What I've learnt from DIY

This will be the last newsletter I post this year, and I thank every single one of you for reading. A special big shout out to my paid subscribers, it truly means the world.

Until 5 December only

I’ve put up an online shop here, and am selling limited copies of my books in multiple languages (UK postage only). If you have friends that speak Korean, German, Chinese, Czech and more, and would like a signed copy of my books, please head over! And share with others who might like one.

The Joys (or not) of DIY, and what I’ve learned

(scroll all the way down for the final-ish photos!)

Readers, I’m ashamed to admit, that as of three months ago, I’d never attempted any DIY (apart from putting IKEA furniture together). I know, I feel like a total hypocrite in admitting this…

We moved to a house a couple years ago, and I adore all the extra space. But I need colour, vibrancy, practicality and my stuff around me, so I set out to do up my office and the living room myself. (My husband did a little bit.)

This involved: painting, making desks, sanding scaffold boards, putting up steel brackets, and I’m adding making curtains to this list.

Having worked on some mega projects during my career as a structural engineer, I thought, it’s fine, right? I can manage all this. But doing stuff in your own home seems to bring up different thoughts and emotions, as well as some familiar project management issues. So here goes ~

Work on confidence

We had lived out our 30s in a flat, so I hadn’t done any ‘design’ for a long old time. I was less than confident in my ‘taste’. I started with the big philosophical requirements, mentioned above, needing vibrancy for example. We love our books, I love sewing, and blue spoke to me. From this starting point, I hunted online for beautiful fabric for the curtains. Even though I’d never made curtains before, I felt most confidence here, having made dresses and tops. Once I located a gorgeous swatch with shades of deep turquoise and shining bronze threads, I selected a dark blue for the feature wall and a cream for the rest. Looking at the area that needed painting had me quaking in my boots, but I did what they tell us to do, and just went for it.

Research before you start

I’ll say it again, do your research before you start. What are all the things you need to get your project done? For the curtains, I needed the fabric of course, but also thread, eyelets, tools to install the eyelets, fabric markers + stuff I already had such as pins, markers, and scissors.

Prep Prep Prep

I went off to B&Q and got advice about painting, bought all the bits I need. Honestly, the most tedious part (but also see below) was taping up the windows and skirting.

With the desk making, I needed a drill and drillbits, but wasn’t quite as intimidated having done flatpack before. I used a lovely system designed by UBuild (not an ad) who designed me a fully bespoke set of desks, a long seated one and a smaller standing one. To see me put this together, and even crack out some flossing, head over here.

Draw Stuff

This was fun for me. I decided to get old scaffold boards to use as shelving (inspired by a friend), and drew up all the walls that would have them, measured my different types of books, looked at where there would be curtains and there were already plug sockets, and I set out a plan. This allowed me to figure out how many boards I needed and their lengths.

Budget for all the bits

I thought, oh cool! Reclaimed scaffold boards are cheap! But the raw steel brackets I wanted added up. Whoops.

Get help

Look. I finished my office painting and desks myself. I still have curtains to make, but I know I’ll get these done. With the living room, we managed the painting ourselves. But with over 20 boards to sand, clean and oil, and over 40 brackets to install into dense walls with over 80 long plugs and screws, I got help. I paid a handyperson for a number of hours to finish that up for us.

And the other most tedious bit will be clearing up. Which I haven’t yet done. So here is where the living room is now. Vibrant! If dusty.

Curtains to put up, televisions to move, crates to turn into a games area, but we’re close.

On that note, I’ll wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas and holiday season. I’ll be writing to you in January, and would love to know what you’d like to receive from me in your inboxes.

And if I might ask you for my holiday present, could you share my newsletter with one friend?

With love and best wishes.

Roma