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 been quite the journey since I launched the blog in May 2024 to share my DIY experiences making my small London flat the home I want it to be.
But more important than what I did, let’s take a look at what I learned. Hopefully, there will be some good insights for your own journey, wherever you are headed.
The Big 2024 Insights and Learnings
Consistency and Commitment
First up, a commitment to DIY and woodworking, and to documenting it all through my little spot on the Interwebs.
Honestly, I’ve tried to start a few blogs before. I started Soulfood by Stacey in 2009, all about how cooking and food can feed your soul. It was fun reading through my posts, but it did not take long. I only posted 4 entries over 5 months!!! The entries were good and I enjoyed the style of the blog, but there was no commitment or consistency.
When I started DuBois Designs, I wrote eight posts before I let myself launch the blog. I wanted to ensure I could keep it up. And I will not lie, it is not easy. I under-estimated how much time it takes to write compelling content that is full of rich and rewarding insights. Not to mention the technical side, the promotion, and the social media. Sometimes it feels like I do not have time to do the actual projects to be featured here.
I am proud of the 27 posts I shared, and there have been some amazing 2024 insights and learnings. I am shy of my target of 4 posts per month, so that is an area of focus in 2025. I’ll also continue to work on the promotional side of the blog. I work in PR so this should be easy. But I also need a bit more proof of my skills before I can really increase my own promotion. Besides, I also hope that if I build it, they will come. Eventually. If I build it well and it brings value!
Are there topics you want to see more of? Specific skills or projects you want to tackle but would like me to take on first? Tell me in the comments, so I can deliver content that works for you.
Ambition and Realism
My biggest 2024 insight this year has been that I am way too ambitious on what I plan to do. As a result, I am often behind on content, because I haven’t actually completed a project yet. I am always overly optimistic I can complete a project in less time. And I often forget to account for time for failures or set-backs. Of which there are plenty!
Case in point: I had 3 unique gift ideas to make and share with you leading up to Christmas. But in making the gifts, it took a lot longer than I allowed, and there were some new-to-me skills required. I assumed I could make one gift in an afternoon, and I did not allow time to learn the new skills. Instead, I rushed in, made mistakes, and had to redo several parts of each project. And one project I never even got to try.
Learning for 2025: Allow more time than I think I will need for each project. I am learning, after all, so it takes time to practice the skills AND complete the project. The Christmas projects required using my router, which I had not used before. So it it was crazy to think I could just whip something out in a few hours without any experience!
I also need to start much earlier for big holiday projects like Christmas. I began planning my Christmas posts in late October. But with holidays, work and life, I really could not even start work on the projects until mid-November, which was too late. But, I console myself: There is always next this year!
Pleasure in the Pain
If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you will know that the closet expansion saga has dragged on for months. This has been a painful project. This has been a hard project. There have been tears. Tools have been thrown aside. I’ve had a lot of self-doubt. I’ve wanted to quit.
Part of the pain comes from having no real sense of what I cannot do. I seem to lack boundaries when it comes to tackling new things. I just dive in, without always realising that perhaps it is more than I can really do. More thinking and planning will help, and as I gain knowledge, I also start to realise what perhaps I cannot do or should not do. Or, what I can do but it will take time, lots of study and research, and more effort than I may realise.
But while projects like the closets have been hard, I’ve learned so much and done things I did not think I could do. Sometimes, not knowing my limitations is a good thing, because I also am incredibly stubborn. Once I’ve started something, I will not give up until I have found a way. And the learning that comes from this approach has meant I’ve built up significant skills that I never thought I would have.
Knowledge and Confidence
Finally, I’ve gained a considerable amount of knowledge since my first foray into DIY, when I learned how to change an electrical plug. It was quite rewarding when, after reading one of the DIY Advent Calendar posts over December, my husband said he was truly impressed and had not realised by how much I know and have learned this year. All that I have done in 2024 delivers so many insights and learnings to prepare me well for 2025.
Too often, I plow ahead with the next thing. It is important to take time to appreciate what I’ve learned and how far I have come. Knowledge breeds confidence, which then turns into more knowledge when I confidently tackle the next big project. It is a beautiful circle that keeps turning, even when I hit some bumps along the way.
2024 Insights and Learnings: The More Tangible Project Review
In 2024, I’ve learned a lot about myself and my capabilities, how I learn and what I can achieve. There have also been the very practical accomplishments in 2024, of which I am incredibly proud.
