Becoming a homeowner can end up being very expensive especially if you buy a house that needs lots of work doing to it. Realistically, having a budget to overhaul your house to make it exactly as you’ve seen online, will cost far too much money. This is why we turn to DIY. DIY is anything from fixing a tap, to complete decorating and redesigning multiple rooms in a home yourself. The keyword in this yourself. The biggest cost for house renovations is labour costs. Materials can be bought in many different places at almost cost price, but if you’re not doing the job yourself you can easily double or triple the cost of materials to cover labour costs. DIY doesn’t have to be hard and there are many websites and YouTube videos that explain step-by-step how to do certain tasks. These are brilliant because they mean you don’t have to hire somebody to do the jobs you want to do. Planning and designing the job is the main part of DIY, if you find yourself looking through Pinterest and not finding what you want, homedude is a great place to find ideas.
Some of you might be absolute experts in DIY and feel confident every step of the way, however, some of you might need some help in becoming but DIY Guru. So here are some steps to help you along the way…
1) YouTube
YouTube is the fountain of all knowledge, there’s probably nothing in the world that isn’t covered in a tutorial on YouTube! The best way to start developing your DIY knowledge is to watch tutorials. So many people create tutorials so you can pick and choose to find the one who is the most appealing for you. As with all social media, some tutorials contain ads or plugs for products and it’s important to remember that you don’t need to buy expensive pieces of equipment because standard ones work just as well.
Starting small with DIY is the best way to develop your skills, as jumping in at the deep end may result in you having to pay out to have your DIY fixed. Many people enter the world DIY through making home decor pieces, putting up pictures, putting up shelves or just throwing around a bit of paint!
2) The Right Equipment
When starting with DIY, you do not need all of the expensive equipment that tradesmen have. Depending on the project, sometimes a drill, screwdriver and hammer work just as well. One must have is dust or decorating sheet to protect the flooring and your household furniture items. Drilling creates a lot of dust and painting creates a lot of mess, so make sure your prized possessions are covered well. These covers aren’t expensive, you can use old curtains or sheets, and sometimes newspaper if you’re doing a small job.
If you know you are going to be doing lots of jobs then a screwdriver with multiple heads might be a good purchase for you. Different screws have different widths and heads, which is why a multi-purpose tool is a good investment to start with. Again you do not need top of the range to start with, just getting hang of using tools can be a big challenge anyway, so it’s best to start small and work your way up.
Hammers are pretty self-explanatory, but there are lots of different types to choose from. A hammer with a hooked end is a good piece of equipment to have, as you can pull out nails and picture hooks from walls with it and have a hitting end. Yes, that’s the scientific term!
Drills again can come with lots of different features, some people find cordless drills to be the easiest as you don’t have to trail cables everywhere, but some people do prefer plugins as they can have more power and they don’t run out of battery. Whatever drill you choose, you need to have a selection of drill bits for the different jobs you’re going to do.
3) Repurpose
The cheapest way to do DIY is to repurpose or use old things and to give them a new life. For example, you may have a lovely piece of wood lying around, that when sanded and oiled turns into a lovely shelf or with added legs turns into a lovely table. It’s key to make sure you look at the bits you have collected over time and see that there may be multi-uses for them. Using old items allows you to save valuable money, and gives you ideas of how to do your DIY. This brings a sense of satisfaction that you have upgraded something that was just lying around.
Many items are sold, very cheaply, on Facebook selling pages or local selling pages. Many people give items away for free because they look a bit old and tired. These are the best projects for upcycling, as upcycling is a great way to learn different skills to help you when you start on bigger projects around the house. These items can be very easy to upgrade as sometimes all they need is a lick of paint. Which means an easy project with a quick turnaround.
Once you start with DIY, it’s very hard to stop because it gives you the satisfaction that you have improved your home environment. This sense of satisfaction is addictive so be warned! DIY skills are always being built upon and are handy because once you know how to use a screwdriver, you can use a spanner or wrench or Allen keys and fix things around the house, instead of having to call professionals in. It’s also important to learn from your mistakes, we all make DIY mistakes and understanding where we went wrong and being able to fix it is an extremely useful skill. Just remember, these skills will save you a load of money and it’s always worth trying to fix or upgrade something yourself instead of paying out for it!
What do you think?