10 ways to update your home on a budget

Even if your kitchen’s layout works well, if its decor hasn’t been changed in a decade or two, you may want to freshen things up. Replacing the knobs on your cabinets and installing a new faucet can give your kitchen a surprising face lift, as can upgrading to stainless-steel appliances, but it can be a slippery slope. “I just replaced a cooktop and one thing led to another,” says Carol Krieger of Carol S. Krieger Interior Design in Cambridge. “I ended up doing the countertops, which led to the backsplash, then, well, how about the flooring?”