My DIY Journey

Friends – today I’m continuing a Story Hop I recently did with a group of talented DIY-ers and sharing my DIY Journey with you all. Doing your own home renovation projects can sound really daunting but I am going to break it down for you today and show you how anyone can pick up tools and start their own DIY Journey.

Let me rewind a bit to my childhood and tell you how I grew up watching my dad do his own house projects – from simple electrical work to plumbing, to finding the perfect marble for our house flooring. I always took an interest in his projects and made my own design decisions in my bedroom. I recently shared this with a friend but one of my childhood bedroom designs had BLUE and YELLOW walls with matching drapes!! Not sure why my parents let me do that but trust me, I’m not doing that ever again 😳

Before last year, I had never even painted a wall, let alone use a drill. It all started when we were looking for a new home. All the new construction houses were super basic and didn’t have any character – builder grade fixtures, lighting, and the same grey paint color throughout. I knew whatever changes we would make to the house we bought, I’d have to try and DIY to keep it within budget. Needless to say, I spent hours and days and nights scouring the internet for project tutorials and pinning images of things I liked. Angela Rose Home, Making Pretty Spaces, and Within the Grove were three major inspirations for me – They made DIY Home Renovation look so simple and it made me think, if they can do it, why can’t I!

I also looked at simple projects that required no tools at all – like this teepee tent I made for Zaki’s playroom. The tutorial is saved in my IG Highlights and was the first time I tried using the Drill!

From this little project, I went on to paint our powder room wall which made me realize I could move on to a bigger home renovation project. Looking up tutorials online at every little step, from how to tape up a room for painting to what kind of brush to use, I went on to paint my laundry room tile. It helped that so many other people have already done this projects before me so I had a ton of resources to fall back on.

So if you, like me, don’t have much experience in DIY, here are my top tips for you to get started on your own DIY Journey:

1. Research, research and more research. Before taking on any DIY project, make sure you look up what’s already out there to make it easy for you – no reinventing the wheel here. From something as simple as painting a wall – just google it. I’m sure you’ll come up with a ton of youtube videos and blog posts for beginners. You can even find tutorials for more complex projects like stenciling tile floor (see laundry room floor) and bloggers like Liz from Within the Grove, and Angela Rose have already done them for you – all their resources and guides are available online. I learned that it’s best to go through at least three or four different guides before finding what process works for you.
2. Start small. I cannot stress this enough because I made the mistake of choosing an intermediate woodworking project as my first one and boy, did I struggle! Of course I eventually ended up finishing it but in retrospect, I should have taken on something simpler like maybe making an Art Ledge. A canvas frame is also a good one to start with.
3. Measure not once but MULTIPLE times. I’m so impatient with measuring – please don’t be like me! I’m okay with a little bit of imperfection but really you can do so much better just by making sure all your measurements are accurate. Especially if you’re making cuts, make sure you double check all your numbers before starting!
4. Make a project timeline. Before starting anything new, write down everything. Make notes about all the steps involved, all the material and tools needed. This eliminates extra trips to the hardware store and unexpected surprises.
5. Always take a before picture! I’ve forgotten to take good before pictures of some of my rooms and always regretted it later. It’s so fun to see the progress and changes with any home renovation when you’re all done.
6. Build your set of tools. Don’t buy everything under the sun in the first go, start from the most basic tools that everyone should already have. Starting from the very basic: hammer, tape measure, level, stud finder, screwdrivers, wrench, and an impact drill. To the more advanced: Nail gun, Miter Saw, Jigsaw, Orbital Sander. This list of tools will get you through most DIY home projects from beginner level to advanced.

I hope you guys found this guide useful and will refer to it before starting out your own DIY Journey : )

Now check out the rest of the bloggers sharing their own behind the scenes stories: