If you are new to working from home, it can be challenging to make the jump, especially during strange times like these.
Many of you might be feeling the effects of suffering from an unusual work-life balance now that you are confined to your own house. However, you shouldn’t worry. There are many practical steps that you can take which will allow you to ease the pressure on yourself, and take back some of your work-life balance. What s the easiest way to do this? Simple: DIY. Here’s a great article about tips on doing DIY.
For example, a recent study would show that three out of every four people in Ireland are spending much more time at home, with half of them claiming they want to do more DIY work during the lockdown situation. So of course, now is perhaps the best time to do a little bit of work around the house, and make it a nicer place to live, work and play.
Important advice on home insurance
If you plan on any large DIY projects, this may involve building work, or which may influence the value cost of your home; it may be best to make your insurer aware. Additionally, you may wish to add accidental damage cover onto your policy, just to be on the safe side.
So if you are attempting something rather ambitious, you might want to have the extra cover by your side. You can get a home insurance quote online from theaa.ie (without breaking lockdown) and still have the opportunity to find affordable insurance quotes for your home.
Here are top three DIY Ideas for Lockdown:
Get the Paintbrushes Out
The colour of the paint options is really what gives a home its “mood”. Out of all the features in a house, the paint colour is undoubtedly the one that will influence the ambience and atmosphere the most. That is why, when you are spending more and more time at home, it is essential that you can get these colour choices right.
When working from home, a great way to separate your work area from other parts of your house is to give your office a different colour scheme. Of course, there is no science or research to suggest that specific colours will work best, but choosing something bright and vibrant is likely to help you stay more alert and boost your productivity.
If you happen to be working in a bedroom or your living room, you may wish to use an accent wall in a vibrant colour to help you separate the two. Elsewhere in the room, you can opt for a more subtle colour to help you wind down.
Jazz Up the Furniture
If you are spending so much time inside, perhaps you are fed up of looking at the same old furniture all the time. Maybe now is the perfect time to change things up a little bit? If you have some wooden furniture around the house, you can shape them up a little bit by decorating them. It’s an easy, fun project and is a great way to pass the time during confinement.
Of course, you can find other resources online to learn how to do it properly, but to give you a head start, here are some of the basics: First of all, you should sand down the surface, and wipe with a damp cloth. From here, you can either paint any bits you aren’t going to cover with paper and glue the paper onto the rest of the surface. If you are feeling adventurous, you can also include the whole thing with glue and add the varnish.
Give the Garden a Spruce Up
If you have a garden, the lovely weather we have coming into the summer months may make for the perfect time for you to do a little bit of work there. If you want a highly fun and unusually satisfying task, you can use a pressure washer on your patio and decking, to give it a new look. Alternatively, if you are looking for a bit of hard grafting, you can de-weed the Garden, by laying down a membrane and covering with gravel. This will stop them from appearing again.
But if you don’t have a garden, you shouldn’t let that stop you. Take a pottered plant and bring it indoors. You would be surprised at the kind of effects it can have on your mode and the atmosphere of your room.
General Advice
Now before you begin getting crafty, here are some general tips that you need to make sure you follow or else you may work your way into a little bit of trouble. One useful piece of advice, and perhaps the most crucial of them all, is to double-check with your landlord (if you’re renting) if you can make any changes to the walls or fixtures in the home. Along the same lines, if you are in a new-build, make sure to double-check the agreement, to make sure that you are aware of what you are and are not eligible to do.
As far as creativity goes, Pinterest and YouTube are highly popular platforms when it comes to DIY; their stunning and inspiring content is incredibly useful for getting ideas about what you would like to do. However, please make sure that you don’t do anything you don’t feel confident in, particular when using high-voltage power tools, such as drills. The last thing we all need is a little bit of added pressure on the health care workers.
