Must-Have Home Upgrades for Modern Families

a kitchen with white cabinets

Homeowners are always on the hunt for new and exciting home upgrades that will improve their quality of life and level of comfort. Modern families are no different, seeking fantastic living space and utility areas that are functional and beautiful at the same time. Popular home renovation projects often include a focus on the kitchen, living room, and outdoor spaces. These are tried and true upgrades that homeowners love to incorporate into their properties.

If you’re searching for new ideas to infuse fresh energy into your home, you aren’t alone. Americans spend more than $400 billion per year on home upgrades, and this trend is only continuing to rise as the years go on. This year, with homeowners spending far more time indoors as a result of varying coronavirus lockdown and distancing rules and regulations, we’re finding more and more faults and flaws with our living spaces. Minor and major renovation work will boom in the new year as homeowners seek out solutions for historic home restorations and modern improvements to these parts of the home.

Upgrades to your living and working spaces often improve your resale value as well, making the home more valuable as a commodity when you decide to move into a new property in the future. Striking this perfect balance between comfort and functionality, and increased home value is what makes for a perfect home upgrade. These solutions are sure to excite on both fronts.

Start with systemic troubles in order to create a vibrant new living space.

The best place to begin when working through a major upgrade on your home is with the systemic issues that plague your home’s comfort level. These are typically found with aging water heaters, a leaky roof, or cracked window frames. These systems and features are designed to provide you with maximum comfort, but when they begin to fail, they often begin to provide you with the exact opposite.

A new advanced water filtration system is a great inclusion when thinking about home upgrades that will benefit your family’s overall level of comfort and quality of life. These systems can be introduced midstream in your plumbing so that your water simply runs filtered water straight from the tap. Without the need for additional filtering or bottled water purchases, your family can go straight to the sink for the perfect glass of water. These systems are often easy to install and provide a major increase in the comfort of your home with little effort.

Another upgrade is with the home features that face out into the exterior. Your roof and windows need replacing every fifteen to twenty years, regardless of your upkeep routine—although this lifespan can be extended with good maintenance habits that prolong their usefulness. Keeping up with replacements and repairs on these critical components is something that all homeowners must do. This often forms a core piece of advice for searching for your first-home as well.

Your roof and windows protect your home from the elements and are the first culprits that you must investigate when seeing a rise in electricity costs. They keep the rain, snow, and animals that exist in the outdoor environment out of your home, but they also protect the hot or cold air flowing through your property from getting out as well. When these begin to fail as they age, the seals that keep your AC unit running inside begin to release this conditioned air into the exterior environment, meaning that your air conditioner has to work overtime to provide the comfort that you’re expecting.

Turn to your quality of life features for a brand new energy in the home.

In addition to these outdoor and system-wide fixes, improving the energy in your home also requires some modern touches to the kitchen, living spaces, and even outdoor areas.

Starting in the kitchen is often a great idea for homeowners looking to spark new life in their homes. The kitchen is typically situated in the center of the home, and the feeling and energy of the room flow out through the remainder of the house as a result. Installing new flooring and countertops that improve the luxurious feel of the space can work wonders for your personal enjoyment of the room. Homeowners have found that larger, light-colored tiles for the flooring in the kitchen are a great way to make the space feel larger and more inviting. Coupled with wide windows that let in plenty of light, this type of flooring can make the kitchen feel clean, neat, and cool for your family and visitors to the home. Another great installation is a marble or granite countertop. These heavy stone workspaces give a sense of luxury that’s simply unmatched by other upgrades, and they will last for a generation without showing the slightest wear or tear for most homeowners. These counters are easy to clean, and they provide a unique, customized touch to round out the perfect kitchen space.

Adding new artwork in the living room is another great way to splash your unique flair across the walls. In addition to keeping up with modern painting trends, the artwork is a stylish inclusion in any home and can provide the ambiance that a family is looking for, regardless of their style. For those with quirkiness embedded in their DNA, a modern art piece with vibrant flourishes might be the perfect statement on a living room wall. Alternatively, many families opt for a scenic depiction of nature in order to build a space of relaxation and comfort. You can even make custom canvas prints with your own works or photos if you’re looking for originality.

Adding in personal touches and modern upgrades to your home are the perfect way to make the space feel like your own. A new home often smacks of a strangely perfect, alien quality until you begin to damage things with the natural course of life. Rather than waiting to leave your mark in a detrimental way, consider upgrading some of the home’s older fixtures in order to begin to build the life you’re searching for in the space.