If you are on this page, the chances are, you, like me enjoy having a go at diy! It may be becausethe missus has asked you to "fix that shelf" or "sort out that leaking tap", or maybe your other half doesn't like or 'get round to' doing these jobs and you've decided to take matters into your own hands and do it yourself! Or maybe you just want to do it yourself as you enjoy doing it! There are many reasons for DIYing- the main one being it costs a small fortune to get someone in to do a job which, with a little time, effort and patience could save you a lot of hard earned cash which could be better spent on yourself or your family. And also, when you've finished the job , you can stand back and admire it and think I Did That! And every time you pass it feel that sense of achievement.(Providing it all goes to plan!)

So you've decided what you want to do. You've set a day that you're going to do it. Ideally try to make sure that the kids aren't around as you just know that , you're just at that crucial moment, where you're putting it all together when you find that the last piece is too short or you've measured wrong- You know you measured everything twice you thought , but then you remembered little Jimmy wanted a drink whilst you were doing it and you got distracted !(speaking from personal experience!) Not Jimmy's fault he needed a drink , but nonetheless you've used all the materials and you're going to have to go out tomorrow and buy more materials as the store is now shut!And you can't finish it till then. Extremely frustrating to say the least!

So you've got your project and you've set a day or time to do it, Make a checklist and ideally a sketch with measurements if you're building like, a shelving unit , built in wardrobe or something big. Make sure you have enough materials to hand before you start. Ideally a bit extra always comes in handy, just in case it all goes a bit pear shaped, unless you're a pro and done this many times before! Do your preparation first, cut your wood to pieces before banging it all together. Sand it before painting it, and make sure its going to fit where you're planning to put it! I know it's quicker to take short cuts and think “ ah, it'll be okay” but there's nothing worse than spending all that time and effort to look at it after and think ' I wish I'd done that now!' and feel gutted as it's not what you pictured in your head.

So look at your plan/ sketch, cut your wood, put it all together, paint or stain it and voila! You've completed your masterpiece. Hopefully with the time took planning and preparation it's just how you imagined it would be! And you enjoyed doing it! (hopefully).

You've completed what you set out to do. A job less to worry about. And, you never know, you may find yourself wandering around your home, subconciously eyeing up alcoves, thinking, mmm, a nice unit for books/ kids toys would fit nicely in there. If so, you've got the bug!