Mastering DIY Decor

This is a collaborative guest post by Alison Coppi. She’s a London-based blogger specialising in all things DIY and decor, and she can’t wait to get started on her next project!

I’m always a fan of DIY home improvement, especially when it comes to decoration. It’s certainly nice to buy something for decoration now and then (be it a painting, a new set of curtains, or anything in between), but there’s something that’s just more satisfying about making a room look nice with your bare hands!

This is particularly true when you’re doing a larger project in your home, such as organising a garden, designing a nursery, or even building a full addition. While you’re at it with a big job like this, it’s a perfect opportunity to do a little extra work to make things look the way you envision them. Below, I’ve put together a few tips about how to do so.

Hang An Interior Curtain

I’ve already mentioned curtains, so this feels like a good place to start. And to be fair, I’m borrowing the idea from a delightful collection of easy home decorating ideas by House Beautiful. But I can’t get over the concept. Basically, it means rigging up a curtain hanger somewhere in the midst of a room, rather than along a wall and up against a window. Such a curtain can be used for any number of purposes: concealing “the mess of preparation” in a kitchen, as noted at House Beautiful; providing a secret play space for a child; or functioning as a barrier for an impromptu dressing room. Or you can simply keep the curtain tied to one side so it looks like an elegant (if perhaps unnecessary) furnishing! You can easily hang a curtain rod and set this up on your own, and it’s a very unique DIY design concept.

Get The Hang Of Your Tools

A lot of this discussion comes down to fun ideas and conceptual design, but at some point, you actually need to do the job! And for that, you’ll probably want a few power tools on hand if you’re going to make a professional effort out of it. A hammer and nails go a long way, though you’ll find that impact drivers in particular can help with managing large screws, nuts, and bolts for bigger jobs (perhaps even fixing a curtain rod into place!), and power drills or sanders can make tricky tasks easier as well. These aren’t always cheap accessories, and they may not be what you first think of when you picture pretty and colourful new décor, but knowing how to operate them is part of the foundation of a DIY job well done.

Get The Hang Of Painting

No matter what you end up doing in terms of fun ideas like the interior curtain, you’ll probably want to do a little bit of painting if you’re doing something as ambitious as a new addition or a nursery setup. Sure, this is something you can hire a professional (or even a university student) to do, but it’s also an easy (and surprisingly fun) thing to do on your own. And don’t worry about your abilities. You can always learn the basics of painting, and from there you’re just a few brushes, rollers, tape strips, and cans of paint away from getting the job done your own way.

Get Creative With Lighting

As far as I’m concerned, the lighting is the most important part of any room. Count me as a big fan of letting as much natural light into a room as possible! But I also love the idea of creating your own light fixtures in a way that makes a room 100 percent unique. And this is where you can really take a DIY approach more in tune with crafting than traditional home design. I’d point you toward Bored Panda’s exhibition of DIY lamps and chandeliers for inspiration, because some of them are just lovely.

Don’t Stop When The Room Is Done

I suppose if I have one overarching tip for mastering home DIY décor, particularly with regard to a new room or addition, it’s that the process shouldn’t necessarily stop. It’s nice to step back, look approvingly over a finished product, and heave a satisfied sigh at a certain point. But once the room is designed and painted, the furnishings are in place, and you’ve put in your personal touches, you can always do a little bit more! It might mean arranging a collage of photos on one wall, laying down a new rug, or whatever else occurs to you—just don’t look at the room as a finished product until a few weeks after you feel you’re done.