We hope you love our recommendations! Some may have been sent as samples, but all were independently selected by our editors. Just FYI, BuzzFeed and its publishing partners may collect a share of sales and/or other compensation from the links on this page.
1. Some pre-made wall panels that'll look so much like professional molding, you might as well tell guests that it is.
Reviewers attached these in different ways, with some just using mounting tape in apartments for no damage to walls. Others installed them on doors and kitchen islands!
Promising review: "Moved into an apartment with an ugly old plain front door that has seen better days. Since I cannot replace the door I decided to spruce it up, and these frame pieces are going to do the trick. They can be nailed or glued on, and then I have some colorful paint to cover them and the door...making the door look like it always was an upscale door with panels. I am happy with this purchase." —tj44
Get a single panel from Amazon starting at $6.14 (available in sets and tons of sizes).
2. A countertop paint kit so you can pretend to have the granite counters you always dreamed about.
3. A gallery wall kit complete with seven frames, a hanging template, hardware, and a set of black and white prints you can use as filler photos until you fill them with actual pics of your favorite memories. Sure, laying all the frames on the floor and moving them around for an hour works, but this way is so much easier and more efficient.
4. Drawer pulls that may be small, but make a huge difference for furniture and cabinets.
5. Fake wood contact paper to transform furniture or spruce up window sills.
Promising review: "This product is wonderful for several reasons. It looks like real wood grain, the adhesive is just right, and best of all, the paper on the back has grid lines for ease of measuring and cutting! I needed to cover a [faux] dark walnut wheeled cabinet to make an island for my kitchen, which has cabinets of yellow knotty pine. When I first began the project I thought the adhesive wasn't strong enough; 'how is this ever going to stay on?!' but as I continued, I realized it is necessary to be able to adjust as you are going along, to keep it straight and get rid of wrinkles and air bubbles. At the end, when everything was definitely in the right place, I pressed it all down firmly and it stayed. For being just sticky paper, this looks remarkably good. I originally wanted to use real pine veneer, but it was WAY too expensive. For the price and ease of use, I highly recommend this product." —M. Jamie Brown
Get it from Amazon for $2.87+ (available in seven colors and five sizes).
6. A set of carriage-style magnets that just pop right on. A two-second activity? That's the kind of DIY project I'm looking for.
7. A — get this — brick dyeing kit in case you just don't like the color of the bricks you have now. This stuff chemically bonds with brick, stone, block, and mortar without ruining its wonderful texture.
Masonry cosmetics, what a concept!
Promising review: "I had a brick repair on the wall in the front of my house. They did not match the rest of the brick at all, and I was embarrassed every time I walked past it. When I bought my kit, I didn’t know what to do with it at first, but I got great service. One of the Masonry Cosmetics guys helped me. I sent him samples of the brick and pictures and he figured out the stain colors for me. He also noticed something that I never would have thought of on my own: the mortar color was wrong and had me fix that first. Fixing that was the icing on the cake. Great product and even better service." —Gabe Williams
Get it from Amazon for $119.
8. A set of thick velvet slip covers to instantly transform your drab couch into something new and fabulous. Goodbye, stain-covered gray couch and HELLO new couch of my HGTV dreams.
This set even comes with nonslip straps to ensure your new seats stay in place. See more colors here.
Promising review: "I have never been so excited about a slipcover. Total transformation of our couch and loveseat. I was worried about it not working on our leather couch, but it stays on really well due to the straps and the separate cushion covers. LOVE." —Brian/Liz
Get it from Amazon for $45.70+ (available in two sizes and nine colors).
9. A leather restoring polish that'll breathe new life into your furniture, bags, and shoes. Look how happy this little red chair is!
Promising review: "I used this product to breathe new life into a leather sofa that I got for free on Facebook Marketplace. I changed the color of the sofa from a medium brown to the dark brown color. The product was easy to use, dried quickly, and covered much of the damage, cracking, and fading on the sofa. I love the finished product, and this was for under $30 cost total for materials. It took me two containers to cover the entire couch with a small amount left over. If you weren't doing a complete color change you could probably get away with one container. I highly recommend buying some cheap stippling brushes for getting the color into seams and crevices. This product works more like a paint than a dye, so keep that in mind." —Kindle Customer
Get it from Amazon for $14.95 (available in 19 colors).
