Quick And Effective Ways To Update Your Home, According To Joanna Gaines

Weekend projects can drastically refresh your space, and "Fixer Upper" star Joanna Gaines has offered some quick solutions that can noticeably change your home. In an interview with Architectural Digest, she advised homeowners, "For the interior, simple changes like new light fixtures, a new backsplash, or a fresh coat of paint can go a long way." These are small, manageable, weekend-scale projects that can make a visible difference without requiring a full renovation.

If cost concerns, time constraints, or fear of committing to major renovations have held you back from updating your home, tackle one or two of the simple, focused projects Gaines suggests to improve how your space looks and feels without overwhelming you or breaking your budget. They can transform your space more than you may realize because they change the areas people interact with most often. Lighting changes, wall color, and surface details all play a role in how the room is perceived — even if the layout doesn't change at all. These types of updates can make the space feel brighter, cleaner, and more modern without causing disruption.

Joanna Gaines' advice to update light fixtures can instantly change how a room looks and feels while influencing how the space is experienced. Lighting also impacts mood, function, and visual interest, and swapping out fixtures in your kitchen, dining room, or entryway is relatively simple. A new backsplash can also refresh kitchens or bathrooms without a full remodel. Even a small backsplash can make a space feel modern, and you can say farewell to traditional backsplash because Gaines has 12 better solutions. A fresh coat of paint is one of the fastest ways to transform an interior, offering high impact for minimal effort. You can paint your walls or think beyond that and tackle your cabinets, trim, or accent areas, too.

These ideas offer low-risk, high-reward improvements that you can accomplish in a weekend. They're flexible updates that you can do quickly, which is one of the biggest reasons Gaines loves a mini reni — what she calls it when you update a small part of your home, focusing on the small details (it's also the title of one of her Magnolia Network shows). While these ideas are small, they're thoughtful and can feel transformative, much like the timeless technique Gaines uses to transform a lifeless room.