Whenever I hear that someone’s building project has gone over budget, I worry about where the extra cash will come from. Let’s face it, a budget is set for each task because that’s the amount you have available to spend on it – otherwise the budget would be bigger, right?

So, if the costs spiral out of control, how on earth can you cover it and finish the project? I’d just be left with a big hole in my home if the allocated money ran out – there would be no extra cash available to bump up the budget.

This is why I believe it’s important to work out your costs for materials and labour in advance, before you start work on any project in your home. Whether it’s a new roof installation or simply decorating a room, let’s get a handle on the figures involved before picking up any tools.

Re-roofing your home

One of the most important building projects you can do on your house is repairing or replacing the roof. Without the roof, you’re not going to have much of a house left after a while! It not only keeps you warm and dry inside your home, it also protects the walls, interior and insulation from weather damage.

So, if you need to carry out building work on your roof, you want to make sure you can afford to complete it thoroughly. No one wants a tarpaulin covering a hole in their roof while they save up to finish the job, right Thankfully, there are roofing calculators online that can help you to figure out the potential costs involved, based on the size, type of roofing material and local trades.

An easy to use calculator can give you a quick result using an AI-powered estimate or you can use a manual calculator to discover the area and angle of your roof for an accurate estimate of square footage, which you can then get quotes for. Remember, you should always get a professional to carry out any work on your roof – it’s a dangerous task and should NOT be DIY’d.

Knowing the dimensions and potential costs of your re-roofing project prevents you from starting something that you can’t afford to finish. Be sure to get quotes from multiple local installers and see which one provides the best service that you’re most comfortable with, rather than being the cheapest; you want it to be completed in a professional manner, after all.

Building an extension

Under the current permitted development rules, it’s often possible to add new rooms to your home without needing to go through a lengthy planning process. That said, you DO always need to check if your project is suitable and can be legally done, so make sure you check with your local planning office before you start any building work.

If it IS possible to build an extension on your current home, this can be a cost-effective way to get a bigger home without having to move house, which can often have hidden costs you should consider before putting your home on the market.

There’s a rough rule to calculate the cost of an extension via the square metres you’ll gain, which is around £1500-3000 per m², depending on the location of your home and the quality of materials you plan to use. Luckily, there are also calculators online that can give you a pricing guide for the type of extension you want to build.

And don’t just consider the build cost when working out your budget: you’ll need to decorate the interior, too. You’ll need flooring, paint, light fixtures, window treatments, furniture and even soft furnishings, so add them all to the budget spreadsheet to get a final cost before you decide if an extension is for you.

Installation tasks you can do yourself

Of course, it’s possible to DIY some elements of your home if you’ve got the time and the skills to do so. You can install kitchen cabinets, some types of flooring, built-in storage, tiling your bathroom renovation and more with just a bit of know-how and enthusiasm!

If you’re able to do these tasks yourself, you can certainly achieve some lovely interior looks when you’re working to a budget. Often, the cost of labour is the highest part of a project, so tackling the tasks that you can do yourself may save money.

This then gives you more budget available to get a plumber to finish off the project by plumbing in the kitchen sink or installing the bathroom suite after you’ve done your part of the job. This is the approach we took when renovating our kitchen.

We didn’t have enough budget for labour but we knew we could build flat-pack furniture so we put together the units and installed them ourselves. This was after having removed the old units (another labour-saving task), filled and painted the walls, installed the flooring and tiled the splashback.

We were even able to install the worktop, sink, taps and appliances – it was just the process of connecting these items to the water, electricity and gas supply where you would definitely need a professional to come in to complete the job. So that’s only a couple of hours spent on labour rather than days – or even weeks.

I hope these tips will help you to work out the budget for your next building project and I hope you’ll be able to minimise those costs by taking on some of the tasks yourself. Let me know in the comments below if you’ve managed to save money by tackling some DIY jobs in your own home, I’d love to hear your hacks for renovating your interior on a budget.

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Seeing as it’s the school holidays at the moment, I thought it would be the perfect time to get your children involved in a decorating project.

There’s never a good time for their room to be turned upside-down during term-time so why not make a plan to makeover their space during the Easter break, half term or the summer holiday?

There are so many benefits to getting your child involved in decorating their own room. Not only will they feel more grown-up and respected when their choices are approved, but it also lets them take ownership of their space and hopefully they’ll keep it tidier as a result..!

Plus, if they’re spending time in a room filled with their favourite colours, artwork and textures, they’ll feel happier day-to-day too.

Allowing your child or teenager to plan and decorate their own room not only lets them get creative and use their imagination, but it also means they’ll need to work out quantities of paint or wallpaper to cover the square footage of the walls – therefore fulfilling some learning objectives at home.

