There’s something about DIY that’s incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. Improving your own home gives you a massive sense of accomplishment — and it can save you an absolute fortune as well. If you’re new to the world of DIY, it’s very easy to make some common mistakes that might lead to problems with your interiors. Mainly, the work you do yourself can lead to a few damages here and there. They’re unintentional, of course, but it happens as a result of a little lack of care and knowledge. So, today’s the day that you learn how to avoid damaging your interiors when doing a bit of DIY. You’ll find a host of tips that ensure you can get the job done without leaving your mark on furniture, walls, or any other areas of your home!
By Team Savant
Image: Vladimir Mokry
Remove All Furniture Before Painting
One of the most common DIY mistakes is to paint a room while leaving all your furniture in its place. This is a recipe for disaster, usually ending in a lot of your expensive furniture being damaged by paint. The problem is that the paint you use for your walls is designed to be hard to scrub away. So, it tends to stain your furniture forever - or, to make matters worse, you scrub so hard cleaning it away that you damage the furniture itself. If you have antique or really unique items of furniture, this can be absolutely devastating. To avoid this, all you have to do is remove all furniture from a room before you paint it. Let the paint dry before moving it back in - and even then, you could cover the furniture in protective coverings until you’re 100% sure the paint won’t drip on it.
Protect Your Furniture Before Moving It
Speaking of moving furniture, it will be a big part of most DIY projects. Whether you’re moving things to a different place to repair them or just moving them out of the way; you need to ensure nothing gets damaged during this process. You see, moving a large armchair or sofa can lead to all sorts of interior damage. This might mean the furniture itself gets damaged, or you could bang against a wall and chip away part of it. The best way to prevent this is by protecting your furniture before you move it. Essentially, you can cover it in bubble wrap or another protective material, so there’s less chance of the furniture being damaged as you move it. Secondly, protecting the furniture means it has less chance of doing damage to other parts of your interiors as well.
Put A Cutting Mat Down Over Table Surfaces
A big part of DIY will involve cutting things. As such, you’re going to need some sort of utility knife to do a lot of the cuts. Usually, a Stanley knife will do, and these knives are super sharp, meaning they cut through most materials. They’re helpful if you are cutting pieces of carpet, cutting through packaging materials, and so on. The problem is that we tend to put things on tables — or other surfaces — when cutting them. As a result, the knife can go through the object, scoring the table. To prevent this, you can use cutting mats that stop the blade from hitting the table. They’re made of a special plastic material that means they can’t be sliced, and they have the added benefit of stopping the blade from dulling. So, you no longer finish a DIY project with loads of deep lines in your table surfaces because of your knife.
Lay Mats Down On Your Floors When Working
Too many DIY newbies have been in positions where they finish a project and feel very accomplished. You just re-varnished some lovely cabinets, or you painted the walls in your living room. It all went swimmingly, and none of your furniture got damaged in the process. Hang on, what’s that? Oh no...your floor has been damaged! Flooring issues are so common in DIY, usually from things dripping or falling on them. But, you can also damage your floors when moving furniture if you scrape them along the bottom. To stop all of this from being a problem, lay down a few mats on your floors when working. Clean dustsheets are all you really need - and you could also attach little soft floor protectors to the bottom of your furniture, so they don’t damage it during any moving around.
If you’re new to DIY, take this advice to heart and you will complete your first projects without damaging your interiors at the same time!