Stay home but stay busy! There are several DIY projects that we have had on our list and we’re using this extra time at home to make them happen! Need inspiration for a project of your own? Here’s our top 5 DIY project ideas you can work on while you #stayhome!
Some projects might require some materials you don’t have. You can order anything you need from the safety and comfort of our couch. Some projects don’t require any materials at all. They just require the motivation to get up and get them started!
Organize
Get your Marie Kondo on and purge! Uncluttering can be one of the most therapeutic things you can do with your time. Not only will you have the satisfaction of shedding unwanted clutter and completing a project, you’ll feel great about your lighter lifestyle. This is very easy to accomplish without needing any additional materials, but you can take it a step further and order a new closet system, drawer organizers, or shelves for your basement. We highly recommend ,,MDesign for home organization. Just pick your space(s) and decide if it just needs some TLC given to it or if it needs more.
One of our biggest organizing projects is tackling our basement. It’s still in reno disarray. At one point about 75% of our stuff was down there. Once we were done with the bigger reno project, we only selectively moved up the stuff we wanted. The rest stayed. It’s time to decide what we want to keep, organize it, and throw the rest out. We’re adding shelves, cabinets, and eventually a laundry area.
Redecorate
Spend some time browsing ,,ETSY sellers from all over the country and the world from your couch. Find a vintage painting, or new mid-century dining chairs. Many people who sell online also have brick & mortar small businesses that are probably suffering right now so they would appreciate the business. You can even filter by location and shop locally. For us there are so many shops based in Brooklyn to support.
No extra funds right now, no problem. Maybe you have some interesting things in storage you can repurpose. Paint an old wooden chair, side table, or picture frame a new color. Maybe it’s just time to rearrange some furniture. If you have a few bucks you don’t mind spending just one very inexpensive item might be inspiration to rethink a space.
New Life
On your next trip to the grocery store or bodega grab a succulent, an aloe plant, or some fresh flowers. Brighten up your space and introduce some new life with some new plant babies.
If you have outdoor space (lucky!) don’t forget that we are days away from April! You might need it this spring more than ever. While you’re at the grocery, pick up some veggie & herb seeds (we love growing tomatoes, herbs like rosemary and thyme, and hot peppers!). If you have pots or planters get them set up and ready. If not, it’s a very simple thing to order online. You can even order a bag of potting soil. Gardening, even if you only have a couple of pots in a window, can be very calming. Plus with all of the cooking we’ll be doing at home for the foreseeable future it will be nice to have some fresh herbs.
Our biggest #DIY project is our backyard. We’ve already removed a lot of hardscaping and cement and now we are building a patio before we start planting. It required redistributing a lot of soil. It’s been a welcome project to distract us from mindlessly watching the news. We’ve spent entire days back there soaking up the sun and feeling very accomplished about what we’re doing. We had the concrete hauled away and picked up the compost we needed right before things shut down. Now we’re ordering some other things we need online: landscape edging, ground grid, leveling sand, grass seed (an eco turf good for pets that is drought (aka when we forget to water it) tolerant!), and pea gravel. That will keep us busy for a while until we need plants.
Plan Ahead
Maybe you have something bigger in mind. You might be ready to update the kitchen & bathrooms. Or maybe you want to add a deck. You might even be getting ready for a full gut renovation. Planning takes a lot of time. Get your thoughts together. Use an app like ,,Magicplan or ,,Key plan to visualize your floor plan. Remember that it takes 2-3 months to get through the architectural/approval stage. Architects, designers, and project managers are working from home and you can do virtual meetings.
Order samples. You can put together your entire design and create a sample bin. This will greatly reduce the stress of making so many design decisions during the renovation. Cabinetry, tile, stone, wood flooring companies and others can all send samples so that you can spend this time making decisions.
Build Something
If you’re handy or want to try to be, there are some simple pieces you can put together yourself. We’re a fan of ,,Donald Judd inspired furniture and have been meaning to start a project of our own. It’s a simple minimalist design. You just need some 1” boards or plywood, a saw to cut, screws, a drill, and a bright colored paint. You’ll have an original and personalized piece that anyone can tackle with an open mind and willingness to learn.
Our building projects are simple as well. If you’ve followed along you might remember the niche feature we built at the top of our stairs. It’s been unfinished for months as we decided what we wanted to do with it. We finally settled on something and we’re excited to make it happen! There are 2 parts to the project. We’re working with an amazing pattern and textile designer who is going to make us a custom wallpaper based on our virtual consultation. It’s a small area so it’s an affordable solution that will be bright and bold. The inside of our niche will be lined on all sides with our custom wallpaper, and on top of that we’ll cut, stain, and install wood bookshelves.
In our backyard, we’re building a raised flower bed which will basically be a wooden box. Pretty easy! But it will have a big impact on our backyard design.
Let us know what fun projects you’re working on. Send us pictures, tag #brownstoneboys and we’ll post on Instagram!
Thanks for reading! Subscribe below and don’t forget to follow us on ,,Instagram!
