Home renovations, repairs and design for the intrepid DIY-er
Here you can find all the past blog posts sharing my projects, both the wins and the fails. Always with what I’ve learned, so you can learn too.
Happy reading!
The sun has been shining in the UK, and you can see a spring in peoples’ steps. Bring on the outdoor fun, as we all get excited for warmer weather, blue skies and sun! To kick the season off, I am installing a privacy screen for the terrace. As I shared at the beginning of…
Door and window hardware can be incredibly powerful additions to your home, bringing a completely new feel to a room. But does installing new door knobs feel like it could be beyond your skills? I certainly felt that way myself. In fact, I knew installing new door knobs was beyond me. Based on past experience!…
And that’s a wrap! The project for refreshing the shelves in the lounge is complete. And the impact is everything I had hoped it would be! What was supposed to be a quick little detour from more time-consuming and difficult projects has actually had many of its own challenges. I had hoped to spend only…
The last few weeks, I’ve been on a mission to refresh the bespoke shelves in our lounge. I began with some organisation hacks in the base units, followed by an unsuccessful attempt at installing accent lighting. I plan to update the trim and paint finish as well. But first, I need to resolve the issues…
This week, I’ve returned to the built-in bespoke shelves installed in our lounge last year. Following last week’s successful reorganisation of the hidden storage, today I planned to share how to add accent lighting to the upper shelves. Sadly, this project has not gone quite to plan. What should have been a simple and quick…
While I continue to creep toward the finish line with the closet expansion, I’m taking time in February for some simple organisation ideas around the house. The beginning of the year is a great time for cleaning, purging and organising, and I am always looking for ways to clear some of the clutter. Besides, I…
Do you have flooring that you want to change but are not sure what to do? Have you considered installing vinyl tiles as a short- or long-term option? Today, I am sharing my experience and a tutorial for how to install vinyl tiles to update a space. We did a mini-renovation of our kitchen last…
I’ve learned so much from the closet expansion, and we aren’t done yet. I’ve still got the doors to build, and one final closet opening to frame and add architrave and shelving. Today, I want to share a tutorial on how to trim down a door. This can include a closet door or room door,…
Today, I have a slight variation on the closet expansion, with some DIY closet shelves to complement my ongoing quest for better storage. As I race toward the finish line with the closet expansion, I made really good progress over the Christmas break. I finally finished three of the four frames and architrave, including sanding,…
Last week, I shared a recap of my 2024 accomplishments. Now, it is time to look ahead to what 2025 holds. I have big DIY ambitions in 2025, far too many for what I can actually achieve. But, a girl can dream, right?! As I make plans for achieving my DIY ambitions in 2025, I…
I love a good Year in Review post. The chance to look back and reflect not just on what people accomplished, but also what they learned. Today, I am looking back at 2024 insights and learnings, so I can look forward to what 2025 holds. This is my first year as DuBois Designs. It has…
Many of you dear readers know that I live in a flat with lots of angles. Let me repeat: A. Lot. Of. Angles. And I am always struggling with how to calculate angles for my DIY projects. The ceiling is angled due to the roof line, so every room has at least one angle to…
As the days race far too quickly toward Christmas, I am making the most of the festive season, in between work, DIY projects and life in general. Today, I am sharing a quick make: a gingerbread tree topper. Building a gingerbread green house has been a real highlight of the season. A time of relaxation…
Today, I have a different kind of DIY for you. How to build a gingerbread house. Essentially, DIY with cake! With my favourite season upon us — hello Christmas festivities! — as well as a tough time with my closet expansion project, I needed a quick DIY project to re-energize me. So I built a…
Today, I am back with an update on the never-ending closet expansion project. Sadly, it is not much of a progress update. Rather, today is about the lack of progress and facing failures in DIY over the last weeks. But, I believe it is just as important (maybe more?) to explore our failures. After all,…
Today, I am taking a break from the closet expansion project, as I am still working on the frames and architrave (#reallife). I want to share an interesting design theory I’ve only recently come upon. The unexpected red theory. Do you know about it? The unexpected red theory says that by adding a pop of…
This week, I am excited to share the next step in quite an in-depth project to extend our existing closets and create more storage. Today, let’s focus on framing a closet opening. If you are just joining me, I have undertaken a rather big project to cut new openings above four existing closets in our…
Following my success cutting into the walls to expand my closets, this week I am removing the metal studs. As I tackle this project, I am learning a lot. I’ve never framed a door or closet before, and I probably took on a bigger task than I realised. In fact, I think there might have…
