Home renovations have been on the rise since the pandemic. And with home improvement products and services in demand, their prices would also rise. If you’re long overdue for a home renovation but would like to cut down costs, consider DIY projects.
A DIY home renovation requires some skill, but thankfully, they’re easy and quick to learn. Just get lots of practice, because making mistakes could offset all your savings. To reduce the chances of DIY blunders, stick to these beginner-friendly projects:
1. Improving Curb Appeal
If your exteriors are still in good shape, you won’t need your toolbox. A pair of gardening shears and some paint will do.
Use your gardening shears to trim off some bush and shrubs, prune the branches, and cut the grass. As for the paint, see if your front door would need a fresh coat of it. A newly painted front door can instantly refresh the look of your exteriors. See if your fences would need repainting, too; iron fences rust over time, and that would make your home look old and ill-maintained. Shabby wooden fences, on the other hand, can make your exteriors appear dated.
Don’t forget your mailbox and house number, too; an old, rusting mailbox and house number could remind people of a horror movie, so repaint them as often as needed.
2. Changing Cabinet Hardware
If your DIY skills are not yet cut out for changing cabinet doors, replace the hardware instead. All you’d need are some screws and a screwdriver. A power drill might come in handy too, in case you’d need to make new holes.
To avoid messing up the hardware changes, take out one of the old ones, and bring them to the hardware store. Use the size of the hardware as a basis for choosing the size of the new ones. That should make the brand-new hardware fit into your cabinets perfectly.
3. Installing a New Backsplash
To get some practice in installing new tiles anywhere in the house, start with your backsplash. Go for a peel-and-stick tile if you’re not confident with your skills. You won’t even need a tile adhesive to install them.
4. Building a Garden Tool Shed
Going back to your yard, pay attention to the backyard this time, where your tools and equipment might be lying out in the open. They disrupt the beauty of what’s meant to be a relaxing place, so build something that’ll keep them away: a garden tool shed.
Unlike repainting or installing peel-and-stick tiles, building a garden tool shed requires some woodworking skills. You’d also need some power tools, particularly a jigsaw, circular saw, and a drill.
Start by sawing off some lumber pieces for the tool shed’s framing. Once you’ve assembled them, create the floor, shelves, and walls. Install a siding, too, then make the roof. The last step is to build the doors and put them in place.
Apply some wood sealant on the garden tool shed to protect it from the elements. Re-apply the product as often as needed.
5. Picnic Table and Chairs
Another DIY-friendly woodwork idea is a picnic table-and-chairs set. Using the same power tools for building a garden tool shed, saw off pieces of wood to create the tabletop, support, and legs. To conceal the screws from view, arrange the tabletop supports with hidden crosspieces screwed to the underside.
For the chair, the step-by-step process depends on the design you want. A garden bench, for example, only requires two boards and 18 screws. Just cut out the legs, the seat itself, and the backrest, and assemble them all with the 18 screws. An Adirondack chair, on the other hand, is much more complicated, but pretty DIY-friendly as long as you’ve mastered woodworking.
6. DIY Stair or Veranda Steel Railings
If you want to try your hand at basic steelworks, try MIG welding. MIG, which stands for metal inert gas, is a welding process that uses heated electrodes to join two metals. It’s the type of welding most suitable for beginners, and one of the few types of welding with applications in home improvement.
Welding projects aren’t exactly cheap, though. You’d need a number of tools, including an auto-dimming helmet, welding gloves, MIG welding pliers, welding magnets, and a chipper hammer, to name a few. And to clean up the mess afterward, you need to buy high-quality weld cleaning solutions.
Despite the costs of welding projects, though, they can save you money in the long run, since you no longer need to call a pro if another welding project comes up. Welding skills are also a marketable skill, making you qualified for some construction jobs.
With these DIY projects for your home renovation, the process won’t be as costly anymore, and you can have more control over the results.
