It is always a good time to take stock of your home’s décor, but there’s something about the New Year in particular that really inspires a sense of change in many Australians. Why not capitalise on that ‘new year, new me’ feeling with some simple DIY projects to change up your home and improve it in the process?
Feature walls are no secret to the contemporary home, often employed to accent a wall or extend a living space – but it’s easy to forget that such a stunning change to a space can be made in less than half a day, with little more than a roll of masking tape and a paint roller.
Endless possibilities lie in your potential feature wall with regard to painting alone; you do not even need to settle for one block colour. You could mask off sharp geometric patterns or create boxes within your feature wall, and paint in different colours to suit your scheme. You could even draw out intricate, repeatable patterns and create a wallpaper effect with a lighter colour.
A fun and versatile way to add features to your walls can be found by using wall hooks. You might suspend an air plant in a hanging plant, or an ivy, to provide a natural texture at height; if deployed as part of a feature wall in your kitchen, mismatched kitchen towels could be hung from them at varying heights to provide a unique textural feature.
Depending on your level of comfort using a drill, you could screw your hooks into the walls or surfaces you’ve decided on – but you have to know what you’re doing. Use a stud finder to find out whether you’d be hitting a pipe or power line before you drill. If the wall is an exterior wall, you will also need a masonry drill bit to penetrate the brickwork, and wall plugs to create a secure fitting. Alternatively, you could use a speciality glue or adhesive to fix your hooks in place without the need for power tools. Household glues have gotten reliably stronger in recent years, making your hooks usable for heavier hangings despite not being anchored deep in the wall.
Lastly, upcycled shelving can completely revolutionise a room – whether a shallow ledge as an alternative support for displaying photos, vinyl and artwork, or deeper shelves as an alternative to bulky furniture. Unique and beautiful statement brackets can be bought from independent metalworkers online, and the shelf itself can be sourced from a wide variety of places by yours truly. Maybe you have drawers from an old desk or cabinet, or maybe you’re replacing the doors on your kitchen units and have a skip full of old material outside. These can be cut down to any size, re-painted or re-finished and installed according to your personal aesthetics and requirements.
These are just three simple DIY ideas for re-engaging with your home’s aesthetic and of course, there are hundreds of other small ways you can make a big impact on your living spaces. Ultimately, all you need is a can-do attitude, a smattering of tools and materials and half an afternoon to make it happen!