42 Easy Home Upgrades for a Productive Summer Friday
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A new light-switch cover, or some peel-and-stick molding, or an interesting toilet-roll holder is all it takes to give your space an easy but effective upgrade without the help of an interior designer or contractor. In fact, we reached out to designers themselves for quick tips that don’t rely too heavily on DIY, though some elbow grease may be involved. Below, 42 expert-recommended easy home upgrades from 27 experts — everything from printing your own posters torepairing cane chairsto putting all yourlightson a dimmer — all of which are accessible and inexpensive but still unexpected, decorative, and, most of all, useful.
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Hang a mobile when a light fixture isn’t possible.
In many apartments, the dining area comes with either a depressing boob light or no overhead fixture at all. If you can’t install a pendant, hang a mobile above your dining table instead. A brass mobile catches and reflects light as it moves, creating shifting patterns. —Ming Thompson, architect and designer
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Zhuzh up a plain wall with peel-and-stick molding.
Applied in agrid or frame pattern, peel-and-stick lightweight foam molding gives a flat wall structure.— Nina Takesh, interior designer
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Organize everything into a vessel.
Anything you buy from the store that comes in a package with loud branding — put that stuff into handsome containers that better align with your aesthetic. If you can’t swap out the container (like toothpaste, for example) find an opaque stoneware crock or oversize vase where it can hide while still being easily accessible. —Helen Rice, co-founder of Fuzzco
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Stair clutter? Get a stair basket.
It’s shaped like an upside-down L and notches right onto a step. I use it as a receptacle for things that eventually need to go upstairs that I am too lazy to take up at the moment. —Lauren Ro, Strategist senior home writer
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Hang drill-free curtain rods.
After searching high and low for a good renter-friendly curtain bracket, I foundKwik Hang. These have small pins that you can tap into your window frame with a hammer without causing much visible damage or needing to drill into the walls. —Amelia Jerden, Strategist sleep writer
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Organize your closet (and pantry) with these clear storage bins.
The samepantry binsthat hold breastmilk and snacks also work for slippery workout clothes. If it can’t be folded and stacked neatly, it has to go in a bin.— L.R.
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Fix your busted Cesca cane chair by replacing the seat.
Via a company in Chicago that sources its cane and wood inserts from a small, family-owned business in Italy that specializes in Marcel Breuer items. —Max Cea, writer
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Replace your boob light with this geometric flushmount.
We use thisMorrisonflush mount often, which can be installed in ten minutes by a skilled handyman or your super. Store the old one until you move out! —Jessica Knauf, interior designer
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Build DIY bookshelves with brackets from Menard’s.
I’ve used these brackets multiple times for custom bookshelves, indistinguishable from the Container Store’s Elfa system for a tenth of the price.— Erin Schwartz, Strategist home writer
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Become your own Allposters by printing art from the public domain.
Alotofmuseums, including the Met, offer high-quality digital images of public-domain artworks, which you can get printed andframedyourself. (Or save time and shop thePublic Domain Review store.)— E.S.
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Night Bombshells: 95
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Add a picture light where you don’t expect one.
A plug-in or rechargeable picture light over a framed print, mirror, or small shelf creates a focal point, and it makes even inexpensive art feel intentional.— Dani Arps, interior designer
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Put a floral screen in front of your nonfunctioning fireplace.
As pitched by Frances Merrill of Reath Design. Other suggestions: a small lamp and a sculptural urn.
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This Ikea island is like an extra kitchen counter.
My landlord installed it in my last apartment, and when I moved I bought one myself. It has singlehandedly made my kitchen usable, and this is coming from someone who has more pots and pans than the average person.— Emma Wartzman, Strategist senior food and dining writer
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And if you’re building a lot of Ikea furniture, get a Pozidriv screwdriver.
Ikea does not actually use standard Phillips-head screws; it generally usesPozidriv screws, which are more common in Europe and Japan.— A.J.
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Express yourself through your toilet-roll holder.
It can really change the whole feeling around it. This issomething we make, andJames Shawmakes one.The L.A. gallery Marta held an exhibition of toilet-roll-holder design in 2020, and some areavailable for purchase through their site.— Chen Chen & Kai Williams
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Cover ugly Formica countertops with contact paper.
Wayfair has a lot of thick, durable contact paper. It’s harder to do around the sink, but there areYouTube tutorialswhere they show you how to cut it, and then you can re-caulk around the sink. —Anastasia White, production designer
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Give your doors a makeover.
Three designers on the door DIYs that add architectural interest to your home.
Try accent doors instead of accent walls.
Both interior designer Jason Saft and writer Julia Felsenthal recommend painting doors a bold, contrasting color. “Accent walls can feel expected at this point, but contrasting closet doors add depth and personality, especially in a high-gloss finish,” says Saft. Per Felsenthal, using the same color throughout your house “adds coherence and rhythm to an architecturally unexciting space.”
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Add molding to make your Home Depot doors look 1920s original.
I recently upgraded my flat-panel doors with medallions, trim, and a coat ofdeep-brown-eggplant paint. Now they look as though they’ve been there since the 1920s.—Robert Gigliotti, content creator
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This bar accessory is also a great catchall.
While these were originally designed to store sugar cubes,I use themto store keys, loose bodega change, hair ties, jewelry, and matchbooks. —Sylvie Florman, writer
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Get a wooden toilet seat.
This is one of the first things I do when upgrading a home. It sounds minor, but replacing a flimsy, builder-grade plastic seat with a beautiful wood one adds warmth, texture, and sophistication.— J.S.
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No home office? Build a shed.
I called my friend Pete, who is a contractor, and asked him if he could take a garden-shed kit and make it habitable all year-round. We broke ground in April, poured a concrete foundation, and by MayI had an office.—Audrey Gelman, Six Bells founder
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Pay attention to transitional zones.