Primary school-aged children will love selecting colours for their room. And, youngsters might want to express their creativity by creating a mural across one wall. It’s easy to achieve this on a budget with tester pots of paint and a bit of imagination. Can you picture just how fun a mural would be for a child to paint?!

You might want to give older children a budget for furnishings so they can create a buying list or a spreadsheet, enabling them to compare the cost of different materials and products and learn how to balance a budget.

Also, while they’re physically completing the decorating project with you – painting, wallpapering, DIYing, upcycling, building flat-packed furniture – they’ll be learning useful life skills for the future. The personal development benefits are endless!

Giving a teenager the freedom to decorate their room allows them to express their personality. They can select artwork that reflects their interests but in a subtle way. You can explore trendy prints and posters from Posterstore to find photographs of locations from films they love, like Harry Potter, inspirational quotes or posters by their favourite artists.

It’s important to allow teens to create a space that makes them feel grown-up. And the added bonus is that the room probably won’t need redecorating again in the future if they choose timeless colours and designs – after they move out, you can simply add a double bed and it becomes a guest room!

I believe that planning and decorating their room is such a fun project to work on together and they certainly won’t get bored – there are so many options available and interesting tasks to take on that they’ll have the motivation to see it through to completion.

I hope you’ll have fun together if you plan a room decorating project with your child or teen. Let me know in the comments below how it turns out and I’d love to hear your hacks for creating a fun room on a budget.

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You know what it’s like; you’ve got a bit of time off coming up and you’ve decided that you’ll be staying at home during this period of annual leave. So even though you’d like to put your feet up, you also feel like you really should be using the time wisely to get ahead with some DIY tasks that you’ve been putting off for a while.

That’s where I’m at right now. I have a list of small-to-medium home decor jobs that I want to do around the home. And I have an at-home holiday coming up. This is why today’s blog post is all about what I hope to do next during my home renovation journey. BUT…

Do you ever feel like you run out of steam with your home decorating projects? When I moved into my fixer-upper house, I had plenty of energy to tackle all those DIY tasks however, I’m now enjoying living in the almost-finished space and don’t really want to rock the boat by starting a new project.

Even though I have a list of things I really want to do in the house, there always seems to be a good excuse not to do them – and that’s probably because I don’t want to make a load of mess and live with half-finished tasks! So, I’ve carefully considered the next jobs that need to be done, which includes the following:

Staircase renovation

The hallway was acutally one of the last spaces we decorated in our house. It made sense to leave it until last because we would be bringing paint, tiles and building materials up and down the stairs while we were renovating the rest of the house so it was likely going to be ruined if we’d tackled it any sooner.

However, by the time we got to stage of decorating the hallway, we didn’t have the energy to do anything more than painting the walls white and tidying up the staircase. You can see the ‘before’ photos in my blog post on how to paint a staircase and that give you an idea of where we’re at now.

So, the next step – excuse the pun – is to actually do a staircase renovation. Some of the treads are cracked and need replacing, plus I’m not sure we want to have bare wooden steps any more. Over the years, I’ve been drawn to the idea of having a staircase runner, especially after seeing Peter from @TheWhiteHome‘s new jute runner.

It makes the staircase look so neat and more finished, plus it seems like a DIY project I could do myself. However, I also know that I’m extra lazy when it comes to lugging the vacuum up and down the stairs so the parts of the stairs at the sides of the runner will definitely be a hotspot for gathering dust.

That means we’re either going to sand and refinish the whole staircase instead – which sounds like a big, messy task – or we’re going to have to carpet the whole staircase. This would also mean the hallway upstairs and the entryway downstairs would need to be carpeted at the same time, which makes it a more expensive option and is a job I don’t think I could do myself.

Watch this space to see what I decide to do..!

A loft ladder

It’s been about 2 years since we first discussed sorting out the loft and adding a ladder to the hatch to make it easier to access the space. We don’t really store anything in our attic at the moment because we’d have to bring in the outdoor ladder from the garage before we can climb up and open the hatch.

The loft is therefore wasted space and it could be somewhere that I can store seasonal items and rarely-used but handy belongings, like camping gear and old toys. But only if the space is accessible – and that means adding a drop-down ladder and an easy-to-open hatch.

Again, I’ve already researched loft ladder options and I know what we would need to do to complete the project. However, I’m reluctant to start the project because it’s going to be a messy task. We’d need to cut into the ceiling to make the entryway bigger so the whole of upstairs will get dusty and will have wisps insulation all over it – I know this is the case because it happens every time we get a box out of the loft.

Also, I know that adding a new hatch with a loft ladder will be just the start of the story. We won’t be able to stop there; we’ll end up adding more insulation to the loft, boarding out the space, building shelves and storage rails, or even plastering and painting to turn it into a clean, tidy attic ‘room’ for our storage.

