5 Tips for Girls Who Like To Do Some DIY
Crushing those gender roles has never been easier in the modern age. Once reserved for the ‘man of the house’, DIY is now a great skill to have for BOTH the sexes and can be fun, economical and incredibly rewarding to see all the hard work go towards a final product to be proud of. However, for some of us, it can be difficult to get started or you may feel as though it’s not so accessible when so many tools seem to be needed to build the things you want. Luckily, there are so many resources to make use of that for the modern woman, DIY has never been easier!
Check out HandyToolsHome.com for more tips.
Join a Local Workshop
DIY can be daunting and it may seem overwhelming to begin with, so joining a local workshop in order to learn new skills, technical terms and techniques can be a great way to start learning. Many workshops give the opportunity to attend several sessions with a professional instructor with the aim of creating a finished product at the end such as a stool or a box.
These offer all types of difficulty, some courses for the very newest to DIY and some for the more advanced. Alternatively, some workshops allow a membership (similar to a gym style membership) which lets anyone use the tools available so they don’t have to buy all the various equipment such as drills or screw drivers, find space to do the work at home or find places to store everything. Both options are a great opportunity to meet like minded people and make new friends whilst picking up skills that make the money put into joining a workshop a worthwhile investment. Often people gain new ideas of what to make next from their instructors and peers when stuck for inspiration.
Use YouTube
May sound like an obvious one, but it’s true that there is a YouTube video for everything nowadays. From quick tips and tricks to get you off the ground to entire videos on building entire tables, the completely free resource helps stretch your money even further. If you like quick “life hack” style videos, there’s an abundance of those that involve easy ways to transform a room (like a creative way to hang lights or adding a furry cover to an old chair). If you’re more into building entire projects from scratch, there are thousands of instructional videos and some great Youtubers; John Malecki, does step by steps of building projects and Crafted Workshop does fantastic and innovative ideas on what to build, in addition to tips and tricks. These free resources mean professionals can advise you on any questions you have (even the bare basics like names of tools) and you can go back and pause the video at any time without feeling like the dunce of a class.
Show the Patriarchy Who’s Boss
For many of us, we love feeling feminine AND working hard on projects. Mixing up traditional “girly” passions (like fashion) and DIY can be so rewarding. If you’re a beauty fan, try working on creating a beautiful dressing table from scratch or, if that sounds daunting, adding lights to a mirror which could be propped up on a freshly painted desk. Perhaps you’d like to add new compartments to your wardrobe or even turn an old spare room into the walk-in wardrobe of your dreams, combining multiple projects into one. Whatever the skill level is, there’s an opportunity for all of us girly-girls who don’t mind getting their hands dirty every now and then.
Vamp up an old room
As previously mentioned, building a vanity or repainting a desk could be great ways to spice up a boring looking bedroom. Fantastic other ways vary from a quick lick of paint (to give some life to a plain old mirror for example) to building a beautiful new bookshelf displaying all your favourite items which you could proudly tell your friends that you made. Get your creative juices flowing and look around the room, thinking about what you would spend money on to replace. Then, search up online new ways to build and paint these items, saving loads of money in the process. The slightest change makes a big difference, like building a new pinboard that shows a bit of your personality or DIY-ing a hanging vine/flower display. Go crazy and build in a faux brick wall using Styrofoam sheets. Really, no matter how large or small the change, the choice is yours!
DIY gifts
Let’s face it, buying gifts for birthdays, Christmas, bridal showers, mothers days (etc, etc) can get expensive. However, putting effort into something handcrafted can be a wonderful way to show someone you care about them whilst at the same time saving yourself a lot of money and often, these presents can be the best! Creating a box for jewellery or trinkets can be a nice idea, or making a beautiful art piece using spray paints and card cut outs can really mean something significant to them. Mixing your passion with bringing genuine happiness to someone else makes the effort twice as worth it.