Living at home can be quite intimidating for newbie owners, especially if they have solo lifestyles. For many, it can be challenging to try resolving broken doors and windows, disorganized garage items, or old, faded walls. If you’ve encountered these, you might have had to enlist the help of a professional team.
Seeking an expert is never a bad thing, especially if it means leaving the task in the hands of someone who knows a lot about what to do. Still, there are projects for home improvement that are easy enough to follow that you can do on your own. These DIY tasks can save you money and can be a learning opportunity as well.
Thanks to the numerous guides accessible online, home improvement has become easier and more accessible to owners. You can find tips for repainting old walls, replacing window screens, mounting ceiling fans, and the like. Here are a few of these DIY home improvement projects.
Screen Replacements
Screens are indispensable in the household because they help keep out insects while maintaining the door or window’s look. Torn window screens or screen doors could be caused by gradual wear-and-tear, scratches from pets, or impact from objects like stones or branches.
You’ll need a roll of replacement screening for this project, along with a rubber spline to keep the new screen in place. You can use a spline roller to secure the spline more easily on the window screen. Doing so ensures you won’t risk damaging it during the replacement process.
Wall Repainting
If you have walls that need repainting, they can be made to look brand new with paint and painting accessories. To properly apply the product to the surface, you can get a pan, a roller, and a trim brush. A ladder will help you reach the high parts, while paint thinner will help clean the brush.
Repainting walls is easy because you can just paint over the current layer if you don’t like the results. Usually, surfaces would need repainting if they have dry patches, noticeable stains, or if the room needs to be used for an upcoming function. Doing paint projects can flex your artistic eye too.
Garage Shelves
Garages could easily get dirty because of fuel, grease, paint, and other substances handled in car maintenance. Don’t forget the tools that are commonly used like wrenches, screwdrivers, flashlights, and wipes. These small objects could easily get lost in the garage without any means of proper storage.
Because of the various tasks getting done in garages, they are considered spaces that need utility first before looks. As long as your garage gets organization through shelving, it won’t matter if the latter isn’t perfectly done. This reinforces why garage shelves are great DIY projects for first-timers. The materials you’ll need are a circular saw, a nail gun, and a compressor.
Roped-Wrapped Decor
There are various furniture pieces you can style by wrapping a rope around the surface. What you’ll need is rope, hot glue, and the object to be decorated. Pieces commonly used for this are chairs, table stands, vases, and chandeliers. You can even make an entire floor mat by braiding rope.
This DIY project allows you to get playful with designs because you can either wrap the decor with plain rope or use a multicolored one. With rope-wrapping, you can hide any imperfections on the furniture, such as sealed cracks, chipped parts, and the like.
Mirror Frames
We rely on mirrors to see if we’re all set or if our look needs some improvement. Whether they’re hung on living room walls or bathrooms, these reflective surfaces prove to be crucial in maintaining appearances. In some cases though, the look of the mirror itself might need some improvement.
Contrary to what many might think, not all mirrors come with a decorative frame. Some simply arrive as is – a glossy glass surface with edges that might look uninteresting. As a project, you can make your own frame by using wood and cutting tools. With a framed mirror, your space can look more polished than before.
Wall Cabinets
Besides the garage, there may be spaces in your household that need storage and organization. An often-cited example would be the laundry area, in which the lower space is occupied by the washer and dryer. This might leave insufficient room for other furniture pieces, but you can utilize the upper space by crafting wall cabinets.
What you’ll need is some wooden boards, paint supplies, brackets, and cabinet parts if you have old ones. You can use cordless drills or similar tools to secure the wooden boards on the brackets, which can then be attached to the wall. You can also use the drill to fasten the old cabinet parts onto the wall, then paint it to make it look brand-new.
Ceiling Fans
Ceiling fans count as worthwhile DIY projects due to how these can halve your HVAC bills. With a fan running, you’d feel a less urgent need to turn on the AC because air is already getting circulated and cooling everyone indoors. If you have an existing, unused light fixture on the ceiling, you can use this as the spot for the ceiling fan.
Turn off the electricity before unscrewing the existing light fixture parts.
When putting the new ceiling fan, make sure the parts are ready, including the motor, the mounting bracket, the fan blades, and the light bulb if it has one. You can use a metal brace to further ensure your fan stays put on the ceiling. If you’re still unsure, you can do this with a partner.
Home Improvement Made Easy
The DIY examples above show that home improvement can be done by anyone, as long as materials are on hand and instructions are followed. This guide has served as a glance at what you can do with storage, wall paint, furniture, replacements, and such. If you still need to learn more, you can always seek help from an expert. After reading this guide though, I hope you’re confident enough to try your hand at home improvement and learn in the process.
