Inexpensive Kitchen & Bathroom Renovations For Your Rental

The Big Picture On Affordable Rental Renovations:

Renovate kitchens and bathrooms cheaply by covering flaws, painting cabinets, and updating hardware.
Use rugs, paint, and new fixtures to transform spaces without costly replacements.
Focus on cohesive themes and small upgrades like faucets and light switches for impact.

(Photo courtesy of Creairtive.com)

Why Renovate Kitchens and Bathrooms?

Real estate experts love to tell rental property owners how important it is to redo their kitchens and bathrooms. Easy for them to say – they don’t have to foot the bill for the expensive renovations!

But they’re not wrong, either. Kitchens and bathrooms are extremely important to buyers and renters, and this makes sense from a psychological standpoint. People have a visceral connection to kitchens and bathrooms; these are places where they prepare and eat food and where they groom and clean themselves… naked. That means they will either be attracted to or repulsed by your property’s kitchens and bathrooms on a deep level.

So you have a rental property (or home) with an ugly, dated kitchen or bathroom, but you don’t have $5,000 sitting idly by and twiddling its thumbs for a renovation. What’s a landlord or homeowner to do?

Here are top ideas on a tiny budget for taking your rental property’s kitchen and bathroom from woebegone to warm and inviting.

 

1. Flooring: Throw It Under the Rug

Sure, you could install brand-new marble tiles, right after parking your private yacht and hopping into your Maserati.

If your kitchen or bathroom tiles look like the ‘70s had an avocado and mustard party, why not cover most of them up? For the bathroom, get a thick, plush bathroom rug in a complementary color (or white—you can never go wrong with white). Get a throw rug in attractive colors in the kitchen that matches the existing scheme.

Just make sure the rug covers most of the floor space and deemphasizes whatever’s left peeking out.

Budget-Friendly Flooring Solutions

Bonus Tip: You have many options for covering the less-pleasant-looking parts of your floors. Pick the ones that best complement the existing colors. 

Rug Type

Best For

Durability

Maintenance

Cotton

Bathroom

Moderate

Easy

Wool

Kitchen

High

Moderate

Synthetic

High-traffic areas

High

Easy

Jute

Low-traffic areas

Low

Moderate

Bamboo

Kitchen/Bathroom

Moderate

Easy

 

2. Cover the Counters

Along similar lines, kitchen counters can be extremely expensive to replace. But not so expensive to cover and deemphasize.

Lucky for you, you have a veritable plethora of options. First, consider installing butcher block counters. If the word “install” doesn’t fit your budget or skill set, just buy a butcher’s block with the right dimensions and sit it on top of your existing counters. Problem solved.

If even that is too much for you, just buy a big ol’ cutting board that takes up plenty of counter space.

You can round out your counter space with a wooden or bamboo dish rack and a matching (or similarly colored) wine rack. Bonus tip: Throw a couple of cheap (but expensive-looking) bottles of wine in the rack. It reinforces the vibe and once again distracts from the room’s shortcomings.

If you don’t like any of that, just do like the Rolling Stones and paint it black. Sand the counters down, use a heavy primer designed for plastic, and use glossy oil-based paint. If you’re inspired, top it off with a satin poly layer.

 

3. Old Cabinets? Paint ‘Em White

Noticing a theme here? Coat over those old, gnarly-looking cabinets with a few layers of primer and paint.

You don’t have to paint them white… but if you paint them bubble gum pink, the result is on you.

If you’re artistically inclined, you can always paint accents or stencil simple designs onto the white cabinets. While you’re at it, add new drawer liners if the insides of the drawers look grungy.

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4. Hardware Restoration

You’d be amazed at what wonders new hardware can work on old cabinets.

Pick a style and rock it out. Stark, clean, modern lines? Rustic farmhouse chic? Maybe kitschy, with a beachy shore theme? Just make sure it’s consistent and complements the feel of the rest of the kitchen.

This trick works for any kitchen or bathroom, and you can install them yourself with nothing more than a screw gun. Or you can buy a few cases of beer and bribe your handy friend to do it with you.

 

5. Fancy Faucets

Don’t forget the faucet, which is a centerpiece fixture in any kitchen or bathroom.

The only limitation here is that it shouldn’t clash with the rest of your hardware and the general feel of the room. But go upscale with your faucet to add some pizzazz to the room and distract prospective renters from the not-so-fancy floor, cabinets, appliances, counters, you name it.

 

6. Lights, Outlets, Action!

Desperate college kids have a saying – beauty’s only a light switch away. Who’d have thought it holds true in kitchen renovations?

Light switch plates and outlet covers are another hardware element you can swap out with fancier replacements without much cost or labor. All you need is a screwdriver, and you’re all set.

Remember to keep them consistent with the rest of the room’s look (are we sounding like a broken record yet?) so that the new look is cohesive instead of a clashing nightmare.

