As designers and engineers, we know a fair amount about the kinds of projects that homeowners should probably not take on by themselves. DIY projects in Fort Collins can sometimes seem simple until you get into them, and then they might seem slightly less DIY than you originally planned. You might even have to call in a contractor or engineer to figure out how to best take care of the DIY disaster.
That’s neither here nor there, however, as today’s blog post is designed to list five safe projects that you can do yourself to spruce up your home this summer — no design or engineering firm needed. These are the DIY projects that you can trust. Let’s get started!
Rework Your Backyard
If you’ve taken a look around your backyard lately and haven’t loved what you’ve seen, now is a great time of year to tackle a backyard project or two. You can decide to reorganize seating and grilling and playing areas, begin work on an outdoor kitchen project, or start xeriscaping your yard. These are all projects that you can take on entirely on your own, and if you do end up needing to consult with someone, it’s usually due to a want rather than a need. You don’t need twin gargoyles hardscaped into a water feature, but if you want it badly enough you know it’s wise not to attempt that sort of thing as a DIY project.
Revitalize Your Floors
Scuffed, worn, and dirty floors will always make a home look and feel old. This summer, upgrade the interiors by analyzing what you have, and figuring out whether to replace, repolish, refinish, or otherwise redo your flooring so that it makes your home look new again. Again, the limits are up to you: you can tear out everything to have all hardwood floors installed, but that’s again definitely going to be beyond DIY. That being said, it’s your home and your project: it’s entirely up to you.
Experiment With Color
What better time to play with paint colors than in the summer, when the most light is coming in and you can best tell how to highlight a wall or a piece of art in a hallway with pieces of art. Whatever you’d like to do, summer is a great time for trying out new paint, and it’s a fairly low-budget commitment. Also, if you decide after two weeks or so that you hate it, you can always just paint over it again. This can be a cool time of year to try out those massive wall decals that you’ve seen, too.
Spruce Up Your Bathroom
Significant renovations in the bath can be quite costly, but the DIY stuff isn’t usually so bad (unless you have expensive tastes, of course). Simple upgrades like the sink faucet or replacing a shower head with a more contemporary one (rainfall shower heads, anyone?) can enliven your bathroom without breaking the bank. For anything more than that, though, like replacing sinks or counters and the like, we suggest calling the professionals.
Wash Exterior Surfaces
Have you ever looked at the exterior of your home and thought, wow, that looks really dingy? That’s probably because it needs to be washed. Over time, dirt and grime accumulate on your home like they do anywhere else. Rent a power washer — they are generally extremely affordable from your local hardware store — and have a great time blasting all of that dirt and grime off of your home. By the time you’re finished, it’s going to look so new you might barely recognize it.
We hope these tips help during a time when a great many of us are spending significantly more time at home than we normally would. We’re definitely all in the same place of trying to exhaust the possibilities of things that we can have fun doing at home before we exhaust ourselves completely. We understand. We’ve got the same situation going on.
If you are looking to get into anything more intense or less DIY as far as renovations go in Northern Colorado, we hope you’ll contact us at Crown Jade for your next home renovation project. We are doing everything possible to protect our customers and ourselves during this time. Contact us today.