All of which will take longer than the time off I’ve got planned so maybe just one step at a time!

Small DIY tasks

I bet you’ve also got a list of small DIY tasks that you never get around to doing, am I right? I think that my at-home holiday will be the perfect time to do those little tasks – I’ll get those niggling jobs ticked off the list and will feel a sense of achievement, even if I don’t complete a big project like the staircase renovation or the loft hatch.

My small tasks include; sticking on frosted window film for privacy, framing art works and hanging the pictures on the wall, adding electrical trunking where we’ve installed our new TV, re-grouting parts of the bathroom, touching up scuffed paintwork all around the house and repairing a section of the gutter.

And that’s before we start looking at the garden which needs trees and shrubs pruning, the veg patch weeding and digging over, and the plug plants we’ve got growing being planted into seasonal pots. I’m actually looking forward to getting out in the garden during my staycation break and pottering around, I think it’ll be really relaxing and it’s definitely something I don’t usually get to do during our busy working days.

I’ve shared this list to hold myself accountable and actually tick some of these DIY tasks off during my at-home holiday. I also hope it will help you to feel much better about your own home if you know just how unfinished mine is! Let me know in the comments below if you have any decorating tasks you’ve been putting off and I’d love to hear your plans if you had an at-home holiday – what would you do with that time? Relax or renovate??

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Sure, there are always more exciting things you could be doing rather than taking care of small home maintenance issues; decorating the living room, adding space-saving design options or even just chilling out in your kitchen cooking dinner – that all sounds more appealing to me!

However, if you ignore the quick and simple home maintenance tasks they’ll become a bigger problem over time – and will therefore end up costing you more money to put right. That’s why it’s important to stay proactive when it comes to the upkeep of your property. 

Here are some key tasks you can do right now to make sure that your home is comfortable and well-maintained for the coming year.

1. Inspect Your Roof 

The roof is obviously one of the most important parts of your home – without it, you’re going to get pretty wet and cold. So, in order to make sure it’s in good condition and will protect you from the elements, you’ll need to check it for damage.

Just to be clear I’m NOT saying you should go anywhere near your roof – and definitely DON’T climb up there! Just stand well back in your garden, or even from the other side of the street, and have a good look at it. You can even take a photo and use that to zoom into areas to get a closer look at the condition of the roof.

Over time the weather will batter your roof – especially in the winter – and can cause damage without you realising it. Keep an eye out for sagging areas and missing tiles. When you address minor roof issues early it’ll prevent expensive repairs in the future or even a full roof replacement, which would cost thousands.

2. Check Your Windows and Doors

The windows and doors play a big role in your home’s energy efficiency, comfort and, of course, security. Damaged or outdated windows are going to cause drafts and increase your energy costs so it might be time to replace them and save money in the long run.

When it comes to window replacement it’s not too difficult to spot the signs: Aside from the rising energy bills you will likely notice wear and tear on the frames or the double-glazing may have ‘blown’ – with misting or condensation inside the layers of glass. 

In my case, I can even smell the smoke from the neighbour’s chimney seeping in through the edges of my old windows. And, on very windy days, the curtains will move even when the windows are shut, showing just how many gaps are around the edges to let the breeze in.

So, when you’re next cleaning them, have a quick check of the condition of your windows. And when you’re indoors, keep an eye out for billowing curtains or put your hands close to the frames to see if cold air is coming in. If so, it’s time to start researching a replacement.

3. Service Your Heating System

Your heating, air conditioning or ventilation system will keep your home comfortable throughout the year so y ou want it to function well. Regular maintenance helps to prevent breakdowns when you least want one (such as a boiler malfunction in the freezing cold winter) and it also extends the lifespan of your system. 

You should keep an ear out for any whistling in the pipes and check if the radiator gets warm at the top as well as the bottom – otherwise, you might need to bleed your radiator.

Plus, you can schedule a yearly inspection by a professional to make sure the whole system is safe. Any little maintenance tasks can be completed during the inspection and will ensure everything is running smoothly, which in turn will help to keep your energy bills low.

4. Clean Gutters and Downspouts

Blocked gutters are a problem that’s easy to fix. When bunged up with leaves and gunk, it can cause water damage and leaking pipes can create foundation issues. However, it’s easy to solve this before it becomes a problem – simply get the debris and dirt removed so that water can flow through very freely.

Again, I DON’T suggest climbing up high to clean those gutters yourself but a professional window cleaning company is likely to have a gutter-cleaning service that you can add on to a regular window clean. Or you can get a gutter-clearance pro to clear out everything so you’ve got a clean slate to start with.

At this stage, you can consider having gutter guards installed to minimize the buildup of debris and reduce the amount of maintenance you have to do in the future.