The idea of cutting into a wall is terrifying. But it is the first and most critical step of my latest DIY: expanding the space above our closets. The goal is to gain more previously unusable closet space. I keep reminding myself, as I get my tools ready to make the first cut, it is…
Do you need more storage? Have you considered building more storage? Or expanding a closet opening to gain more storage? Of course, we all need more storage. No matter where we live or how big our home is, we are constantly searching for somewhere to put our stuff! Because I live in a small flat…
Purple is one of my favourite colours. I have a purple Holland bike which is a beauty. Our first sofa was purple velvet, so soft and luxurious. I have painted numerous rooms purple, including a feature wall of recessed paneling in our current bedroom. I love our purple recessed paneling in the bedroom. So finding…
Over the last several months, I’ve been working on a kitchen mini-renovation of our small, outdated and cluttered kitchen. Good-bye orange flooring, hello more storage space. As shared here, we plan to do a full renovation in the next few years, but until that time, we wanted to make some simple changes that would improve…
Are your kitchen counters free and clear from clutter? Or do you have appliances everywhere? I hate all the clutter on our kitchen counters, and my dream is to add a DIY appliance garage. Picture it: Water kettle, coffee machines, coffee grinder, stand mixer, sparkling water maker, air fryer, toaster, blender. All hidden away but…
Do you have too many spices for the space you have? Is there dead space in your kitchen that you are not sure what to do with? Well, a DIY spice rack could be just the answer. It certainly was for us with our kitchen mini-renovation. I wanted to make maximum use of dead space…
Anyone who spends any time on Instagram these days will come across hundreds of posts about paneling. I am not sure what is driving the craze and I hate to be a cliche, but I want to share the results of my latest DIY. You guessed it: a feature wall of recessed paneling in our…
Today’s project: Rug restoration. In typical DIY fashion, I always have several projects going on at once. Today, I’m taking a break from the mini-renovation of the kitchen to share another project I’ve been working on, a rug restoration, this time in our bedroom. I’ve shared a few glimpses on Instagram of the purple feature…
The kitchen mini renovation is well under way, working on a budget and addressing those items that can make a difference before a full renovation in a few years. Today, I am painting kitchen cabinets to refresh an old and dated space. New shelves add storage and character to our small kitchen. Last week, I…
Today, as shared in my last post, we are not yet ready to take on a big kitchen renovation. But living with some of the more difficult aspects of our kitchen for two+ years feels a bit difficult. (I’m looking at you, tiny dorm fridge!) Some smaller kitchen updates could help, including building more storage…
I dream of having an amazing kitchen, but to achieve it, I need to undertake a kitchen renovation. I love to cook and bake, especially really intricate and involved recipes. In my dream kitchen, I would have everything in its perfect place … and it would always be clean and tidy. In my dreams! The…
The day has come … finally. The big reveal of a project that has taken a long time, but which I believe is well worth the wait. DIY custom shelves in our lounge. Where we left off, before one final finishing touch When we last left off, the DIY custom shelves were almost complete, and…
As we come into the home stretch on my project to build DIY custom shelves in my lounge, I will not spend a lot of time on sanding, caulk and paint. If you are like me, you are tired of this beast of a project and just ready for the final reveal. Next week, I…
Progress continues on the custom shelves, and I can start to see the end of this project. The time has come for installing decorative trim to create a built-in look. This is the step that can elevate an otherwise plain piece of furniture. We put the shelves in place, with wood dividers between each one…
For the custom DIY shelves in the lounge, I wanted a counter top covering the cabinets with a slight overhang. The shelves would be set back slightly. I am mimicking the shelves in our Paris flat, with a sense of depth on the wall of shelves. Our built-in shelves in our Paris flat I looked…
My first shelf. A thing of beauty! The day has come. Building custom shelves. This is so much more than assembling pre-made shelves. This is building something from scratch. I must admit, this is the part of the build I am least confident in. Somehow, I need to build custom shelves big enough for the…
Our DIY custom shelves in the lounge kick off today, with the decision to use the Havsta cabinets from Ikea for the lower part of the build. Havsta Cabinet from Ikea The Havsta is the only modal at the right size that is made of pine wood. It is important to me to have a…
Building custom shelving looks intimidating, but when broken down into steps, it can be managed by a confident DIY-er. In this article, I share the approaches and inspiration for my own set of bespoke shelves in my lounge.
Following my hall closet shelves, I’m tackling another area of my home: effective shoe storage to stop the clutter. Today, I am sharing a DIY cabinet for my extensive shoe collection. I love shoes, and over the years, I’ve collected quite a few pairs, which can lead to clutter. Heels, ballet flats, trainers, sandals, boots,…
An oddly shaped corner closet was unusable until I made a bespoke set of shelves, bringing organization and order to my small London flat.