You can even improve this

If you are buying a home or looking rot build one, consider this, have the laundry room where all the dirty clothes are. This is normally where the bedrooms are, specifically kid's bedrooms. It amazes me how many laundry rooms are either on the first floor or in the basement. The problem is the bedrooms are normally on he second floor. If you already are in home that your are planning on staying in, just move the laundry room. Many people have guest room they never use. Idea: consider cutting that room in half. This will allow a larger closet for someone, whoever's room is behind the given area, as well as, having sufficient room to add a laundry room. Turn your existing laundry room into a mudroom or pantry.

Dress up that old fireplace

If you have a traditional red brick fireplace. You can replace the bricks with a prefabricated stacked stone. It is siimple and dramatically changes the appearance. (Allied concrete has some great selections).

Keep it light

Keep ceramic tile light color in smaller rooms. Use paint and vanities color to accent the room.

Tile locks you in for years so staying neutral and light in smaller rooms is wise.

You do not want to walk into a dungeon

If at all possible open up the stairwell going down into a basement. The simples way to do this is to cut out a some area above the railing towards the bottom. This allows lights to flow into the stairwell which is so helpful. Another way is to add scones to the walls in the stairwell.

Ceramic for vinyl

Ceramic tile to replace vinyl is an easy yet cost effective way to improve any room. You can get tile for as low as $1 a ft. If you putting it on concrete, with a little reading, you can probably do it yourself.

Crown Molding

Crown molding is another very inexpensive way to dress up a dining room or for that matter any room. This can be done with either a one piece molding or 2 or 3 piece. The higher the ceiling the more pieces you can use. Paint it a brillians white to match your baseboards and this will allow you to bring some color into your room.

Molding sure helps

Dress up your dining room with chair- rail molding. This goes nrmally about 3 ft up from the floor an allows a great break point for painting. The safest way to go is with white on the molding and below and a color that draws from your curtains.