5. Test Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors 

Devices like carbon monoxide detectors as well as smoke detectors are essential to protect your family. You need to regularly check them to make sure they’re always functioning properly. 

You should test the detectors monthly and replace the batteries at least once per year. If your detectors are more than ten years old you should consider replacing the units altogether. I’d say this is absolutely essential maintenance to keep your home and your family safe.

I hope these tips will help you to maintain your property this year and can minimise the amount you’ll need to spend on home repairs in the future, therefore saving you money that you can spend on decorating the living room instead haha! Let me know your home maintenance hacks in the comments below, I’d love to hear your top tips.

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My friends’ beautiful 19th-century barn holiday let Beyond The Barn has inspired me!

A few ideas for some easy home upgrades have popped into my head recently so I’m putting those ideas ‘on paper’ here so that I can organise my thoughts. Plus, if I share my plans with you, maybe they’ll actually come true. A bit like “built it and they will come” but in this case = “say it and it will happen”!

The good thing about planning a bit of a decor update is that you can completely refresh your home and create more practical spaces without having to move house or do any big building work. Just a kitchen refresh, some new paintwork or the addition of a patio window or oak doors can make all the difference.

So don’t move, improve! Here are my plans for next year’s DIYing, which might give you some ideas for your own home too…

Kitchen updates

A couple of years ago, we refreshed our kitchen with new low-cost units, painted the walls and added parquet-style flooring. This was a sort-of temporary fix because we always thought we might do some building work to incorporate the open porch and outbuilding to create a utility room.

However, I’ve since decorated the porch (check out my DIY porch project here), added a new exterior door to enclose it and we’ve moved the old kitchen into the outbuilding, so we’ve already got the utility space we need without having to do any big structural work.

So I can now be sure that the kitchen layout is staying as it is. And, that means I can invest in upgrades that will elevate the space. There didn’t seem to be any point in having countertops made to fit the units if the configuration might have changed but now that I know that the units are staying put, it’s time to upgrade the design with luxurious quartz worktops.

l’ll also refinish the cupboard handles, which are wooden. They had a clear varnish when they were installed but have since become speckled with watermarks so I’d love to remove them all from the kitchen cupboard doors and give them a lovely rich wood stain and topcoat.

I’m excited about these kitchen plans, along with some other ideas…

Window upgrades

We’ve always admired mid-century modern homes and especially love the amount of light that glazed walls bring into the space. As our home was built in 1950, it seems appropriate for it to have a more mid-century style and I think that new windows would help to achieve that.

We’ve already got a rather large picture window in the living room but we are considering turning this into floor-to-ceiling glazing. Whether that’s sliding panels or bifold doors I’m not sure, as we haven’t looked into it yet. But I’m confident that it will help to get that classic mid-century look and create a lovely flow into the garden.

Likewise, we might add patio doors from the kitchen into the garden. And, if we’re doing the ground-floor windows, it might be the ideal time to upgrade the upstairs windows too. One panel of my office window has blown so is a little fuzzy so that’s definitely on the list for a repair too.

I’ve been inspired by my friends’ beautiful 19th-century barn holiday let Beyond The Barn

Decor refresh

Earlier this year we installed ‘The Frame’ television, which is mounted flush to the wall like a picture frame and the cables are recessed (blimey, you won’t believe the brick dust this created!). This is plastered over so there are no wires. This meant I needed to repaint the wall but so far I’ve just painted it white to cover up the filled channel.

I’ve always tried not to make the television a focal point in any room – we previously had it on the side wall and pulled it out on an arm when we wanted to watch something. So I love that it now looks like a picture, with our own photos and artwork displayed on the screen.

This has inspired me to update the decor in the living room, so it’s time for more tester pots and paint swatches while I find the perfect mid-century colour. I’m keeping the teak sideboard beneath it so the colour can’t be too orange, even though I’d love to have orange walls.

And I’ve already used my favourite blue on the sofa upholstery, so I’d either have to colour-match it exactly (which might be a bit too much in the space!) or choose a complete contrast. I’m thinking of going with the mustard colour of our cushions. Alternatively, it has always been a dream of mine to go full-on mid-century vibes with wooden wall panels, just like an authentic 1950s interior.

I’ve seen how popular this type of wall panelling is – you know the kind with thin slats of oak wood veneer – and they seem to suit all sorts of interiors from retro to contemporary. I think this would create the ultimate mid-century look alongside my original vintage furniture. Plus, those wall panels have acoustic properties and offer sound absorption, which is handy when I’m watching a movie at full volume on my new Frame television.

I hope that by sharing my ideas you might be inspired to make some small changes to your own home to elevate the space and make it an even more enjoyable place to live. Let me know in the comments below what your own plans are for your home – “say it and it will happen”!

