Saturday 16 May 2020

DIY during Lockdown!

At the start of the lockdown, I am sure I wasn't alone in creating a list of things to do around the house. Having had the bathroom renovated, it has been one huge tick off the list of things to do, but that list has definitely grown, possibly because I have spent hours of my time sitting in different rooms and as I work, notice the odd thing that needs fixing and changing, but again, without the ability to purchase most of what is needed or have someone come in to do the jobs we can't tackle, that list will have to keep on growing. So with a new bed needed, mine is currently held together with gaffer tape, a new wardrobe, a new sofa and a new light fitting in the lounge...that list will continue to grow.
DIY during Lockdown!
The first job on the list is to replace the hallway flooring, this would have been done when we decorated the hallway but it was deprioritised knowing workmen would be in and out to do the bathroom. We have decided on solid wood flooring and are in the process of ordering samples to see which would look best, the only light that we have comes via the glass panel in the door, so anything that is dark will make the hallway look much smaller. As well as the flooring we will also need to change our skirting boards because they are the wrong colour to match the flooring and one of them is slightly damaged from the water leak. 

Over the last few weeks, I have taken to reading websites which offers advice when it comes to changing your flooring, which we have only done with one room since we purchased our home over a decade ago! So some of those tips and advice include:

1. Samples - As with buying your wallpaper, samples are really important. Whether you are buying your flooring online or in-store, those pictures and the lighting will be different from what you have at home. When I bought the flooring for the bathroom, I must have ordered over 50 different tile samples as well as taking cuts from bathroom stores when I went to purchase other items and ultimately, we ended up choosing the type of flooring I said I didn't want - tiles in this case, because it looked the best So, it is worth looking to purchase from companies who offer samples, which most do and many offer them free of charge too.

2. Budget - As with any renovation, a budget is hugely important. When I did my budget for the bathroom, I was lucky enough to have a family friend work out what absolutely everything I wanted would cost to give me a baseline to work with and then from that point, I could remove the items/work that I really didn't need.

3. Flooring Type - The floor you choose might be absolutely stunning, but is it practical? We have two cats and one of them loves to scratch wood (a new internal door is on that growing list above) so the flooring we choose needs to be durable and practical because as well as the animals, the mister will also be dragging his fishing trolley and items along it too and the space under the stairs, is used for storage, so it needs to be able to cope with that, without becoming warped.

4. Underlay - This came as a bit of a learning curve for me because I assumed underlay was an issue for carpets, naive I know.  The underlay you have might be in need of replacing, it certainly was in our bathroom, in fact, it looked more like used cardboard boxes than proper underlay and that was a cost we hadn't factored into the renovation. I dread to think about what I am going to find under the kitchen tiles when the time comes to replace those!

5. Measuring - This is really important and definitely another learning curve for me. The M² measurement becomes important and can also affect your budget, so depending on how much flooring you need can change how much money you have to spend.  Again, I was lucky that someone else did my measurements and came with me to make the purchase, otherwise, I am sure there would have been a lot left over when doing it properly in the first place meant I have a few tiles left should I need them at a later stage.

So, whilst I haven't managed to tackle every single job on my DIY list so far under lockdown, I have cleared out cupboards, organised carrier bags, spring cleaned, changed lightbulbs and planted vegetables and flowers, I have at least made a list and ordered some flooring samples!  Have you managed to complete any DIY tasks?






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