Bedroom Feature Wall
The bedroom feature wall might be my favourite project so far. While not the hardest or most complex, it is the project where I turned a real corner in terms of precision. I forced myself to slow down and really ensure as much perfection as I could through each step. From ensuring perfectly level boards with no cheats, to taking significant time on sanding, filling and caulking, to adding the extra trim inside each square for that fancy recessed paneling look, this might be my most professional finish yet.
So many learnings and insights came from this effort, I am inspired to bring more paneling and unique wall treatments to other rooms in my flat. Stay tuned for more in 2025.
Bespoke Shelves in the Lounge
These shelves are a great example of perhaps starting a bit more ambitiously than I should have. Sure, I had built some basic closet shelves and a shoe cubby, but this project really pushed me. I learned pocket holes, precision in cutting and assembly, and caulking for the first time. I also learned how to design for what I want, not limited by pre-conceived expectations of what I can do.
In this case, I wanted pre-made cupboards and shelves from Ikea, but the sizing did not work for our needs, so I needed to find my own way. It was hard, but I made it work, and I am so pleased.
And the amount of beautiful storage that we have gained has been incredible. I highly recommend this project if you need more storage and want a beautiful space for display as well. You can follow my own insights and learnings to guide you.
Kitchen Mini-Renovation
While we have big plans to renovate the kitchen in the future, my success with the lounge shelves pushed me to make our current kitchen more enjoyable.
By building additional shelving in the dead space above the cabinets and under the angled ceilings, we gained more storage. A few well-chosen appliances, including a proper fridge and freezer, opened up additional space. Which I then used for a DIY appliance garage and a roll-out spice shelf, both built with my new-found skills.
Painting the cabinets and the tile floor was the final touch, although with mixed results. The cabinets look great, especially the hardware painted black which adds a nice pop to the kitchen. I do not love the blue I chose for the bottom cabinets (it is not quite the Norwegian sky blue I was going for), but it is certainly an improvement over the previous stained wood. The tile floor, though, has been a failure, with the paint peeling and now big patches of orange tile showing through. I am looking into a solution for this, to be tackled early in 2025.
Closet Expansion
I hesitate to add this one to the list of 2024 learnings and insights, because it still is not finished! But, I achieved a lot in 2024, so it counts.
This project has the potential to be one of the best changes for our flat because of the space it will open up in accessing previously unusable areas. By cutting into the top quarter of the wall above four built-in closets, we can access space that really was not reachable before.
In typical Stacey fashion, I cut right in to all four walls rather than trying one to see if I could do it. Because of the difficulty of the project, the scale of four separate and unique closets, and the lack of time to work on it, we’ve been living with holes in our walls now for months.
I’ve finally finished all but one of the frames, including caulking and sanding. All that remains is installing the shelves, painting, and building doors. I am hoping to get everything except the doors done by end of January, but we will see. (Refer back to my learning on being less ambitious and allowing time for failure!)
2024 insights and learnings from this project have been huge: I cut into walls for the first time, learned how to cut out metal studs, and gained greater knowledge of the structural requirements as I framed out the closet openings. There are not a lot of fit-for-purpose tutorials on-line, and the angles almost killed me. But the accomplishment is real, and I am proud, even in my exhaustion!
25 Tools in 25 Days: DIY Advent Calendar 2024
I committed to reviewing my top 25 tools in 25 days during December. As I often do, I did not really think it through, and toward the end, I worried if I had enough tool recommendations to make it to Christmas Day, without resorting to the most basic of tools, like a hammer or spirit level!
But I made it, with some interesting tools that can be a great addition to your tool box. And each day shares some great reflections on all I have learned this year. I really have come a long way in terms of knowledge, and my tool box has really grown with me.
Miscellaneous But Important Achievements
Finally, there were lots of small 2024 insights and learnings too, like hanging a parasol from the brick wall on our terrace (another first); taking tiling and plumbing courses in preparation for a bathroom renovation to start in 2025; and a week-long woodworking intensive course in Devon at the start of 2024. Here, I learned real precision down to a tenth of a millimetre and how to use hand tools like chisels, saws and planes for achieving real works of art in wood. These projects did not make it to the blog other than brief mentions, but the learnings will probably show up in 2025 as I put these skills to use.
While my list of projects was a lot longer than I achieved, I cannot be too disappointed by what I have done in 2024. I work a full-time job and have a pretty active social life and other hobbies too, so when I add it all up, I really did make a good dent in turning our lovely flat into a home we love. And I learned a lot along the way.
Besides, there are 12 months in 2025 and lots to do! Stay tuned next week for my project plans for the year and what I hope to achieve here at DuBois Designs in 2025.
Happy New Year!