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When you’re working with a smaller interior, you’ll want to make the most of all the available space to help it feel larger and more airy. So, whether you’re upgrading your own apartment or building guest room in your garden, these ideas could help.

I started thinking about options for upgrading small spaces when I went on holiday this summer. I was staying in a 50sqm apartment overlooking the sea in Brittany but it felt so spacious, despite the smaller footprint.

I wanted to learn what design tricks had been used in the apartment in order to make it feel so roomy. On paper, the flat would have seemed too small however, having stayed in it for a week, I now know that we could easily live in such a compact space full-time.

If you’re renovating a smaller space, it’s just a case of using a few DIY tricks to get the most out of every square inch of space.

Pocket doors

One of the main things that use up space in the floorplan of a house is the doors. If you look at an architectural drawing, you’ll see little arches drawn around the door to show how much space it will need in order to open. When you add up all those spaces, you can end up losing a lot of square footage within the property.

The trouble is that the space where a door opens is unusable. You can’t put furniture close to that area or even opposite it without creating a pinch-point. That’s why pocket doors are a sensible option – and, let’s face it, rather cool – in a smaller space, such as a bathroom or a home office.

I’ve experienced this first-hand when we stayed in the French apartment. The bedroom could easily have been closed off with a single door through from the hallway. However, that would have made it difficult for other people to use the hallway if the bedroom door was being opened.

Instead, the bedroom’s doors had been moved into the open-plan living space with double pocket doors forming most of the wall of the bedroom. This meant there were no awkward corners where the doors needed to be propped open, as they neatly slid away within the walls. Plus, it opened up the bedroom onto the living space, which had two benefits:

Firstly, the otherwise-dark bedroom was brighter because, with the doors open, it could take advantage of the beautiful sea view and natural light from the expansive windows. Secondly, the living space felt bigger because there wasn’t a large blank wall within the room – you could see the depth of the apartment all the way from the front windows to the back wall.

Rather than simply being a solution for creating an opening in a small space, pocket doors also add a design feature that makes a statement – chic, minimalist, contemporary. When I was opening the double pocket doors in my holiday apartment, I felt like I was living in the future on a space ship!

Underfloor heating

Another space-saving trick for a smaller floorplan is to remove the radiators and choose underfloor heating instead. When you’ve got a radiator on a wall, that means the area can’t be covered with storage or furniture, so you’ve got much less wall space to work with (and therefore less cupboard space to stow your belongings).

If all the heating is underneath the floor, it takes up no space within the four walls of the room, so you won’t be restricted in the positioning of furniture and there’s nothing breaking up the flow of the room. Plus, you can add built-in cabinets for storage or wardrobes along an uninterrupted length of a wall, which provides ample storage – and don’t forget you could also choose sliding doors there too!

In your own small-space renovation project, if you’re already removing the floor to lay pipes or wires – or even if you’re just replacing the style of flooring – that’s the perfect time to consider underfloor heating as a practical heating option.

Of course, a heated towel rail is the exception to the remove all radiators rule. It’s a practical use of space in even the smallest bathrooms as it provides storage for your towels as well as heating the room. It would be difficult to fit a storage cupboard for towels in the same narrow space – and the alternative option is a regular towel rail – so you might as well use a heated radiator towel rail.

I hope these DIY ideas have given you inspiration if you’re building your own small space project or if you’re redecorating an apartment and want to maximise the space available. Let me know in the comments below what tips you have to creating more space in a tiny home, I’d love to hear what you did in your own rooms.

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I’ve had a water ring on one of my most precious pieces of furniture for a while now and I’ve been meaning to tackle it but was scared to try out different techniques in case I damaged it further.

It’s a vintage piece so I certainly didn’t want to ruin it forever but, in all honesty, when we first got the chest of drawers from an auction, the wooden surface was in a horrible state anyway and needed refinishing.

So it was doubly sad that the water ring had happened after the drawers had been so carefully restored. I didn’t know what to do to solve the situation so I just left it – for months.

However, it had got to the stage that I just wanted it fixed so I spent a hour one morning trying out some water-ring repair hacks to see what worked.

You can find all kinds of hacks online including toothpaste, vinegar, olive oil and so on. In fact, I’ve previously used a mixture of kitchen ingredients to DIY my own scratch-remover, which worked really well on my mid-century furniture.

This time, I thought the baking soda idea might work so I gave that a go first. I say ‘first’ because it didn’t work. The ring remained. Look at my photos below to see why I DON’T recommend this hack.

I mixed up the baking soda mixture and rubbed it onto the water ring. After wiping off the paste, the area looked great while the wooden surface was damp…

I thought I’d solved the problem so easily BUT after a few hours of drying out, the white water ring returned. PLUS, where I’d rubbed the abrasive baking powder paste into the wood, it had faded the area a little too. So now I had a bigger mark to repair!

