People Are Sharing The Small Upgrades They Did That Made A Huge Difference In Their Houses, And It Might Inspire You To Do The Same
You don't always have to do a full gut renovation to vastly improve your home — no matter what HGTV tells us. As we all know, little things like painting or swapping out hardware can go a long way in turning our homes into our DREAM homes.
And recently, Reddit user u/Super_dupa2 was interested in just that when they asked, "What small upgrade made a huge difference at your house?"
Thousands of people commented with the little upgrades they've made in their homes. Below are the top, best, most often repeated comments — and who knows, they might be ones you'll end up making in your house:
1."A better shower. If you can't redo the whole bathroom, just replace the head. This also works if you rent — just keep the old one in a box so you can bring the nice one to your next house."
"I'm a renter, and I finally installed a better showerhead this year, after just using the default head in all of my apartments for almost 20 years. A 10/10, highly recommend."
2."Methodically buying phone chargers with long-enough cables to not have to ever move one again."
"LOL! It reminds me of the home phone we had as a kid. You know, the one where you have the base on the kitchen wall and a long cord that you drag all over the house."
3."My wife and I got separate blankets. No more fighting about who takes the covers while we’re sleeping. Highly recommend — 10/10!"
"My parents have been married 50 years, and whenever they're asked for advice on a long and happy marriage, they always say, 'Separate blankets!'"
4."Soft-close cabinets and toilet seats."
"We have a soft-close toilet seat at our home, and every time I'm at a hotel, I completely forget that they aren't usually soft close, and the slam startles me ??."
5."Blackout curtains for sleeping. Such a game changer."
6."Smart outlets for Christmas lights, both inside and outside. I have them scheduled to turn on at sunset and turn off at midnight."
"Smart outlets are one of my favorite purchases. During Halloween and Christmas, we’re using multiple outlets for inflatables, house lights, and tree lights. The smart outlets allow you to have everything synced so they all turn on at the same time."
7."I replaced dated lighting fixtures. Now the fixtures are properly grounded, the interior looks more updated, and there is more/better light."
"Lighting can absolutely make a huge difference in the way you feel in your room. Get some shoulder-height (when you are sitting) lamps for your living room. You will notice a shift in how much more relaxed you feel when you use those instead of the overheads."
8."Installing a gooseneck kitchen faucet."
"I asked my dad to install a gooseneck kitchen faucet as my birthday present last year. One of the best gifts ever."
9."A curved shower curtain rod. You get so much more arm space."
"I have a curved shower curtain rod at my new apartment, and it is much better! It feels bigger, and the shower liner doesn’t ever touch my arm!"
10."Spending a day mounting my artwork. It felt so much more like my home after that."
"Every time I've moved, I put that off for way too long, then finally break down and do it, and the house feels so much better to be in."
11."I had a window above the stairs that the neighbors could see through, so I went on Amazon and spent 40 bucks on some plastic window film that makes it look like stained glass. It turned out AMAZING and lasted forever."
"Seconding this. We used to have the blinds down all the time in the house because it was easy to look into the house. But it was always dark and moody in the house because of it. We put a textured glass–looking window film on and it looks beautiful. Now we can let the natural light in without any privacy issues."
12."Mine are mostly kitchen based because I cook dinner pretty much every night. Having a couple of those magnetic wall-mounted knife holders frees so much room on my countertops. A wall-mounted spice rack with glass jars keeps my spices where I can see them and monitor levels. Much easier to access than storing them in a cabinet or in the pantry."
"I have cabinets that end at either side above my sink. They wrap around from there. I found the perfect-size magnetic knife holders to add on the sides of cabinets. Now I can just pop the knife right back in its place after washing it in the sink. I hand-wash all my knives anyhow, so it is the absolute perfect place to store them. They were cheap at the restaurant supply store."
13."I put smart bulbs in my bedroom so that I can dim and turn the lights off using my phone or with voice commands through my Nest Mini. Eventually I’ll replace all the bulbs in my house with them and use my old iPad as a hub to control the lights in the whole house."
"I have mine set to automatically turn on at 10% with my alarm in the morning, then slowly get brighter. It's also nice to have colored ones so you can turn the light on red if you get up in the middle of the night — lets you see without blinding yourself. I set up routines with Google Assistant so I can call out code words for what setting I want: off, full bright, red, dim...it's beyond convenient."
14."We replaced our shallow double kitchen sink with a single industrial sink. So much easier for filling pots and doing dishes."
"I HATED my double sink. Made it impossible to wash anything bigger than a saucepan. Found a bigger single stainless steel sink on clearance at Home Depot for $75. Best upgrade we have done since moving in a year ago."
15."A Roomba. Living in a house with many small siblings, you have no idea how much time a Roomba saved."
16."A proper mesh Wi-Fi network. It used to be so annoying to lose the signal in some parts of the house."
"This! I did not realize I needed it until I got it. So much better now, especially with adding doorbell, outdoor cameras, and smart switches plus a multitude of other devices."
17."Those little battery-powered lights that light up only when someone passes by."
"Got rechargeable motion sensor lights for the closets. They mount with magnets, and you recharge them every two to three months. Game changer for closets at night."
18."Bought an espresso machine 'cause I was tired of how expensive buying coffee every day got. Life changer if you’re into coffee."
"We got a Breville the Barista Pro, based on recommendations in the espresso forum, and we love it. For $800, it paid itself off, based on no more Sbux runs, in like three months."
19.And lastly: "A Tushy bidet."
"I get mad when I have to use a different toilet now. I’m truly converted."
You can read the full thread of responses on Reddit.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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