12 ways to use your tax refund check to remodel your home

Tax Day is finally history and hopefully you’re now waiting for a fat refund check.

In fact, the IRS reports that, so far this year, the average 2015 tax refund has been just about $2,800. Before you splurge on a few rounds of golf or a shopping spree, think about investing that refund in your house and yard.

You may not get back a refund big enough to pay for demolishing and redoing the bathroom or kitchen. But even if you’re only getting a few hundred from Uncle Sam, you can make some changes to add value to your home, make you more comfortable and maybe even save you money.

Here are a dozen ideas for remodeling with your refund. Many of them are do-it-yourself projects:

1. Repaint that tired-looking bedroom or master bath with high-quality designer paint. Don’t forget the baseboards.

2. Splurge on a wild rain-style showerhead in your bathroom like the one you enjoyed last year at that big-ticket resort.

3. Change the ceiling can lights in a dark hallway from incandescent to LED bulbs. You’ll throw more light into your life and your electric bills will drop enough to almost pay for the lights.

4. Replace all the lighting fixtures in your backyard with new more eye-catching ones — whether they’re broken or not.

5. Give your lantanas and yuccas a break and replace your aging drip-irrigation system. If you can’t do the whole job at once, do one section at a time.

6. Have your front door refinished or repainted inside and out. Sealing cracks or holes in the door can cut your utility bill.

7. Buy and install a new high-tech thermostat that let’s you remotely program, monitor and control your home’s temperature.

8. Remove those old bathroom or kitchen faucets and replace them with something more up-to-date. Be sure to change the cabinet knobs to match the new finish on the faucets.

9. Replace the over-sized flat bathroom mirrors that were installed when the house was built with individual designer-style mirrors with frames over each sink.

10. Have the grungy concrete floor of your garage re-coated with epoxy flooring. Of course, you’re going to have to clean out the garage in order to do that, but that’s OK, right?

11. Take down the old, dirty window shades and replace them with new ones or with plantation shutters. In addition, you could add heat screens outside of rooms where the windows face west.

12. Replace your broken-down patio furniture or invest in new cushions for the patio chairs and sofa. Brightly-color cushions can quickly spruce up your outdoor entertaining area!

If you have a question on any of these ideas, you can find more advice and do-it-yourself tips, for your house, home, castle or cabin, at every Arizona homeowner’s best friend, RosieontheHouse.com And, if you’re looking for the very best contractor or service provider for your home improvement projects, always trust a Rosie-Certified Partner, Arizona’s most-trusted referral network.

Be sure to tune in to KTAR every Saturday morning from 7-11 a.m. for the Rosie on the House broadcast!