The next hack I tried was mayonnaise. You simply put a layer of mayo onto the white water ring and leave it for an hour or so. Apparently, the oil in the mayonnaise draws out the moisture from the wood. I was sceptical, but I gave it a go.

To be completely honest with you, I then carried on with my day and forgot all about it. It must have been about six hours later that I went back into the room and spotted the melted mayonnaise. Oops!

I used a soft cloth to wipe it off and couldn’t believe it – I couldn’t even see where the ring had been. Plus, while rubbing the mayo into the surface, it must have oiled it up a bit because the faded patch where the baking powder had been rubbed wasn’t as bad.

So, that was the end of my water-ring hack experiment, because it worked! The only thing now is that the rest of the unit looks scuffed and less glossy in comparison so perhaps I’ll have to go over other areas with the mayo too!

Also, in the photo below, you can still see that the patch is a little faded from the baking powder hack so it will need retreating or staining – so I’d say definitely DON’T use the baking powder option, it created more of a problem for me!

Also, watch out for your walls – I didn’t realise at the time but when I was wiping off the mayonnaise, the cloth must have touched the wall a little because there’s now a shiny smear on the matt-painted wall. Urgh, it’s like chasing your tail!

I hope this hack experiment helps you if you’re trying to repair your own scuffed or water-damaged furniture. Let me know if you have any other successful wood-restoring recipes in the comments below, I’d love to get your tips.

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If you want to tackle those DIY tasks yourself, you can definitely do it – you just need to put some work into learning some simple skills and gathering the things you need to achieve the project. With the right knowledge and a little bit of practice, you’ll be getting DIY projects done quicker and more easily than you ever thought you could.

Here are three tips that helped me when I started DIYing and I’m sure they’ll be handy for you too:

1. Know What Tools & Equipment You Need

Every DIY project needs specific tools and equipment to get it done so it’s always worth gathering these together before starting anything. You wouldn’t want to be in a position where you need to rush out and get something in the middle of a project. This has happened to me on more than one occasion!

Think of a DIY project like baking a cake – you need all the ingredients on the list to be able to cook it, don’t you? There’s not much point in trying to make a cake if you don’t have any eggs in the house. Although I did try to do this once, because ‘the internet’ told me you could substitute eggs for apple sauce. It turns out you can’t. Unless you want an inedible cake that even the birds won’t eat when you put the crumbs out on the bird table!

Sanders, hammers and similar tools will all be obvious, but many projects require specialist items such as stainless steel flanges, castors or brackets. Consider exactly what you need in order to get the job done, and head to the hardware store if you need to pick up anything you don’t already have.

The bonus is that, once you have a stock of screws, tools, sandpaper and so on, all your future DIY projects will go much more smoothly.

2. Learn How To Plan

Plenty of DIY projects take a decent bit of time. There will be specific steps involved and you’ll need to be aware of them in advance. Again, like reading through the recipe before you start baking, if you figure out the steps you need to take, you can cut down the time and effort any DIY project takes.

For example, if you know that you will need to wait for some filler to dry before you can paint your project, you can prioritise the filling task first and then get on with other elements while it dries, such as measuring, cutting, assembling etc. By knowing how to plan out the steps of your project, you’ll make the entire process a lot easier for yourself.

So, once you’ve got your tools and equipment ready, sit down and map out what you’ll need to do for a project. While this could take a little time, it’ll be more than worth it to avoid waiting around literally watching paint dry when you’d rather be getting on with the project.

3. Don’t Be Afraid Of Mistakes

There’s always a chance you’ll make mistakes when you’re doing any kind of DIY project. In most cases, these will be relatively minor. That doesn’t they’re a bad thing – instead, look at them as learning opportunities.

You’ll know how to avoid making the same errors the next time around, so there’ll be nothing to worry about when you pick up your tools to DIY in the future. Figuring out how to fix a problem or come up with an alternative method is all part of the fun of DIYing – even if you have a step-by-step guide that you’re following, the project YOU are doing will be slightly different and will need adjusting to suit the materials and tools you have.

You don’t need to do any courses or spend a lot of time trying to become a DIY expert. Instead, it’s just a matter of knowing what materials you need and figuring out the steps to complete the project. Once you do, you shouldn’t have a problem completing any DIY projects in the future.

I hope this blog post has given you the encouragement to have a go at trying DIY for yourself. Let me know your DIY success stories in the comments below, I’d love to hear what you learned and how you achieved your projects.

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What DIY task should I do this weekend? We’ve all got things at the back of our minds that need to be done around the home, from clearing and cleaning to full-on DIY projects. It’s always the smaller tasks that get put off until another day, but sometimes that day never comes and we just live with the little snagging job until the next time we fully redecorate.

