"Upcycling is a great way to breathe new life into old pieces of furniture in your home without having to invest a lot of time or money into it - plus it’s more sustainable than throwing the item out and purchasing a new one altogether"
- Camilla Lesser - Essential Living
With busy work schedules and childcare to factor in, it’s not always easy to find a spare moment for house projects, so to help identify the DIY tasks that can be ticked off without draining your downtime, Camilla Lesser, Development Manager at Essential Living, has pulled together a list of 7 jobs to gradually work through:
Painting
Whether it's a certain room in your home that’s been bugging you; some old furniture that needs a refresh or even just touching up trim and baseboards, painting can be broken down into smaller tasks over a period of time.
If it’s done right, it’s also one of the easiest DIY home improvements that you can make to completely transform the look of a room.
Camilla Lesser, interior expert at Essential Living, explains how you can reflect the colour and brightness of spring in your home using paint:
“If you’d rather play it safe, you could opt for more pastel tones - which are the usual ‘go-to’ colours for this upcoming season, but if you’re feeling a bit more ambitious, you could try decorating with pink, adding a sense of elegance and playfulness to your room of choice.
“Spring is all about bringing the outside in too so with that in mind, you may want to consider the colour green in your palette.”
Gardening
The arrival of spring brings warmer temperatures and more sunlight with it, providing ideal growing conditions in your garden. Try to take advantage of this with some low-maintenance gardening jobs, like planting spring bulbs, trimming bushes or even creating a small herb garden for you to enjoy.
With the lighter evenings, escaping outside and tackling some gardening jobs can be an enjoyable way to unwind after a stressful day at work.
But, if gardening feels a bit ambitious, even ticking off some basic cleaning tasks could provide you with some light relief and make the space feel a little less overwhelming. For instance, you could allocate some time in the morning or during your lunch break if the sun is shining to sweep the patio, wipe down outdoor furniture or power wash the driveway.
Decluttering and organising
Try not to underestimate how much a quick declutter and organise around your home can help to free up some headspace. Take advantage of any short bursts of free time to tackle the areas of your home that are currently filled with the most clutter, either clearing out junk that you no longer need or creating priority lists and sorting things into organised piles.
This could even be something as simple as organising your wardrobe or finally taking your old clothes to the charity shop.
Small repairs and installations
Now you’re in the DIY mindset, it’s a good moment to go from room to room and identify any minor repairs that need to be done, as this is a quick win for you to tick off. For example, this might involve fixing a leaky tap, tightening loose screws or replacing light bulbs.
If you’re feeling more ambitious than this - and have more time on your hands - perhaps you could do some installation tasks too. This could be installing shelving units, hanging racks or other storage solutions that will not only help to maximise space in your home but keep it as organised as possible over the coming months.
Upcycling furniture
Depending on whether this is something you’ve wanted to get into in your spare time, then you could get creative by stencilling some old furniture or wall-mounting wooden crates to form a new bookshelf.
Upcycling is a great way to breathe new life into old pieces of furniture in your home without having to invest a lot of time or money into it - plus it’s more sustainable than throwing the item out and purchasing a new one altogether.
Refreshing decor
If painting is out of the picture then there are other ways you can bring the ‘spring’ theme into your home, using decor.
For instance, swap out dark winter decor for lighter pieces that reflect the change in season. This could be updating throws and pillows to brighter-toned colours (think fresh greenery, pastel colours and natural textures), switching out thicker curtains to lighter drapes or creating spring centrepieces for your table.
General cleaning and maintenance tasks
Aside from DIY itself, it’s a good chance to break down larger cleaning tasks into smaller, manageable chunks. Aim to focus on high-traffic areas in the home or areas that have been especially neglected over the winter months.
For instance, if you have a gap in your day, you could focus on the kitchen. While this room can feel like a big task in itself that requires lots of different cleaning products, stocking up on white vinegar, lemons and baking soda will have you well on the way when it comes to cleaning your counters, taps, fridge, bin and even your oven.
By breaking down larger projects into smaller tasks over the coming weeks and making the most of the extra daylight hours, you can successfully update your home in time for spring - while still maintaining busy work and life schedules.