People often focus on the living room, but the smallest upgrades in entryways, hallways, or pass-through spaces can have the biggest impact: a sculptural hook, a narrow ledge, a beautiful tray for keys, or a small runner.— D.A.
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Beni Solano Runner
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Paint or wallpaper the ceiling in a small room.
If you have a small entryway or powder room, it can completely transform the space. This textured wallpaper from Jeremiah Brent’s collaboration with Tempaper feels incredibly elevated for the price point.— J.S.
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Change your cabinet knobs, change your life.
So many designers mentioned changing out cabinet knobs as a low-effort, high-impact DIY that itmerited its own story. Some of their favorites are below.
I lovethese brass knobs from House of Antique Hardware, and at just under $11 each, the price is hard to beat. Another great, but slightly more expensive, option is theMassey collection at Rejuvenation. Whichever way you go, just make sure to get unlacquered brass. The factory-new finish will yield to a wonderful patina that develops over time. —Robert Khederian, real-estate agent
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Rejuvenation Massey Drawer Pull
We love rounded walnut hardware where the grain shows through. We recommend sourcing from Etsy: The platform champions independent creators and small businesses, the price points are great, and the work is high quality. —Homan Rajai ofStudio AHEAD
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We love high-character cabinet pulls. Leather or wood is warm to the touch and is a nice detail compared to metal. —Henry Ng,Ideas of Order Studio
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Store kid stuff in Japanese stationery boxes.
I use them for pens and art supplies, but the bigger ones make great kids’ jewelry boxes or storage for all the little bullshitty objets they seem to gather. They look so good that you can leave them around.— Martha Tuber, Strategist deals writer
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Penco Container
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Channel a ’90s incandescent glow with these LED bulbs.
I believe that we’re so nostalgic for ’90s interiors because the glow of incandescent lightbulbs isobjectively preferable to LEDs. While you can still find (or special order!) incandescents, if you’re feeling energy conscious, the GE Relax LED bulbs are an affordable way to bring warmth back into your home. —R.K.
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Hang a gridwall coat rack.
Design-y hooks and Shaker peg rails are beautiful, but they fill up fast. A panel of gridwall gives you more hanging slots. Vertically stagger coats, bags, scarves, and bike helmets and reconfigure as the seasons change.— E.S.
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Store Supply Gridwall Panel
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Fake a built-in banquette.
Custom millwork is expensive, but you can get remarkably close to the effect of a built-in bylining up modular wood seating. Push them up against the wall with a table in front and add a long lumbar pillow across the seats.— M.T.
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Unify the wastebaskets …
When my husband and I moved into our Brooklyn apartment eight years ago, the first thing I did was snap up every color of vintage Kartell Colombini trashcan I could find on eBay and Etsy. Every bedroom and bathroom got one.— J.F.
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… Or stow trash away in a cabinet.
Concealed trash is a quick and easy way to elevate a kitchen and free up floor space for better circulation. —Leah Alexander, interior designer
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Give your cords and light switches some love.
Sources agree: You can do better than a dinky plastic light-switch cover.
Change the light-switch covers.
Gigliotti always swaps his for stainless steel, and Thompson sources from Etsy. “The aptly namedKyle Switch Plateshas every style you could want,” says Khederian — he prefers a classic silhouette in unlacquered brass.
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Put all your lights on dimmer switches.
If you’re feeling especially ambitious, swap your switches forpush-button dimmers,” Khederian says. It took about ten minutes for an electrician to install and now he wants them everywhere. Get a plug-in dimmer for lamps: “A few watts makes all the difference between surgery and romantic,” says designer Dung Ngo.
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Dress up the cables.
Writer Erin Boyle replaced two antique lamp cords withcloth-covered upgrades. “Recently, when I didn’t feel like tackling a full rewiring, I improved an ugly cord by wrapping it with hemp string,” she says.
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A room divider can save an oddly proportioned space.
Open-floor plans may have become too trendy in the past decade. Working on older buildings, we sometimes find walls removed where it didn’t make sense, creating an oddly proportioned room. A well-placed room divider can restore a sense of scale. It can also be set against a wall as a design object or a backdrop for furniture. —H.N.
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You can install these sconces without an electrician.
They’rebattery poweredso no wiring and no opening up a wall. Flanking a bed or a mirror, they produce a localized, warm light. —N.T.
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For area rugs, proportion matters most.
I’d recommend alarger, simpler rugthat is appropriately sized rather than a smaller, more expensive rug that feels cramped by the furniture. In a smaller room, we love to install a rug that is almost wall-to-wall, floating just a few inches off the perimeter. —H.N.
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Wall mount a tapestry with a curtain rod.
Sew loops to the back of anything you like (quilt, tapestry, embroidery), and mount as art. I used scrap fabric and my stitches were sloppy; it doesn’t have to be perfect at all. I found a handwoven tapestry of the 12 days of Christmas and mounted it above my bed usingthis rod. —Taryn Randall, owner of Good Behavior
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Hand Woven Egyptian Tapestry
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Get a big, beautiful mirror.
It’s the single most transformative thing you can put in a small apartment. Costly mirrors (Rejuvenation, Anthropologie) are heavy and difficult to relocate, so for temporary DIYs, lighter mirrors from Wayfair or Target might be preferable.— M.T.
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Think outside the box for bathroom storage.
Plant stands, pull-out glides meant for trash cans, and skinny carts can all make thebest use of limited space.— E.S.
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Art books want to be open.
Why keep them shut up on the shelf? I use this $6 string weight and turn the page every few days, then swap for another book when I reach the end. —E.S.
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