So, in the interest of getting things done, I’m sharing my own list of little DIY tasks that I never get around to. This will give me accountability to get those jobs done AND might inspire you to tackle some of your own decorating tasks this weekend..!

Painting touch-ups

There are lots of painting touch-ups that I need to do around the house – some from over 6 years ago! But that’s just the kind of thing that I never quite get around to. For example, there’s a chip in the stair-rail paintwork that reveals the black paint beneath the white topcoat and, at first glance, I always think it’s a spider on the rail!

There are four patches above my bedroom window where we took down the curtain rail and filled the holes – but we never finished the job by painting over the filler. There are a few areas like that around the home, and there needs to be a few more – but we’ll come to that in a minute.

Painting exterior doors is something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. At the moment, the back door to our porch isn’t painted along the edge after it was planed down and therefore isn’t sealed. So, if I’ve accidentally left the back door open when it starts to rain, the edge gets absolutely soaked.

This leads to the wood swelling up and then I can’t even close the door again because it no longer fits in the frame! This means I need to leave it ajar until the sun dries it out and the wood shrinks to fit in the door frame again. It’s definitely time to paint it.

Filling holes

You know what it’s like; you move a painting, a shelf or (as I mentioned before) a curtain rail, and you don’t fill in the hole it leaves behind. There are countless tiny little holes all over my home that need filling, sanding and painting over.

Why do I need to fill holes in the walls? In my living room and hallway, we’ve rearranged the artwork so many times that most of the pictures are accompanied by a couple of little holes above or to the side of the frame where it has been slightly moved or has replaced a different-sized image.

Plus, we have bigger holes to fill too. Where the TV aerial comes into the house, part of the brick and plasterwork was blown out on the inside of the wall during the drilling process. So, if you put your hand close to it, you can actually feel cold air coming in from outside. This desperately needs filling, but it’s hidden behind a unit at the moment so it’s a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’.

Sealing

This is something I don’t want to do at all, but it’ll save me a bigger job in the long run. Where the kitchen worktop meets at the corner, the seal has come out of the join. So, potentially, moisture could get in there and cause a problem with the wood or the cabinets below, which would be much more difficult to sort out.

Also, the silicone seals around the bathroom need redoing soon. They’re about 7 years old now and some silicone beading was removed when we needed to sort out a plumbing problem – and then the gaps around the toilet were never re-sealed. Plus, the tiles could go with regrouting in some places.

Sanding and varnishing

Although it seems like a time-consuming job and one that doesn’t really need doing, ideally I would like to take all the handles off my kitchen units. Why? Well, they’ve become a bit tatty over the past couple of years since they were installed.

How can you keep wooden handles looking good? Well, the wooden handles in the kitchen were varnished with a spray-on clear protective topcoat BUT it wasn’t protective enough. The handles have little speckled watermarks on them now, which I would love to sort out and get them looking as good as new again. I would recommend painting on a thicker varnish rather than a thin spay-on varnish, as this will make them more resistant to water and staining.

What do you think? Will you join me in getting some of those little ‘one day’ DIY tasks done this weekend? Let me know in the comments below what jobs you want to tackle and how long you’ve been putting it off for!

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Some of the reasons for renovating are obvious, such as crumbling walls and poor plumbing, while others may be more personal to you. For example, perhaps you have a keen interest in using a high-end jacuzzi-like bathtub for those long evening soaks, so you prioritize your family bathroom before anything else. Or, maybe you want to entertain more readily and are therefore planning to knock out the adjoining wall between two rooms to create a more open-plan living space.

It’s your property to renovate not everyone is as bothered by the lifestyle impact of a renovation effort. For some, it’s all about value and return on investment. After all, our homes are often our most valuable asset and improving and extending the property may make your home more valuable. Or perhaps you intend to move out not long after the complete refurbishment and the new addition will make your home more saleable when it goes on the market?

If you find yourself considering a renovation, ask yourself this simple question – where are the most valuable renovation hotspots in your property? From the kitchen to first impressions – and even the layout – there are so many spaces you can improve, even if you’re on a budget. Here’s how…

Investing In Kitchen & Bathroom Upgrades

Let’s start with the obvious first. The kitchen is often considered the heart of the home so, without a nice kitchen space, it can be harder to make the meals your family enjoys. Even if you’re rarely at home and mostly eat out, having a nice kitchen area is something that many homeowners seek to invest in first, as it’s the hub where everyone gathers as a family.

So – how could you update yours? Maybe you’d like to make it feel cosier with a wood-burning range cooker, which will also lend a farmhouse vibe. Perhaps you could open up the space by knocking through the wall and adding a freestanding island with a sink, giving you more surface space. Stick to three golden outcomes – more space, better function and welcoming aesthetics. If you can invest in these, your new kitchen will add value to your property and make cooking more enjoyable.

