If you’ve been spending a lot of time at home, chances are you’ve noticed a few things that could use an upgrade. Whether your list of home improvements is just a couple of items or a mile long, here are popular projects that you can tackle when the weather is cooperative.
Spice Up Your Landscaping
You could do this literally - with a garden full of hot peppers! - or figuratively by improving the state of your landscaping overall. You don’t necessarily need to start before the weather gets warmer - greenhouses often remain well-stocked with flowers, trees, shrubs, and other landscaping supplies well into the fall. You might even find discounts on certain plants that have been on the shelf for a while.
Take an inventory of the outdoor areas you want to improve: how much sun does each area get? Are you looking to add color or coverage to a specific spot? You can certainly work with a professional to design a landscaping plan or you can DIY! The possibilities are truly endless.
Refinish Your Cabinets
Full kitchen renos can be über expensive and take your kitchen out of commission for weeks or even months. However, choosing to upgrade separate parts of your kitchen, a little at a time, is a great way to achieve the look you want without breaking the bank or living without a kitchen!
Refinishing your cabinets could mean having them stripped, sanded, and stained a new color. It could mean having them painted. You could also opt to have them refaced, which involves covering your cabinet doors and drawers with a durable veneer. Refinishing cabinets won’t take nearly as long as a full remodel, and with good weather, you have the option to cook food outdoors, if needed.
Paint Your Home’s Exterior
Noticing paint chips in your driveway? Tired of your faded blue housepaint? Feeling bold and want to add some color to your home? Repainting is a great way to refresh its appearance.
Warmer months, like June, July, and August, are widely regarded as the optimal time to paint the exterior of a home for a few reasons. In Pennsylvania, by the time warm weather rolls around, temperatures are more consistent with less variation from day to night, and there’s less rain. These conditions allow the paint to dry and cure properly.
Replace Your Windows
For the same reasons that warmer weather is the ideal time to paint a home’s exterior, this time of year is also the ideal time to replace windows. Whether you’re embarking on a plan to replace all your windows or only doing a few, spring, summer, and early fall months lend themselves well to the fact that parts of your home will be totally open to the elements, at least for a few hours each day, while the replacement takes place.
Most window replacement companies will be able to provide you with a timeline for the work, so you can anticipate which parts of the house might be open-air. To help avoid all your air-conditioned air flowing out the windows (thus causing your bill to climb!), you can plan to keep doors to certain rooms closed or otherwise seal off a particular part of your house.
Roof Replacement
Got some leaks coming through when it rains? Missing a few shingles here and there? It might be time to replace your roof. The average lifespan of a roof is 15-20 years, so while roof replacement is a higher-ticket home improvement project, the investment will last you a very long time.
Patio Upgrades
Create the backyard oasis you’ve always wanted! Create a wish list for what would improve the environment in your backyard so that you want to spend as much time outside as possible. Little things like adding plants (from your landscaping efforts at the top of this list!), a small fountain, a colorful outdoor rug, a fire pit, or a big umbrella can upgrade your patio instantly.
If you have some bigger projects in mind, like building or refinishing a deck or patio, buying all new outdoor furniture, installing an outdoor kitchen, or adding a pool, they’ll likely come in with a longer timeline and cost you more. Decide on your priorities and get started!
Make Your Dream Home a Reality
Many of these projects come with a higher price tag. That’s where PSECU can help. In instances like these, you can leverage the equity you've built in your home by taking out a home equity loan or line of credit or refinancing your mortgage. Our home equity products put you in control, providing you with the money and financial flexibility you need now and the peace of mind you’ll want later. Refinancing with PSECU means you have access to competitive rates and terms. These options can get you the cash you need to make your dream home a reality.
