8 Ways to Make Over Your Home This Weekend Without Spending a Cent

Don’t let a tight budget stand in the way of an inspiring refresh of your home. These eight clever ideas will cost you no more than a little elbow grease and a touch of ingenuity, and your space will feel like new.

1. Rearrange your furniture.

One of the most effective (and free) ways to give your home an entirely new look, a furniture switcheroo can have an amazing effect on your space. Don’t be afraid to go for something completely different — Feng Shui, anyone? — starting with the largest piece. Drawing up a rough floor plan beforehand can come in handy.

2. Upcycle old bottles.

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Go a step further than putting your used glass bottles into the recycling bin and reinvent them as home décor. Wine bottles with pretty labels make elegant vases, while a larger carboy holds its own as a table centerpiece. If you consider yourself a DIY whiz, think even bigger and create handmade lamps and pendant lights, which work really well with blue and green bottles.

3. Put your jewels on display.

You may think of your jewelery as wearable art, but have you thought of hanging it on the wall as a permanent installation? This works best with pieces you don’t wear frequently, and the same goes for clothing. Use coat hangers and wall hooks to drape sparkly, colorful, or simply much-loved pieces throughout your home.

4. Do a deep clean.

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We’re not talking about the weekly sweep, but a proper, thorough clean from the highest corners to the lowest crevices. Wiping the dust from your Venetian blinds and scrubbing the grout on your splashback can be deeply satisfying and really transform the look of your home.

5. Get creative with photographs.

Provided they’ve already been printed (in the interests of adhering to the no-cost rule) there are tons of ways you can use photos to personalize your home. Peg them up along twine, pin them onto a corkboard collage, or stick them on the wall with colorful or metallic tape.

6. Deconstruct open shelving.

Creating a new look doesn’t always mean adding more. Removing items from display can really enhance the pieces you do keep out. Take a discerning look at your shelves, mantelpiece, and other surface spaces to see what you can subtract, leaving your favorites to shine.

7. Repurpose a ladder.

Lending themselves to DIY projects such as a hanging rack or vertical plant display, ladders bring versatility to a room, meaning you won’t be short of creative ideas.

8. Add some greenery from the garden.

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Bringing the outdoors in works wonders for freshening up a tired space. Instead of buying a new pot plant, see what you can grow from cuttings – snake plants are a low maintenance house plant that can be propagated, or clip some basil and rosemary and start up a herb garden to fragrance your kitchen and jazz up your cooking.