If you’re looking around your household and feeling unsatisfied with what you see, you don’t have to break the bank to make extensive renovations or buy all-new decor. Some effective home upgrades are actually completely free and require no sweat. Try these five tips today to enjoy a cozier and more stylish home tomorrow.

Float your seating

Many people make the mistake of pushing their seating against walls, assuming that this is the right tactic for maximizing space in their living rooms. However, a more elegant option is to pull your furniture away from walls. Try bringing your seating toward the center of the room, leaving only a few feet between the front edge of each piece and a coffee table. You’ll trade that central space for open floor around the perimeter, which optimizes foot traffic.

Organize your kitchen countertops

It can be tempting to display as much as you can on these surfaces: everything from small appliances like your coffee pot to decorative cutting boards, plants, and more. However, your counters will look neater—and the entire room will feel more spacious—if you put away most of these goods. Try sorting small appliances into a cabinet within convenient reach (at least when guests are coming to visit, if you don’t want to fumble with your coffee pot and toaster multiple times a day). Only place decor in corners, or use one item to break up long stretches of countertop with no appliances.

Sort your bathroom counters in one spot

Your bathroom counters might also benefit from some straightening up. While beauty and health products that don’t have appealing packaging belong in a cabinet at all times, especially in rooms that guests will access, you can organize well-packaged products and one decorative item (e.g., an oil diffuser or vase of flowers) into one spot. Arrange them on a vanity tray or even an old serving platter or dish. Collecting these goods in this way will create instant elegance, giving the rest of your countertops a clean and spacious appearance.

Bring in fresh garden cuttings

If you’re expecting company or simply want to give your home an extra touch of style, head out to your garden and snip a few flowers or twigs with leaves. Set them indoors in a vase of water to add color and a comforting touch to your surroundings. (If you want to prolong your bouquet’s beauty, mix in an instant flower food with warm water, a touch of sugar and vinegar, and a squirt of lemon juice.) Then feel free to move the display with you as you shift from your dining or living room in the evening to your bedroom at night. You’ll be surprised what a difference this makes when you have a beautiful bouquet nearby.

Add something black

This can be the solution for a room that feels dull, blank, or outdated. Timeless, sophisticated, and an instant source of contrast, black is a great color choice that can help balance most rooms, especially ones with large windows or light-painted walls. Consider making rearrangements, bringing a black accent pillow, vase, chair, or framed art piece from a darker room into another that needs a deep shade. And before you go shopping, look in your storage. You may already have the item you’re seeking tucked away somewhere.

Try these five quick tasks, and in just a few hours (or less), your home will feel more modern, neater, and more impressive—an ideal spot to host your loved ones.