Of course, bathrooms are essential too. However, a prospective buyer is unlikely to drop their offer that much if a bathroom is just functional and clean instead of space-age and renovated. That being said, a shoddy bathroom can really put buyers off, as well as being unpleasant for you to use. For this reason, bathroom remodeling can be worth your effort as it’ll boost the value of your property AND give you a lovely spa-like space to enjoy chilling out in.

Enhancing Kerb Appeal For First Impressions

Much is said about ‘kerb appeal’ – that age-old truth that first impressions matter and can taint our viewpoint still counts. Yet the truth is enhancing kerb appeal is about more than just fixing up the window ledges and repainting the front door, although those efforts certainly count.

There are practical elements to enhancing kerb appeal, too. For example, widening the driveway a little to accommodate two cars, pruning your trees where appropriate, adding a safety mirror for sharp corners out of the drive, fixing the front gate for security, and power washing or replacing your garage door – all of this counts towards kerb appeal.

Consider Your Property Layout

It’s worth considering how your property is laid out, as many properties were built in an era where smaller rooms were easier to heat. However, this might not be the way you wish to live in your home so thinking about layout changes can serve as a great baseline for how you plan and manage your renovation from that point on.

Perhaps you’ll add a large playroom or create a dining room by incorporating the garage into the home. If your child has flown the nest you may have space to reclaim and could use it as a home office or a utility room. Always consider broader uses for each room before renovating to make sure the property works for you and serves all your day-to-day needs.

Maximize Unique Value & Character

All homes, much like all people, have their own unique characteristics and strengths. Sure, this might be reflected in many of the other properties on your street built to the same standard, but that doesn’t mean yours is any less appealing – unless it lacks original character.

For this reason, maximizing the unique value and character of your property can be a worthwhile approach. To start with – and something you might not have ever thought about – you might consider renaming your house back to its roots to really highlight the character. For example, of you live in a converted blacksmith’s workshop, you might rename it to “The Forge”.

If you have amazing period fixtures like original fireplaces, wooden beams on the ceiling, or even small plasterwork details around the cornicing or light fittings, renovating and refixing these to take centre stage can be impressive. Maximizing the unique period character of your building will increase its value – and sometimes that’s as simple as reinstalling a wood burner and unblocking/cleaning the chimney.

Installing An Exterior Building

If you have garden space, installing an exterior building can be a fantastic method of adding value to your property. Of course, determining what function this building will have is key. You will also require planning permission if you’re adding a freestanding structure that’s any more grand than a general shed.

An exterior building for a small creative studio, a spare room with en suite capabilities, a home office, a gym or even just functional storage for your garden tools are all good suggestions. You might also create a structure for socialising – perhaps a pergola with a garden bar, a BBQ station and outdoor seating. 

Many prospective home buyers care about functional space and an exterior building can serve as a fantastic addition. So make a plan before you start, considering everything you might need for the project such as contractors, any foundational work needed and the provision of materials like corrugated roof sheets or paving for landscaping the area around it. This will help you to cost the project and determine the expected end value as a result.

Revitalizing The Entryway For A Grand Entrance

A great first impression doesn’t end at the exterior of your property. The first steps into the space matter, too so a hallway update can help. First of all, it’s important to make sure security and stability are considered. For example, you might install a porch – somewhere to shelter from the weather when you’re unlocking the door. Or at least, add a space in the entranceway where wet coats, shoes and hats can be removed and stored.

Warm lighting, comforts like a large rug, enough space to move past one another, and solid, easy-to-clean flooring are all essential implements here. A grand entrance might also include the home comforts a prospective buyer could see themselves impressing upon, such as lovingly framed photographs of your family. Sometimes, renovating the entranceway, especially one that has lacked attention for some time, could be the primary value-added proposition in any renovation effort.

Home Office Spaces Are Of Intrinsic Value

Since the pandemic, many more homeowners have begun valuing a comfortable home office. Many corporate jobs now implement remote work possibilities where necessary so someone may intend to move to your property with a job they can also do virtually.

As such, home offices have become a great value proposition for those looking to renovate their home. Better yet, these rooms don’t have to be particularly complex or require intensive rewiring or plumbing efforts compared to areas like a bathroom or kitchen. A great wall desk, maximizing natural light, refitting power outlets, integrating features like standing desk room or cable routing fixtures – all of this can help a homeowner know that yes, there’s a productive space available if they need it. Moreover, a home office doesn’t have to be large, so it’s the perfect use for a box room or a small landing space.

Let me know what you think is the most valuable renovation project you can do if you’re planning a future move. I’d love to hear what DIY upgrades you made when trying to sell your own home in the comments below. Best of luck on your home renovation journey and eventual sale.

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