Selling Your Home - Dress Up Your Kitchen

If you are thinking about selling your home, or have already decided, take a look around your house and make sure it's up-to-date. Nothing turns off potential buyers more than knowing they'll have to sink a lot of money into their new home just to modernize it. But let's say you don't have a lot of cash-and who does? You need to know what to remodel in your home that will add the most value to your home.

The first on your to-do list should be the kitchen. You can recoup the most value from a minor kitchen remodeling, up to 80%. So what should you do if you don't have thousands of dollars to spend? Paint it. Paint the ceilings white to reflect light and make your kitchen look bigger; if your kitchen is already big and you want to make it cozier, consider a warm neutral earth tone like taupe or sand. White is always nice, or consider something more daring and use some color. Add a border or stencil one yourself and you've given the room a whole new look for very little money.

Your next step should be to refinish the existing cabinetry. If you want to replace what you've already got, you're looking at several thousand dollars, so consider painting the cabinets you already have. Use high-gloss enamel for durability and easier cleaning. White is a good choice, especially if the walls are a color. Or if you have nice wood cabinets, consider refinishing them yourself. Take them outside, sand, and varnish, and you've got nice, new-looking cabinets. And don't forget the hardware. You can get new handle and drawer pulls ranging anywhere from a few cents to several dollars; the choice depends upon how much you want to spend and the look you are after.

A new countertop is also a good idea, and you can get an inexpensive laminate one that will look much better than that '70s avocado green or harvest gold one you have now. Technology has come along way, and the newest laminate countertops look almost as nice as granite or Corian. Craftsman On Call can put a new laminate cover on an existing countertop or can construct a completely new laminate countertop.

Another way to inexpensively update your kitchen is new flooring. If you have wood under whatever your floor covering is now, consider refinishing it yourself. Most homebuyers love wood floors. The least expensive flooring is vinyl sheet flooring and vinyl tiles. Sheet flooring is usually the least expensive and it is inexpensive to install. In a day, you can have a whole new kitchen floor.

Don't forget your window treatments. Clean or get rid of dusty old blinds and invest in some sharp new mini-blinds. If you can sew, you already know that there are an almost limitless number of ideas out there for curtains and valances. You probably don't want long curtains in your kitchen; they can be a fire hazard. So some short curtains or valances will only need a couple of yards of material each. Get it on sale and you save even more money. Spend a weekend whipping up some new valances and you've got a great new look without spending a lot of money.

If you have a big enough budget, and you should if you follow the advice here, consider investing in some energy-efficient appliances. An up-to-date stove is the most popular kitchen appliance, followed by refrigerator and dishwasher. Shop wisely and you can get something nice for around $600 or less. Without appliances, you can do a very nice minor kitchen remodeling for under $1,000.