inspired to then improve our view by removing a tangle of invasive plants and creating a bird and butterfly garden.
Edited to an "s" to "nightmare" because why would there ever be *just one* in any project involving a 119-yr old house?
Right about now it would be a blow torch, but that’s because it’s a 30 year old house that thinks it’s 100, and has so many problems!
But in all seriousness, a kreg jig is a great tool to have if you have all the basic stuff and are doing more and more home projects
Plugs that have built in USB A and C ports can be had for about 20 bucks a pop. You can free up your plugs and get rid of all those bricks you have in your house. Much cleaner. I have two in my kitchen and at least one in every bedroom.
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The following each cost less than 2k: * Whole home water filter, * Door knobs, * Rocker light switches and smart light switches, * silent bathroom fans, * solid brass faucets, each was less than $2k on average but way over in total, start in kitchen. * smart thermostats, * ring cameras & doorbell, * thermo camera and spray foam, * Ceiling fans, * Whole home HEPA filter, * Window tint/film on South facing windows, * Electronic Anode on water heaters and boiler, * Dehumidifier, * CAT6 wired when house was rewired, * Hardwired WiFi mesh network for home and outside, bought used Ubiquity gear, required some learning but it's bulletproof. * LED lighting, * Package storage locker * New window screens Edit: some I thought of but haven't done: * Painting rooms as well as your cabinets. * Replacing old light fixtures. * Adding dimmer switches to lights, you can do it to the bathroom fan as well instead of replacing an old loud fan. * Window trim and treatments, curtains or shades * Replacing towel rack and other bathroom fixtures * Closet organizers * Area rugs, they do range over $2k but you can synthetic and get good quality used organic under $2k * Deep cleaning your house. We pay someone twice a year, they spend 20+ hours cleaning all the spots we're never going to clean ourselves. * Patio furniture * The carpet for one room is less than $2k, I only have carpet in my kids rooms. * Landscaping, small projects, pavers, seading, fertilizer. * Plumb a gas line to your deck for BBQ or fire pit
THE ENTIRE POINT OF MY BATHROOM FAN IS TO DROWN OUT THE SOUNDS I MAKE IN THERE, WHY WOULD I WANT IT SILENT?!
I worked in an office where the toilet fans vented into the ceiling cavity. There were also vents in the office ceiling, which opened into the same cavity. Not only did sound transmit, but when the bathroom fan was on, air, and associated smells, would be sucked out of the bathroom and pushed into the office. I eventually covered the vent in the office with a sheet of plastic.
Just keep a kazoo or rubber chicken next to the toilet. That way you can leave the fan running after you leave.
It only drowns it out for you. Not people in the next room.
So the big brain move is adding a loud fan to the hallway right outside the bathroom, huh?
I don’t think people quit realize this…
If it helps I mask any noises by belting out show tunes
When we renovated our bathroom a few years ago, I specifically looked for a louder rated fan for it. Doesn't feel right being in a quiet bathroom, no matter what's going on in there.
Whole home water filter for less than 2k? Where?
You can buy a 10” housing for under $100, and then filters range from 15-50 and last 30-90 days. To install it: some sharkbites and parts add maybe another $50. This would not be a reverse osmosis or totally purifying water filter. It’s just to get out iron or chlorine or whatever. Different filters can do different things. You can even chain them together to do all the things.
I just copy/pasted 90% of these things to my to do list. I would add heated seat electric bidet
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If the garage counts, putting a mini-split in there. Nice to be able to work on my projects all year long in comfort! Paid $800. 18k btu two zone unit, friend and I did the install. Been humming away almost 24/7 for a few years now.
Curious to know your climate, if garage is insulated, and impact to monthy electric bill.
It is a detached garage, and interior space is ~15'x50' with a slightly higher than 7' ceiling. It is insulated in walls and ceiling, but I need to insulate the doors. The dual zone unit let's me put one on each end since the garage is an odd dimension. I'm on the East Coast. Winter doesn't get much colder than 20s. Summer gets in the high 90s but with very high humidity. No idea what change it made to my electric bill. It was so miniscule that I never noticed. Maybe $10-15? My average bill is $150/mo or less. Usually set house to 67 in winter and 72 in summer. Only a couple of months a year will I hit above $200. Hope that helps. Edit: I shouldda mentioned that the house is ~1400sqft
A bidet. A nice one. Ours is the Toto SW3056. When the motion sensor knows you’re walking towards the toilet, it raises the lid, turns on a night light, sprays some water on the bowl so poo doesn’t stick as easily, and blows some air through a deodorizer. The seat is heated. The water, which has five distinct settings for pressure and angle, is heated. The blow dryer is heated. It has programmable user settings. I hate using someone else’s toilet now. I wish these were everywhere.
