Considering doing a DIY Housing Project? You aren't alone.
With over 80% of Millenials taking up DIY projects around the house since the outset of the pandemic, it's safe to say that the restrictive nature of our Coronavirus-affected culture has inspired many to take home renovation into their own hands. Homeowners have chosen to work on several areas of the home that have gained new importance after the pandemic, such as:
- Installing home offices for remote work purposes.
- Renovating living rooms, transforming them into entertainment centers to serve the family's need for distraction while theaters are closed.
- Adding onto kitchens, as more people are currently cooking at home than ever before, feeling unsafe in restaurant environments.
- Renovating their bathrooms for personal comfort, with the added benefit of increasing their property value should they decide to sell.
An Education in DIY
Of the above options, renovating your bathroom might be one of the best places to start, as it’s a low-cost, low-impact space where DIY initiates can grasp the fundamentals of the craft. If you’re thinking about entering the DIY space, the below options should give you the experience you need to move on to other things, from constructing furniture to small cosmetic changes around the rest of the house.
Let’s begin.
Replace Your Toilet
At the top of the list, we have a deceptively easy remodel: replacing ye olde porcelain throne. You might have been advised to save toilet replacements for professionals, as toilet replacements tend to deal with plumbing, which has been known to make some experienced DIY’ers uncomfortable.
However, there’s actually very little plumbing work involved in toilet installation: you just connect the toilet to a water line via a couple of minor hookups, and you’re set! The only real challenge in toilet installation is getting the new toilet into the bathroom by yourself, and extracting the old, as both toilets are likely to be pretty heavy. Replacing your toilet is a great way to kick off your bathroom remodel, presenting new DIY’ers with a not-too challenging major remodel right out of the gate.
Refurbish What You Can
Sometimes, the problem that most quickly catches your eye in your bathroom is of a cosmetic variety: chipped or worn-looking cabinets, tubs that are stained yellow and green, shower tile that looks like it has a little mildew on it. Fortunately, it’s relatively easy to refurbish issues like these, breathing new life into furniture and accessories that have been in your bathroom for ages.
For mold and mildew issues, you can pick up inexpensive but effective mold removal chemicals at your local department store. Coat the affected area thoroughly with the chemical, allowing it to sit for some time before scrubbing and washing the affected area.
For other simple cosmetic issues, you can also fix an array of them with a minimal investment. Try refinishing your bathtub with a hard epoxy coating, which can run you anywhere from 30 dollars to 150 depending on the materials you purchase. The matter of unappealing-looking cabinets can be quickly resolved as well with a bucket of paint and a brush.
Purchase an Easy-to-Install Vanity
However, your issues with your furniture may go deeper than how it looks. You may need more countertop space for implements you need at hand, such as toothbrushes or your favorite hairspray, or more storage space for all of your cosmetic and hygiene products. For that, you may want to consider purchasing a brand new Ikea vanity.
Ikea vanities are easy to install, come with step-by-step DIY installation guides, and provide quite a bit of value for your investment. Connecting your sink to an adequately sized storage unit and amping up your available counter space, a new Ikea vanity might be just the thing needed to improve your bathroom both functionally and aesthetically. Moreover, with the options available on the market, there’s a vanity out there for bathrooms of every shape and size.
New Faucet, New Bathroom
On a final note, once you’ve got a little bit of experience working with hardware from working on the projects above, you might want to try your hand at installing a brand new faucet. Coronavirus has created a new demand for motion-activated faucets, ones that don’t require someone to operate them by hand to turn on; and with larger-scale high-tech upgrades becoming more standard in the real estate market, little investments like this might one day pay off.
Pick a new faucet off the market, then search how to install a faucet on YouTube: you’ll likely find no shortage of step-by-step tutorials that can walk you through this occasionally-complicated process.
If you’re planning on stepping into the DIY world for the first time, you can’t do better than to start with working on your bathroom. In addition to adding value to your home, bathroom remodels have the ability to teach DIY’ers the skills they need for more complicated remodels in other areas of their homes.