4 Easy & Rental-Friendly Kitchen Upgrades You Can Do Right Now

3. Tile grout cleaning

Next, I am tackling my floors, guys. Please don't judge me. But you know what, if you do, I kind of deserve it because when I moved in, the grout lines didn’t look white They were all equally dark, and I just assumed that that's how they look. But no! That was dirt guys.

So I took a bottle of The Works—you can get that from Dollar Tree—and I used my large, handheld grout brush from Target. It's really, really nice.

You don't have to get on your hands and knees. Just spray a little bit of The Works and put in a little bit of elbow grease, and my floors look like new. It's actually scary how much dirt was on the floor between my grout lines.

4. Countertop rehab

Okay, guys, now on to the next project. I'm super excited about it because I have been wanting to upgrade these dusty countertops for quite some time, and I found contact paper on Amazon that I have used before. But this time, I found it in a countertop size.

The actual dimensions are 4 ft x 6.5 ft, which is great since there's no cutting and pasting in the middle of the countertop. The sheet covers the entire countertop, and this particular contact paper that I purchased was $44.

I started off by cleaning the countertops with alcohol, and once it dried, I measured everything out. What I like about contact paper is that there are lines on the back, so you can cut it very neatly.

I basically just started cutting everything out and lining everything up, and once I got a layout of how I wanted everything to look, I peeled back maybe 2–3 inches at a time, and then I started to stick it down to the countertop.

The nice thing about contact paper is that it is very reusable. So if you stick it down in the wrong place, you just literally pull it back up and try it again, But I find that if you do the right measuring up front, then you don't run into any problems. Plus, you don't pull off too much of the backing at once because that's how you get air bubbles.

I use a smoother that I purchased when that happens. And the scraper I have is also good for lining up against the sink when you come in contact with it. You just line it up, and you use your utility knife to kind of cut around the sink to give it that seamless look. I actually went back in with some silicone caulk just to make everything look that much better.

I ran out of contact paper, and the new roll just came in yesterday, so I'm going to finish my installation by putting it on the top portion of the countertops. Hopefully, it comes out good, because these countertops are rounded, and it says to use a blow dryer.

To do this, I'm just gonna measure the length and the width and then cut it and apply it just like I did the other areas of the kitchen. It’s as simple as that.

Rental-friendly kitchen upgrades

Share your thoughts about these easy rental kitchen upgrades in the comment section below. Which one is your favorite? What have you already done to make your rental kitchen look even better than before?