By Joseph Beeby, DIY Guru and Handyman Operations Manager at Handy ( www.handy.com ), the UK's fastest-growing provider of on-demand cleaning and DIY experts.
Home and Garden on Female First
Refurbish your furniture. If you're bored of that old wooden chair don't throw it away, revamp it! Painting furniture is super easy and injects some much-needed life into old pieces. Just make sure that you don't use chalk-based paint as it will chip easily. A latex-based paint will work fine but go for an oil-based one for the best results.
Change the colour of your tiles. You may be sick of your boring bathroom tiles but they're not only notoriously difficult to remove, repairing the wall afterwards is no easy feat. That said, painting a tile is really simple! All you need is to apply some sealant before the latex-based paint colour of your choice and those drab slabs will be shiny and new in no time.
Paint yourself a pretty chalkboard. We've all brewed a cup of tea only to discover we have no milk, or opened the fridge to be greeted by an empty butter tub just as the bread pops out of the toaster. Paint a patch of chalkboard paint onto your kitchen wall and place an empty frame around it for an elegant and unique way to jot down your to-do list and remember the essentials.
Turn your jewellery into art. Jewellery boxes may look pretty, but throw all your necklaces in there and you'll quickly be trying to unravel a never-ending ball of chain. Why not glue quirky vintage buttons to some small nails and mount them above your dressing table. That way, you have tangle free jewellery and a unique feature wall.
Glue a magnet to the end of your hammer. Make getting up a ladder to hang a painting or put up a shelf easier by gluing a magnet to the bottom of your hammer to hold the nails! Never again will you have to hold them in your mouth.
Line paint trays with bin bags. Removing dried paint from a paint tray without immersing it in a bottle of white spirit is a difficult job. One genius way to avoid this problem entirely is to line the tray with a bin bag. Simply discard the bag when you're finished!
Use a post-it to collect dust. When drilling a hole, use a post-it note to collect the dust! Just stick the note directly underneath where you want to drill and fold the note upwards in a right angle. Once you start drilling, the note will collect the dust!
Use old drawers as innovative shelves. Throwing away an old chest of drawers? Get rid of the frame but keep hold of the actual drawers. You can repaint and mount each drawer on a set of wall brackets to make for a creative, colourful storage solution! You can also mount the drawers on an outside wall or fence, should the drawer be light enough, to create fun plant holders and window boxes!
Remove masking tape before your paint dries. Most people wait until their paintwork has dried before removing any masking tape, only to find that the edges crack when they do so. Avoid ruining all your hard work by removing the tape before the paint has a chance to set (about an hour after painting should do it).
Work in pairs. Not all DIY requires more than one person, but having someone else there can come in really handy - and also makes it way more fun! A second pair of hands to hold things in place and make sure that shelf is level can make the job much easier, and you can reward yourselves with tea and biscuit breaks in between all your hard work!
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