10. Peel-and-stick fake marble that can go onto basically everything, because granite countertops are not in your budget.
Promising review: "Used a little more than one roll for a quick makeover for an ugly fireplace in a rental apartment. It was easy to cover the tiles with the film, and I could stretch the film out about 1 mm if I had cut the strip too short. It makes a huge difference for minimal effort/price. I don't think anyone would be squinting down at the floor to notice the slightly pixelated pattern." —zhen
Get a roll from Amazon for $7.98+ (available in nine configurations).
11. A grout pen that takes one looks at your dirty tiled floors and walls and goes "I can handle that." Just use this bad boy to paint right over all the dirt and grime.
Promising review: "This stuff is amazing! After over 10 years of the grout not being cleaned and a botched repair job, the bathroom floor in this house looked horrendous. Two pens covered the entire bathroom floor, with plenty left over in the second pen, even with applying two to three layers (which you will definitely need as the paint is a bit thin and also absorbs into the grout). It's super easy to apply and works exactly like a regular paint marker. Be sure to press the pen tip on a separate (thick) cloth to activate it before actually using on the grout so you don't end up with a huge mess on the tile when the paint floods out at first. If you see the first side of the tip is getting frayed, just pull it out and turn it around to the other side." —regalle
Get it from Amazon for $8.99+ (available in three colors and two sizes).
12. A stone-effect spray paint that'll help transform out-of-date furniture and cabinets into ultra-trendy decor without the pricey renovation.
Promising review (from 2018): "May 2020 Update: The countertop is just now starting to need (slight) touch ups around the sink itself. We had to postpone the remodel until this summer, and this counter has held up like a champ. I couldn't be happier with this product!
This paint can be a little tricky to work with until you get the hang of how it applies, my suggestion would be to test it out on a scrap or something prior to applying. Once I had it, this product was a breeze to work with.
We recently purchased a new home, and we're not gutting our main bathroom until next summer, and I just couldn't live with that 1980s green another day. So, after reading a lot of tutorials, I decided to go for it and paint the counter. I LOVE how it came out! Once it was dry for 24 hours, I applied several coats of poly and let it sit for 72 hours before I let the counter go back into normal use. It's held up like a dream. I wouldn't use any heavy chemicals on it (but I wouldn't advise those period), but otherwise zero issues with it.
(I had done this previously with a different color by a different brand and the outcome was similar, it held up like brand new for several months of daily abuse before I decided to repaint because I didn't really like the color).
I think this will easily hold up until we remodel, and it looks great too. DEFINITELY better than that '80s green!
Side Note: I see a lot of negative reviews on this product because it doesn't hold up for people outdoors. USE A SEALANT. Don't blame a product if you don't use it correctly. It's not rocket science folks." —Mistella
Get it from Amazon for $19.97 (available in eight colors).
13. Stainless-steel-effect contact paper to fool people into thinking you have much snazzier appliances than you really do. *eyes my very old white fridge*
And when you move or change your mind, you can easily remove or reposition it!
Promising review: "Amazing job at updating my wall oven. I searched for months trying to see what would be an alternative replacement to my dated wall oven (25 years old). The thing is, my old oven has always worked very well, so I couldn't really justify paying $2,000 to replace my working double wall oven only because of cosmetic reasons. Then it dawned on me that maybe if I updated the oven with this metal covering it would look like real stainless steel. So for literally the cost of $10 I updated my oven. The update is virtually unnoticeable unless you tell someone, and what's the best thing of all, it leaves no fingerprints. Best $10 I ever spent." —B. Lenj
Get an 18-inch x 6-foot roll from Amazon for $16.43.
14. A wood polish that can miraculously erase water stains and scratches. Everyone will be asking where you got your brand-new coffee table.