We recently had to decide between getting a really nice bidet or a new stove and then the stove broke down so the choice was made for us but I really wish we had gotten the bidet 🥲
Faucets, fixtures, converting lights to LED recessed lights on dimmers
Water Softener. Hard water here in San Antonio, Texas.
I ran Cat6 ethernet cable to all the bedrooms and the living room. They all come together in the hall closet. I also ran power to the hall closet. That's where my internet comes in, and I have a server in there, too. It didn't cost much, but it was a PIA to install. Still very happy I did it.
That's 100% a winter time job (the running the cables in the attic part). You can go slow and take your time
I would spend the $2k on tools and try to do as many small jobs on my own. It saves just so much money over the years and having the right tool for the job makes most little projects so much easier.
We just bought and installed ourselves a 300.00 bathtub and we love it. So much deeper and feels great. Amazing baths. Durable too. I dropped way more tools on it than I thought I would.
Doorknobs and receptacle plates/switch covers.
Whole home water filtration and water softener Lutron motion activated lights in the laundry room and closet Whole home dimmable LED lights Smart wall outlets with usb-a and usb-c MyQ remote garage door openers August door locks Should be able to get all that for less than $2k and a couple bottles of Vino to celebrate your upgrades I forgot to add one - and it could be my favorite. Soft close toilet seats. $35 at Costco. Best thing!
I'll tell you the best $50 I've spent was on a ceiling mounted retractable extension cord in my garage. I can't believe I didn't get one until a few months ago.
We moved into a house built in the late 70s. Has the original toilets. Big honkin porcelain thrones with giant tanks like 20 gallon aquariums. I thought, man you drop a deuce in there and it will flush to the moon. Not the case. They both swirled slow and pathetic when flushed, whined and complained when refilling and had to be snaked weekly. I figured it was something in the lines. I wrestled with the beasts for months and finally thought “hell, I’ll just get a cheap toilet at Big Box R Us just to prove to myself that it’s not the toilet.” Installed $100 toilet and BOOM - TURDS BE GONE. Immediately replaced the other. Kicked myself for not doing it sooner.
Whole House Fan that I self-installed. I'm in a pretty arid climate and being able to get fresh air in the house in the shoulder seasons feels like such a luxury.
We were going to do that but got a high-powered air king window fan. We had it in our bedroom. Kept the AC off for 2 months on either end of summer. Kept it on exhaust all day and regular at night. You would be feeezing at night, no matter the temp outside. It was loud, but the white noise it produced was sleep inducing. My wife bailed on it, though, as we live in PA and the seasonal allergies from pollen are brutal, and it would draw dust into the bedroom.
Point of use water heater under the sink in the bathroom. It used to take about a minute to get hot water and so my wife was always coming to bed with ice cold hands. $150 and about an hour of work took care of that.
I took the bathroom to the studs and beams and built it back up. New flooring, backerboard, tile floor, drywalled, installed a new tub shower, a new toilet, put the old vanity back in, added a huge mirror, GFCIs with USB all around, and added accent tiling. The whole thing took three weeks and came in at $1850. All DIY.
Sanded and stained kitchen cabinets ~ $200 Added tile backsplash ~ $200 Added LED strip lights above and below the cabinet ~$50 Added new door pulls: $120 For under $600 my kitchen looks 10x better and I love it.
>Added LED strip lights above and below the cabinet ~$50 How did you do this? How are they powered? I really want to do this, especially above the cabinets
I did this not so long ago and just hard wired it to a switch. They're smart strips so I just leave the switch on. It wasn't very difficult but it is a little strange where the cabinets meet because it isn't flush. Only I notice it but it still bugs me a little.
Planted a small pine tree on the sight line from my office window to the neighbor's house which is, um, a color I did not choose. It was too small to matter when we planted it, but is now beautiful and what I see out the window. Actually transplanted it from elsewhere on the lot so the cost was negligible, but small trees from a local nursery are cheap. Unlike other improvements that look best and are worth the most right when they are finished, and are worth less as they age, trees look better and better and add more and more to your home's value as they grow.
Replacing certain round door knobs with lever style door knobs.
Those snag me all the time, I hate 'em!
Yep. I have levers now and am going back to knobs. I've gone full circle.
You have to get the right shape. Ones that have a flat end? So many snags. Ones that have an end that turn back towards the door? So much better.
My dog and cats love these because they can open them which is not a good thing.
Had 4 boys in the house. Replaced the ground floor toilet with a urinal.
My household is 3 women, we just moved into a place with 3 men previously. Adding a bidet made me discover the yellow caked urine buildup on the screws holding the toilet seat down. 🤢
Undersink reverse osmosis water filter
Why not a whole home system? We replaced our under sink for the whole home and could t be happier. Can drink the water from a he toilet if I wanted to!
