[Under 100,000 yen total] Things I'm glad I renovated in my 29-year-old property on a budget.

I got the structure for almost nothing, and while I thought the shell wasn't bad, the inside was falling apart.
Since I started from that state, I've been aggressively changing the things I don't like, but I thought that even for people living in homes from new to about 20 years old, there might be some things that can make you a little happier if you change them at specific points. So,this time I'd like to present a theme of budget-friendly items that cost about 100,000 yen in total but can make you happy.I'm Usatosan, and lately, whenever I have free time, I live a life of painting pillars. I often do things like this ▼

I don't expect everyone to do this, of course (laughs).
I'll only introduce things that you can pay someone else to do, or that are relatively easy to do yourself.

Purpose of small-scale renovation

Well, I think there are two purposes for renovations that don't involve large-scale construction.

One isfunctionality,

and the other isaesthetics

I think. And since Usatosan's new home is honestly full of places that need changing, I'm doing them in the order that bothers me most.

A French friend once told me that if there's a small problem in the house, worrying about it every day is just a waste of time, so you should fix it immediately.

I've been told that before. Whether it was the Belgians or Germans I talked to often at the time, when we talked about home environments, it was mostly the same. European peoplenormally live in places that are 100 or 200 years old, and they don't have the sense that living in the newest, high-performance housing possible is good like in Japan. Since they have a sense thatit's 'normal' to live in a place while gradually renovating old equipment, I think that advice came from a mindset quite far removed from the Japanese housing situation.

Kitchen faucet: Budget 20,000 yen (including installation costs)

To be honest, while I was debating whether to replace the entire system kitchen, I got a quote from the place I'm having renovate my bath, and they said 800,000 yen.
I was wondering what to do, but the water faucet was so bad I couldn't stand it.

I didn't really understand why there were two faucets, and since there was nothing attached to the faucet mouth, the water pressure wasn't great, so I worried about it a lot, but I changed it!
I might think I want to replace the whole kitchen later, but if it costs 800,000 yen, 20,000 yen is just a rounding error, I thought.
Also, the deciding factor was that it isa piece of equipment I use overwhelmingly often.

Honestly, it was so right to change it that I'm even thinking I might just leave the kitchen as it is now.

At the home improvement store,20,000 yen including labor is quite cheap, I thought, but I almost fell into the trap of buying cheap, so I think it's necessary to be careful, as the contractor who came was not great.

They almost left it in this state...

This part was left exposed

"It's finished!"

they said. Wait, hold on a second.

We even had a pre-inspection and got a quote, so that's not right, is it?

Then they said, "The one I have on hand is different on the left and right, but should I install this?" and added that since the round part is big, it might hang down...

"Huh? (ﾟДﾟ..)"

is what I thought. In the end, I decided to have them install it anyway, but I was wondering if it was okay to turn the water main on while it was open, and then

WHOOSH!!!!!!

I saw that thing you only see in dramas or anime for the first time in real life. I really wanted to film it, but since it was my own house, I went to turn off the main valve.
Then, when I came back,

"It got all flooded ♥︎"

Is this guy serious? (ﾟДﾟ..)

I thought. But the damage itself wasn't that bad, and you only get to see something like this once in a lifetime, so I forgave them.

After that, for some reason, they procured the parts and installed it properly, but why didn't they do that from the beginning? What's annoying is that I hired a professional because I didn't want to do it myself, and since I'm bothered by it being exposed, if I were to hire another professional, I'd have to pay even more, and even if they asked for additional payment for parts, this part had to be done properly. I'm not the type to complain much, but I had to say something.
I mean, if I hadn't complained, they would have just left, so is their credibility okay? In the end, they didn't even charge me for the parts.

It was finally installed properly, andmy dissatisfaction with the faucet is gone, so I'm glad I changed it. With the previous faucet, the water just trickled out, and I felt like there wasn't enough water pressure for washing dishes. I was also bothered by the strange faucet that was attached, and I think it's more common these days to have a type where you lift it up to get water, including at my parents' house, but I couldn't get used to the one where you push it down to get water.

Since I changed it, I'm glad I did every day.