Promising review: "This stuff is absolutely AMAZING. My wife and I were getting tired of looking at our worn-out cabinets and wood paneling and were very close to paying a professional thousands of dollars to refinish it all, but then we came across this product. Our paneling and cabinets were looking rough. We have two dogs that jumped up and scratched places. We also had an area that was damaged by water spots where our dog bowls were. Several other areas were just worn from heavy traffic. This stuff was like a magical eraser for water spots, scratches, scuffs, and any other blemish. We simply wiped the product on with a paper towel and let it sit for 20 minutes before wiping it off with a clean towel. Everything looks brand-new. I'm buying a couple more so we can finish our cabinets and wood paneling. We're so glad we found this product." —Kris
Get it from Amazon for $8.48.
15. An Erase-A-Hole putty to fill in pesky cracks in drywall, plaster, and wood so you can actually get that security deposit back, no matter how many holes you put into the wall.
Promising review: "I love this stuff! It’s super easy to use and it flawlessly anything from nail holes to larger drywall anchor holes. Bonus that my walls are white and I can even get away with not repainting if I do a clean job! I hope they never stop making this stuff." —bookworm
Get it from Amazon for $10.95.
16. A set of drill brushes so effective, you'll be shocked how clean your bathroom used to be.
The set comes with a 2-inch flat brush, a 4-inch flat brush, and a round brush. The drill isn't included, but you can grab a basic Black and Decker one ($27.83 on Amazon) that'll do the trick.
Promising review: "I thought my hard water stains would never come off my shower doors, but I bought this awesome brush set, and it's amazing! I’ve tried all the hacks — drier sheets, clean erasers, lemon, vinegar — nothing works like this brush! I used Zep shower cleaner with it! In the picture, the side on the right is the part of the door I cleaned, and I still have to clean the left side." —Traci D.
Get it from Amazon for $14.95 (available in six colors and stiffness levels).
17. A jar of front door paint in case you're sick of your current white door and wanna mix it up. We've all seen the cute houses with the bright colored doors. And you know what? We all want them!
18. A bottle of wallpaper stripping spray capable of removing the past resident's wallpaper mistakes. Let us never speak of the brown and lime floral design ever again.
Promising review: "I have been putting off removing this horrid wallpaper for years, mainly because of the removal horror stories. As it turns out it was rather easy. 1. I used the Chomp scorer. Use it gently moving it in concentric circles, horizontal and vertical. 2. Use the Chomp liquid liberally, let it soak, use more, let it soak until you see paper bubble up. If paper is not coming off easily use more and let soak. Key is letting it soak. 3. Use scraper to start removal. On a large part of mine the paper and glue came off in sheets with no scraping. Other times the top layer came off and the backing and glue needed some scraping. If it's not coming off easily use more liquid and let it soak." —Kindle Customer
Get it from Amazon for $12.97
19. An electric pressure washer to help you blast away every speck of dirt on your outdoor furniture.
20. Metal legs for previously unlegged furniture — or anything that could use a refresh.
21. Concrete paint to make worn, weathered garage floors, patios, and walkways look brand new.
22. Some cushion supports you'll need if you have an older, slouchy couch. These will give them good posture again!
Think of this as a thick foam insert you can place on the bottom of your cushions to plump them up. Your couch will feel super comfy and look brand-new.
Promising review: "We have 10-year-old $6,000 Ethan Allen sofas. This product saved us from buying a new sofa!! These absolutely restored my cushions to new! This may seem a little expensive but versus the cost of reupholstered or new, it's worth every penny." —JBlack
Get them on Amazon for $29.99+ per panel (available in four sizes; each panel fits one cushion).
23. A powder polish that'll practically melt away the baked-on food and grime that seems to have become a permanent feature in your kitchen. Clean stovetops are possible!
Promising review: "I got some gunk on the outside of a stainless steel pan which I was very fond of and could NOT get the crap off. It ended up in the dishwasher and the gunk turned into something like thick, permanent enamel. I did a Google search and found this was highly recommended. I used it, and it worked! I made a paste, painted it on half the pan, left it, came back, scrubbed with a no-scratch scrubber, and it came off. It’s gone. I’m definitely going to keep this stuff around." —Arlington Anne
Get a pack of two from Amazon for $14.99.
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