This year, many of us have more time than usual on our hands, so we’ll probably be spending more time at home over the coming weeks. There's no better way to keep busy than by digging out your tool box and getting your home ready for Christmas.
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The best thing about completing DIY projects before Christmas is that you'll be able to sit and relax on the big day, feeling like you've achieved something useful and earned your festive feast. Last minute jobs can become quite stressful, so set yourself a schedule to keep on track with your projects.
Read on to discover the typical home improvement projects that people take on at this time of year - and learn how to avoid having a nightmare before Christmas in the shape of a DIY disaster!
Kitchen refurbishment
The kitchen is a hive of activity in December, as we're busy preparing the Christmas dinner and all the additional party foods that help to make the season merry and bright. As the most important room in the festive home, it needs to be in great shape, so if your kitchen is a little worse for wear, you need to start a quick makeover now.
Revamping the cabinets will make preparing Christmas dinner more enjoyable. A simple trick is to just replace the doors and drawer fronts if the old ones are looking a little tired. It's not a massive job to fit them yourself, as long as you measure them accurately.
Try putting up the shelf that has been waiting in its packaging, or replace the lights and lamp-shades. Combined, a few small improvements will completely transform the room.
Also complete any small repairs that need sorting out, such as fixing the loose handle on the kitchen door or buying that new light bulb for inside the fridge that you've been meaning to sort out for weeks.
Replace soft furnishings and paint
A simple way to spruce up your home is to give the interior a fresh coat of paint. This is the quickest way of brightening up a drab room - and much easier than wallpapering. It's a particularly quick fix if you feel like you've left it too late to do anything else.
All you need are paintbrushes, a roller, a paint tray and a step ladder to reach the ceiling. Once you've chosen your colour and painted the walls, take a little care with the skirting boards and ceiling, so you get the edges straight.
Save money by thoroughly washing your paint brushes, rollers and trays after use, before the paint has time to dry on them, so you can reuse them next time. Put them away clean and safe to avoid finding them with solid bristles next time you have some painting to do!
Buy new throws for your sofa and chairs in a colour that complements the decor, buy a new rug or curtains and your new look is complete. Santa will surely be impressed!
Revamp your bathroom
Sprucing up your bathroom doesn't have to be a major job, as you don't need to replace things like your bath, shower, sink or toilet. Buy a new cabinet and add a matching free-standing shelving unit for toiletries.
Putting up the new cabinet is probably the most complicated thing you'll have to do. Even then, it's easy. You'll need a few tools - a powered or manual screwdriver and screws are the basics. It's then a case of taking the old cabinet down and putting the new one in its place. If it's the same size, you won't even need to drill new holes in the wall.
Always store small DIY items such as screws, nails and screwdrivers in handy boxes, so you know exactly where to find them next time they're needed. Clear plastic boxes are a great idea, as you can find what you want at a glance.
Exterior jobs
It does you good to be outdoors, especially when you've been shut in the house for weeks, so take the opportunity to carry out some exterior jobs. Okay, so it may not sound like fun, but try clearing the drain - you don't want to end up with a plumbing mishap on Christmas Day, when the water suddenly backs up into your garden!
Fill in any cracks on your path with a simple lick of ready-mixed concrete and power-wash moss off your drive to reduce the risk of slipping.
Christmas is a celebration we have all been looking forward to this year, so spruce up your living space now so there will be NO nightmares before Christmas!
Contact Solent Plastics for details of our range of storage solutions for tools and DIY items.