The kitchen faucet at my parents' house is getting old too, and I think it would be great to change it if it costs about this much.

However, choose your contractor carefully. Seriously.

Video Doorphone: Budget 40,000 yen (including installation fee)

The one that was originally installed didn't have a monitor, so I was planning to change it, but it was broken, so I changed it early.

This time, I bought it at Yodobashi and looked for a contractor onKurashi no Marketto do the work. The labor fee for the contractor I found on Kurashi no Market was 9,000 yen, so it ended up like that because I was in a hurry, but in terms of price alone, I feel like buying it on Amazon and using Kurashi no Market is cheaper. I bought it at Yodobashi because I wanted to install it even one day earlier even if it was a bit expensive, but Yodobashi was also a bit slow with reservations. Bic Camera, which I declined after they only came for an inspection because the scheduled construction date was too late, had an installation fee of 15,000 yen. By the way,
this work requires an electrician's license, so the construction fee is basically mandatory, so keep in mind that it will cost the product price + 10,000 to 15,000 yen.

My previous rental had a video doorphone, and I thought there was no way I could answer the door without one, so I installed it.
Basically, as long as I can distinguish between mail, Sagawa, and Yamato, that's enough, so I compromised on camera performance to keep the price down by choosing a cheaper model, but it was a really good decision to get one with a handset since this is a 3-story house.
It's fine since I'm usually on the 2nd floor, but deliveries on weekends sometimes come when I'm sleeping on the 3rd floor. If you have a detached house and are worried about the price, I highly recommend getting one with a handset even if you lower the camera performance.

In terms of crime prevention, it seems that burglars have a tactic of pressing the doorbell just to check, but thieves don't like their faces being recorded, so that kind of thing disappears. But it's true that, like in my previous house, people who don't have business don't press it, and it's nice to know who visited and at what time because the history remains.

When I was in my previous house, I didn't answer because I didn't know the person, but there was someone who came every day, and when I answered around the first week, it was a wrong number! But at least I was able to recognize that the same person had been coming every day.

My parents' house doesn't have a video doorphone, so when I told my sister I wanted to give this to them as a gift, she said she'd pay half, so it's that good.

MUJI Wall-Mounted Shelves: Budget 3,490 yen

I bought these for the toilet in my previous home (a rental), but I finally installed them in my current home too. I had the shelves themselves, but I couldn't figure out which box the pins for the brackets were in.

The great thing about these shelves is that they only leave holes about the size of a thumbtack, so they're fine for rentals.

Well, one way or another, it's just more convenient to have a small shelf in the toilet. Since I own the house I live in now, I could have used something more heavy-duty, but I didn't find this inconvenient in my previous home. Plus, since I live alone, it didn't get very dirty, so I just wiped off the dust and it looked clean, so I kept using it (lol).

Switch Plates: Budget 5,000 to 8,000 yen

These are also items I kept using from my previous rental, but I bought some extra ones because I didn't have enough. They were only sold on Rakuten, so if you're interested, check the link below.

Natural Taste <Cream Color> Ceramic Switch Plate ¥935

Panasonic's genuine products are made of plastic and don't leave gaps, but ceramic ones do. However, I just wrap a small amount of air conditioner putty around the switch to fill the gap.

You can get it at a home improvement store for under 100 yen. If you touch the stuff around your air conditioner hole, you'll see what I mean. It doesn't harden for several years when used indoors, so if you remove it when switching back to the original plate, it shouldn't be a problem even in a rental. Replacing the plate itself doesn't require any special qualifications; you can just pop the cover off and turn the screws to replace it.
I keep the leftovers in a Ziploc-style bag and use them when needed.

When I was in a rental, I kept all the removed covers and screws properly, but I'm thinking of just throwing away the ones from this house. I'm not sure if I should leave them as is when I sell this house or if I should actually put new ones on.
They were incredibly dirty.

It's just a small thing, but it really changes the atmosphere of the room.

So, I've introduced some things that are low-effort and budget-friendly for renovations. I especially felt that the water faucet is something you should replace once it gets old. Just replacing the faucet was cheaper than I thought.

I hope you find this helpful.