What DIY have you done today?

[Jimmyneutronsforehead]

A thread to share the things big and small that you've started, finished, planned or conceptualised.

Inspired by the lovely posters on the What have you done in the garden today threads.

I meant to say upcycled here not uncalled but I've got sausage fingers and I am a chronic non-proof reader.

Oh, I definitely do.... I bought a 1930s house, by myself, and I've got a list as long as twenty people's arms of jobs to do and very little money to do them with. So DIY it is then!

Wow! Your lamp is gorgeous @ValBiro! Is that the first time you’ve done something like that?

Nice lamp @ValBiro, where did you get the parts from? I found a non functioning Anglepoise lamp in the street recently but find it difficult to judge online whether things are well made.

It's a Model 99 like this, not the classic classy one 😁 Goes with my other 60s/70s furniture.

I am fairly 'handy' I suppose, but have never turned my hand to electrics! So far the electrics haven't blown so I think it's ok 😆

It took a surprisingly long time to drill through the urn. I used a tile drill bit but it took ages!

I've had the urn for ages and was at the point of getting rid of it but had a lightbulb moment (ha!) and though "what if I make this into a lamp?". I cut apart an old-ish plain black lamp that was not getting used upstairs, would have been from IKEA or Wilko or something originally.

Sounds fantastic @DrPrunesqualer! And so long without a decent kitchen - we've been without one since buying this place in Sept 2024 and I thought that was bad!

@ValBiro love the lamp 💙

No DIY for me today (out visiting family), but tomorrow I'll be back on the case as need to organise/build some timber understairs storage shelving to contain a set of colourful Oliver Bonas baskets for shoes. The shelves will probably be colour-drenched in Edward Bulmer Pompadour to match the walls/joinery.

I've gone down a lamp making rabbit hole, including making your own lampshades.

Eyeing up the Chinese spice jars sat on the shelf, but have been told not to do anything with them and to get them appraised as they may be valuable. I don't think they are valuable, but I'm not a connoisseur of jars. I just think that they could look rather lovely now as lamps.

Thanks to DH finally taking our old sofa to the tip this morning, I was able to put some new fairly lights in one part of the kitchen dresser; they are now cheerfully twinkling. Not exactly DIY but I did have to put batteries in 😊

(New sofa arrived just before new year and old one has been sitting in front of the dresser, blocking the doors. The dogs thought this was brilliant as they had somewhere to sit where they could see us cook so they are now slightly miffed that their comfy front row seating has gone).

Today I sanded 1 wall. It isn't much, but it's a start.

I need a trip to B&Q for some paint samples, but I'm scared I'm going to look like a little goblin taking 1 of everything because I am indecisive so I think I might have to make multiple trips just so I don't look quite so peculiar.

Haven't found the deceased rat

have sorted out three boxes this week from the old kitchen. Got it down to half a box

as
we decided to lift the floor covering in the current kitchen
Will hopefully finish that tomorrow so we can disinfect, disinfect,disinfect

On that note embarrassingly I have to ask

Does anyone know how we get rid of the smell of stale wee from timber floor boards. ?????
< wow my house sounds grim >

we aren’t allowed to lift the boards btw

Loving that lamp 👏👏

Yesterday I painted two double built-in wardrobes - although these aren't ours but were built by adult DS at his house 🙄😉

Today I'm continuing with our understairs shelving that was actually started by DH at the weekend. I also need to fill, sand and repaint some kitchen drawer fronts where we've changed the handles. The cabinets were an eBay find for £200, so I think we can justify the purchase of rather lovely Corston and deVol hardware 😍

Have you tried Simple Solution @DrPrunesqualer?

I haven’t but I’m off to Google that
Thankyou Thankyou as getting really desperate now

Can anybody recommend a painters tape that does actually peel in nice neat lines without tearing off all of your hard work?

The blue tape normally works for me, I got this one for a big job a few years ago
https://www.mypaintbrush.co.uk/fox-masking-tape-14-day-38mm

People on socials seem to use a green one when they're painting stripes.

@Jimmyneutronsforehead we use frog tape, which as you might expect is green 😉

Today I finally finished painting the new shelves, although we still need to tackle the underside of the stairs (ceiling of the storage area) which I want to have a curvaceous feel. DH will have to do that as it's above my pay grade.

I put aside the paint brush this afternoon and made some interlined curtains for the snug. Ran out of blooming yellow thread this evening when everywhere was shut so had to bodge it with cream 🙄

When my Nan and grandad moved into this house my grandad made everything curved. Most of it on purpose, some of it by accident.

All I will say about that is sometimes I wish to get a Ouija board out and give him a piece of my mind because it's made storing boxes truly a bloody task.

I am very much an "if it's not a right angle it's a wrong angle" sort of person.

Lol @Jimmyneutronsforehead 😆

I'm not really a fan of curves in a house either - unless it's a beautifully curving staircase or the quirky curved chimney breast we had in my favourite house (Arts & Crafts Movement) - and curved rooms generally get a hard no from me. But this is just the ceiling of the turned part of a staircase. The timber underside of the staircase (as seen from inside the understairs cupboard which has now gone as it was an ugly 1960s addition) curves already, so we're going to follow that curve when boarding it. I've seen an example of where this was done - painted in a funky bubblegum pink - so I have my inspiration and (in my head, anyway!) it's gonna look fab 😁😆

I finished stripping and restoring this Edwardian fireplace at the weekend.
It was a bitch to do, but worth it 🖤

wow love the fireplace!

and the lamp.

no DIY here. im following along in the hope it will motivate me.

i do however have a carrot cake in the oven!

I am a big fan of bubblegum pink. I hope you'll share photos of the progress.

Sometimes I feel our house is like that building in Barcelona, the one with no straight or flat surfaces.

I laid some of those peel back lino tiles earlier in the year and I could not line them up with any single corner or wall. When it was all carpet it was much less noticeable but now there's a flooring with a line that your eyes drawn to it's really obvious.

There's also this curved arch in the alcove in my bedroom, but it's just eaten up a decent chunk of vertical space that also means if I ever want to integrate cupboards I'll have to do some serious modification.

Used wood hardener on a water damaged window.

I’ve just put up three wall shelves in my dining room alcove . Going to do the other side when I buy three more shelves !

Tip - when drilling into walls and there’s no one to hold the hoover to catch the dust - hold the hoover pipe between your legs 😂

Yesterday I took up all my stairs and landing carpet and took it to the tip as I am decorating my hallway and landing .

I don’t mind doing diy but sometimes I wish I had some help with it all as it’s never ending !

I don’t mind doing diy but sometimes I wish I had some help with it all as it’s never ending !

What if we set up like a supper club but instead of supper it was DIY and a takeaway. 2 hours every Saturday night on rotation for who hosts and has their DIY done. BYODungarees.

I have done a second coat on a small hallway area and second coat on 6 window sills across the house. I probably only have a short window Of time tomorrow but may ge able to finish the hallway area. Fingers crossed