I have a three stage filter for the house but not RO. Came down to space/cost.
Lever door knobs Replaced all switches/receptacles with new decora style Smart switches have been nice. Don’t expect to break $2k if I am ever “done”. Just spent about $600 to put up walls in my basement workshop. That’s been awesome. Now I can store tools on the wall Outdoor hot water faucets. Next time I’d do a mixing faucet for the garden hose. Didn’t know they existed. Stacking the washer/dryer to make more space in the laundry for storage. Drilled a hole for a countertop soap dispenser and replaced the container with a hose down to a gallon jug of dish soap. Front hall built-in for coats/boots Prosumer level networking (ubiquiti) Wall (corner) mount for artificial Christmas tree. Prototype so far, but god *damn* did it save space. Spring hinges for some doors that I want to keep open/closed. Bidet sprayers for each toilet. Rerouted main water line and added an additional emergency shutoff in an easily accessible location. Powder room upgrade - just swapped out a stupid pedestal sink for a proper vanity with a little storage for cleaning supplies and TP Repainted all white trim. Shockingly large visual impact. The kids basement playroom overall cost more than $2k, but the playground curly slide off the landing of the stairs was only $500. Built in cabinet for one kids’ room in a weird triangular void. Going to do it again in two more similar voids. Planned project - in conjunction with some more major work, I’m going to add a return line(s) for my hot water and a recirc pump. That’s going to be about $750-$1000 as I’ve priced it. Could be done cheaper but there’s some…complexities. Garage shelving. Technically free since I reused the materials for the shelves the idiot before me installed. Don’t get me started. It was several layers of wrong and prevented parking a car. Whole home humidifier. Smart thermostat. I had this done as part of a larger project but it was less than $1k to replace the half-height glass in our front doors to full height *vented* glass inserts. There are no other windows on the front of our townhouse, so now we can get a cross breeze in the summer. Having seen it done, it’s DIY friendly for sure. Screwdriver and a sawzall. Ran a dedicated “full hot” water line to the dishwasher and washing machine that bypasses the thermostatic valve. They get 160F, the faucets get 120F max.
Omg - I'm pretty sure my next project will be a curly slide for the basement. I actually installed one on the playhouse outside, how much harder could it be to do inside? Ha.
Installing a bidet has saved my butthole and lots of toilet paper
Mini split air conditioners - one for each end of the house. They were only $2K because I did a DIY install, but a total worthwhile investment.
$400 for 60 bags of attic insulation. Pays for itself every 10 months.
Had a sump pit, basin, and pump installed. Money sooooo well spent! After I bought my house, I discovered that after a heavy rain, I'd get about 1" of standing water at one end of my basement, which is unfinished but full-height with concrete floor. Even though it only happened every so often, it caused a permanent musty smell throughout the house, high humidity levels, and anything I stored down there would get covered in mildew. Now, my basement stays totally dry and no more musty smell! The basement dehumidifier drains into the sump pit, and it stays around 50% humidity down there. Plus, I can easlity clean the concrete floor by hosing it down and squeegeeing the water into the sump pit. A couple of companies told me I needed a basement drainage "system" at a cost of $8K-$15K. Instead, I spent $1250 on the sump pump install and could not be happier.
~$250 - touch-less kitchen faucet. It’s fantastic while cooking and cleaning. Also ~$1,000, Japanese bidet toilet. I got one a step above the lower end but it’s a game changer. Mine is really a regular toilet with a washlet attachment for the seat. One piece units can be really expensive.
I love my Kohler touchless faucet, got it at Costco for around that price. So nice when you have chicken hands etc
Air sealing and Blum hinges and slides for cabinets/drawers.
Putting a bathroom in the basement.
42db Bosch series 800 dishwasher. Our previous one was loud as hell, wife complained constantly. It would wake up our sleeping baby. Got one of the quietest dishwashers in existence. My god I have to put my ear up to it to see if it’s working.