By this point, the room should develop a visual theme and make middle-aged women swoon, saying, “It’s so cute!” Little do they know that you financed the whole thing with a jar of coins.

Bonus tip: consider installing dimmer switches in the living room. It’s a selling point you can comment on in the rental listing.

 

7. Lights (The Actual Lights)

Does the room look dingy because the lighting’s too dim? Too bright? Warm? Cold?

As we said in the beginning, you could spend thousands of dollars getting the room’s chi just right with marble floors and counters… or you could spend $1.99 on the right light bulbs.

As a general rule, you want warmer-colored bulbs in the kitchen and cooler-colored bulbs in the bathrooms, but that’s not a commandment written on a stone tablet. Do what looks best and makes the most sense for your room.

If you went heavy on the wood look in the kitchen, with butcher’s blocks and wooden dish racks and whatnot, consider those retro, faux-industrial incandescent bulbs that are so trendy in hipster restaurants. It’ll reinforce that ambiguously rustic-yet-industrial chic look.

And then there’s the light fixtures. Keep ‘em classy, and, of course, keep the look consistent.

 

Other Budget-Friendly Renovations You Can Consider

Apart from the kitchen and bathroom, you can also make these budget-friendly upgrades to improve the appeal of your rental property.

Furniture arrangement – Create distinct room areas, like reading nooks or workspaces.
Area rugs – improve room appearance or cover worn flooring.
Freestanding storage – Increase storage capacity using shelves, over-the-door organizers, or under-bed storage.
Peel-and-stick backsplash tiles – Update kitchens or bathrooms temporarily.
Stylish window treatments – Replace basic blinds or curtains with attractive options using adjustable, non-drilling rods.
Removable Wallpaper – Easily add personality to rooms without permanent changes. 

These are just simple changes, but they significantly improve your rental’s look without spending too much money. 

Tips Cost-Effective Overall Rental Property Renovations

Sure, you can prioritize the bathroom and kitchen since these areas are deal-breakers for a lot of potential tenants. But you also shouldn’t neglect other areas to renovate your rental property. Look around and see what you can do to lift its attractiveness.

However, make sure to apply these tips before you find yourself in deep financial trouble. 

Opt for Cost-Effective Aesthetic Improvements

We must have understood by now that we can make impactful visual changes without major renovations. Fresh paint, updated lighting fixtures, or new cabinet hardware can transform spaces affordably. However, channel your focus on changes that offer the most visual impact—it saves time and, of course, a few bucks.

Use Your Skills When You Can

Take on suitable DIY projects to reduce labor costs. You can finish tasks like painting, minor repairs, or basic landscaping with the necessary skills. However, leave the complicated work to licensed professionals. You wouldn’t want to deal with electrical circuits or HVAC systems on your own.

Engage With Contractors Effectively

If DIY doesn’t appeal to you and you don’t have a handy friend you can bribe with a box of pizza and ice-cold beer, get multiple quotes from contractors, and be prepared to negotiate… because they cost a lot of money.

Be sure to discuss potential adjustments to the project scope that could reduce costs. If you do it right, you can build a good relationship with reliable contractors, which may lead to better pricing on future projects.

Prioritize Key Areas to Renovate

Think as if you’re the potential tenant. Focus on spaces where you’d value most. Most of which are kitchens, bathrooms, walls, and exterior appeal. And hey, these areas typically yield the highest returns and can significantly increase your rental property’s attractiveness to potential renters.

Source Materials Strategically  

Compare prices from multiple suppliers, factoring in delivery costs and timelines. To save a few bucks, you may also look for sales, clearance items, or bulk discounts. I’d usually look for cost-effective alternatives that mimic high-end finishes, such as laminate instead of stone countertops.

Plan Your Finances Wisely

You’d be surprised how much money you can save just by planning your renovation expenses. Create a detailed budget based on thoroughly researching material costs, labor, necessary permits, and similar stuff. So, prioritize renovations that offer the best return on investment and allocate funds accordingly. Bonus tip: Always include a contingency for unexpected expenses.

Before You Show the Property, Channel Mr. Clean

It is positively, absolutely, monumentally important that your rental unit is sparkling clean when you show it. And nowhere is that more critical than in the kitchen and bathrooms.

Remember, people have a visceral connection with kitchens and bathrooms in the most literal sense. No one wants to imagine themselves cooking in a kitchen layered with dirt and dust or showering in a bathroom oozing with mold and grime.

If you drop a piece of food on the floor of these rooms, those floors better be so clean that you wouldn’t think twice about eating off of them.

With a little imagination, some elbow grease, and a full bottle of bleach, you don’t need much money to transform your rental property’s kitchen and bathrooms. Don’t be afraid to call in your friend with impeccable taste or your friend who’s super handy and loves a good project. Pay them with beer, wine, food, and good humor, and make sure the rooms look cohesive and sparkling clean before showing the vacant unit to prospective tenants.

What tricks have you used to redo your kitchen or bathrooms inexpensively? Have any shortcuts to share?