5 DIY Jobs I'd Do Again (And What Nearly Broke Me)

Interior stylist and author Emily Henson shares her personal experiences and lessons learned from renovating a dilapidated bungalow in Kent. Moving into the property, she quickly transitioned from her professional mindset of creating temporary sets for photo shoots to focusing on long-term solutions for her home. Henson emphasizes her preference for flexible and adaptable home solutions, often incorporating wheels into her designs, and tackling DIY projects that prioritize an "artfully imperfect" aesthetic over meticulous precision. She details five specific DIY projects, evaluating their difficulty and sharing practical advice based on her own challenges and successes. The first project discussed is removing old wallpaper. Henson describes this as an "easy-ish" task, highlighting the importance of using a wallpaper steamer to simplify the process. She recounts the initial inefficiency of not using a steamer and the satisfaction, and subsequent frustration, of the paper coming off in large sheets versus small, tattered bits. This project was rated 5/10 for difficulty. Next, Henson talks about laying screed floors, a more ambitious endeavor driven by her desire for concrete floors without the high cost of polished concrete. She coined her approach "poor woman’s polished concrete." After safely removing old asbestos tiles and priming the subfloor, she mixed and poured self-leveling compound throughout most of her home. Her experience as a stylist, accustomed to working quickly, proved beneficial in spreading the fast-setting solution. Despite the floors not being perfectly smooth and being cold in winter, she expresses deep satisfaction with the outcome, giving it a difficulty rating of 7/10. A movable kitchen island is the third project. Henson constructed this island from four 1960s chests of drawers mounted on a birch plywood base with six chunky wheels. She mentions the project was a two-person job and is frequently complimented. Her key learning from this project was the necessity of choosing wheels that lock, as the island's unexpected movement can cause amusing incidents. This project was rated 4/10 for difficulty, specifically with two people. Adding skirting boards proved to be a less enjoyable task, primarily due to the lack of an electric miter saw. Henson contrasts her struggles with a handsaw and miter box against her builder's efficiency with power tools. She advises that with the right tools, this project is manageable, even if it means using wood filler for imperfect mitered corners. The difficulty for this task was rated 4/10 with the correct tools. Finally, Henson tackled the bungalow's exterior, which she describes as initially "pitiful" with flaking windows and mold-streaked walls, contrasting sharply with the improved interior. She spent a month refinishing the masonry, sanding and treating old windows, and installing a simple trellis for a passionflower vine. She notes that for a single-story property, this project is achievable with patience and good weather, yielding highly rewarding results and being her most "smile-inducing" project to date. This exterior renovation received a difficulty rating of 6/10 for a single-story property. Henson concludes by reflecting on the overall challenge of living in a house during renovation, rating it 11/10 for difficulty, but ultimately finding it worthwhile as the savings contributed to creating a reading nook mezzanine. #HomeRenovation #DIYProjects #InteriorStyling #BungalowMakeover #WallpaperRemoval #ScreedFloors #KitchenIsland #SkirtingBoards #ExteriorRenovation #HomeRenovation #DIYProjects #InteriorStyling #BungalowMakeover #WallpaperRemoval #ScreedFloors #KitchenIsland #SkirtingBoards #ExteriorRenovation