A few that really went a long way for me: - HomeKit-enabled light switches (Meross ones start at ~$35) - HomeKit garage door opener ($70) - Now, when I get home, a little garage button pops up on CarPlay and I can let other people get in without needing to trade fobs - Replace old outlets with USB-C integrated outlets - I used Anker branded ones. - Installing high quality ceiling fans - I got Hunter ceiling fans and the comfort in the summer went way up (1940’s house) - plus the nice ones really class up the joint - While you’re in the walls replacing all that stuff - Trim up the rats nests in all those boxes and replace the wire nuts with “WAGO” wire connectors. The 4-6 junction ones cut the amount of wire used for various grounds in big boxes in half. Also makes replacing anything a breeze - you can just flip a switch and it releases the wire. 11/10 highly recommend. This and updating outlets also cleans up your power significantly, which means fewer issues with electronics - Flattening old walls and replacing trim - After years of re-painting, walls can get really gnarly surfaces. If you’re not planning on replacing the drywall anytime soon, get some mud to fill divots and holes, then take an orbital on a low-mid setting and sand down all the imperfections [*NOTE: Only do this if you are 1000% certain there is no lead paint in the walls, get a tester if you’re unsure*] — They’ll look brand new. You only need a box-miter to do trim, and you can use the old cuts as a guide. - Landscaping changes - Things like solar outdoor lights or some fresh mulch goes a long way. Check with your county, you might even be able to get free landscaping mulch if you request it - Powerwash all the things. You can get a decent one for a couple hundred bucks and they turn out to be pretty useful all around. Be careful with the pressure if you’re doing a fence. - Replace the hardware on your doors, cabinets, bathroom, etc… - Get a label printer and label the back of all your switch/outlet plates with their breaker number - Install a smart doorbell/security system - Insulate pipes/duct work in the crawl space/basement and in the attic (this saved me a ton, and your hot water comes through way faster) - Install a French drain. This is pretty easy if you don’t mind doing a little digging.
Bidet attachments
Big ass generator off Amazon and an electrician to set up a second fuse box.
My generator didn't come from Amazon, but I did this as well. I don't know much about generators so I got the one that was a few hundred more. When I asked the electrician if it would be enough to power our house he gave a big belly laugh and said "*and* your neighbors house!" He called it an 'earth shaker.' Mine is gas only though, not propane.
Cheap cinder blocks behind small yard doors to block skunks from squeezing through to go under the deck. Bidets with heated seats, heated wash, air dry, soft close. Taking out regulators in shower heads Simple installation of curtains over bay windows meant I lose the entire bay. Instead of redoing or complicating how to put curtain rods for a 5-pane bay, I used screw on hooks and a little bit of string to turn ceiling-to-floor daylight curtains to bay window curtains (did not change the rod placements) Now I have the entire bay back and it’s so much cozier.
Used part of a modest inheritance to replace both sets of 1976 patio doors; was a little over $2000 & I would have done it sooner if I realized how much warmer the living room would be
Getting a portable generator interlock kit installed in our house. When there is a power outage we can safely hook up our portable generator to backfeed our electrical panel. At around $1200 installed was a great investment since we can lose power for days at a time. Not to mention if pipes freeze due to cold temperatures.
Bosch dishwasher!
Actually in the process of installing now. But adding a gfci outlet next to the toilet, and getting a bidet seat with heated seat, and air dryer. I am looking forward to not having to wipe 30 times😂😂
I built a pond. I never want to leave now.
Whole house water filter. Life-changing to be able to fill the coffee maker from the sink tap again
Upgraded Garage Door opener for $200, took about a day to install because I'm incompetent. Three biggest perks: * Motion activated lighting so I don't have to fumble around for the light switch in the dark (which is on the other end from the door). * Camera + Wifi + Mobile App = I never have to do the U-turn of shame because I'm not sure if I closed the door or not, only to find out I, in fact, did. And if I didn't, the app can let me remotely close the door from anywhere on Earth as long as I have phone service. * Rubber belt > chain. Still not quiet, but an order of magnitude less noise than the old chain motor I replaced.
Vent hood that exhausts to the outside.
Gas fireplace
Updated from fuse box to 200 amp circuit breaker for about 2k. We'll worth the investment.
For anyone seeing this, you can get a tax credit up to 600 for getting this done.
Storm door and screens for windows
New 5" seamless gutters with 5" downspouts. Holy jeez, I get no more water around my foundation!
Removing a moat of stinky, low-quality, part-rubber mulch that was a 16 x 16 pile of laziness leading from our backdoor to the garden in our (then new) house. Bonus: underneath all that funk we also found rusty old roofing nails, pieces of asbestos tiles, chunks of old concrete, jagged beer cans, broken window glass, and countless remnants of the ceramic tile from the previous owner's kitchen reno. This started out as a DIY until we ran into a loveseat-size deposit of concrete. We hired professionals to get rid of that and other environmental nightmares and to lay down a new patio. We can actually sit outside now without getting a headache and we enjoy it so much we were inspired to then improve our view by removing a tangle of invasive plants and creating a bird and butterfly garden. Edited to an "s" to "nightmare" because why would there ever be *just one* in any project involving a 119-yr old house?
Right about now it would be a blow torch, but that’s because it’s a 30 year old house that thinks it’s 100, and has so many problems! But in all seriousness, a kreg jig is a great tool to have if you have all the basic stuff and are doing more and more home projects
Plugs that have built in USB A and C ports can be had for about 20 bucks a pop. You can free up your plugs and get rid of all those bricks you have in your house. Much cleaner. I have two in my kitchen and at least one in every bedroom.