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As the weather starts to shift towards the colder side of things, outdoor activities get harder and harder to plan, and so families are starting to look for other activities to fill their weekends with. What better way for a family to spend some quality time together than by building or making something for the home?
Home improvement projects come in all shapes and sizes and can range from remodelling existing rooms to just dealing with one item of furniture in a space. Whatever your skill level, you are sure to find a project on this list that will suit your needs.
Improve Your Outdoor Entertainment Area
Outdoor entertainment areas offer families a way to escape the confines of a formal dining room for a more laidback approach to entertaining guests. With chilly weather set to make its appearance soon, now is a great time to look into expanding your outdoor entertainment area to include a covered portion. Should the weather turn foul while you are having a family barbeque, having access to an area that can be kept warm and dry could prove essential to having a good time.
Building a small veranda for this purpose is one option, as is converting a portion of the garage to be used for some covered seating and a place to get some air while not being exposed to the cold. If converting an unused carport or garage is not an option, consider a garden shed for your needs. When looking to purchase sheds, UK gardeners can find high-quality sheds from outlets such as Shedstore, who offer homeowners an affordable way to expand their home without the need for expensive construction.
Once a covered space has been created, you can get to work decorating the area with the help of the younger members of the family. Letting them choose some of the furniture that will go into the area, what materials should be used to cover the furniture, as well as what other activities should be included in the room can give them a sense of ownership of the space.
Get Your Garden Ready for Winter
The lead up to winter is often a tough time for gardeners who will be forced to put their green fingers to other uses once the frost sets in. However, with a bit of DIY and a few helping hands, gardeners can keep their plants alive all year long so that, come springtime, they won’t need to start again from seed. Garden sheds offer gardeners a place to keep their frost-intolerant plants happy through the winter months through the process called overwintering.
When equipping a garden shed to overwinter plants, the area must have adequate lighting (as a replacement to sunlight) as well as a reasonable amount of humidity. Setting up a few special growing lights in the area can help keep plants that can’t survive on too little light going through the dark months, and adding in something like a humidifier to manage the amount of humidity in the room is also a good idea. Plants that need supplemental lighting to survive include begonias, hibiscus, sages, oleanders, clivias, and more.
For plants that need darkness for their overwintering process but cannot tolerate the cold of the outdoors, building a dark box is a great little project that shouldn’t be too complicated for little hands. Plants with bulbous root systems such as African lilies, caladium, ginger, lantanas, and dahlias prefer cool dark conditions and gardeners only need to save the bulbous roots of these plants for storage to ensure the plant will regrow in the warmer months.
Get the entire family involved in the setup of the shed by building your own DIY shelving to store the plants on, and then get their hands even dirtier by getting them to help you transplant some of your plants into pots for the winter. Also, be sure to check out what other plants can be successfully overwintered so you can plan out your garden shed.
When choosing a garden shed for a growing room, it is important to choose one that is big enough for your needs but also one that is made from the right material. While a metal shed may be easier to set up and prove to be fairly durable, metal sheds get extremely cold during the winter so are not suitable for overwintering plants. Wood and plastic sheds are far better for this purpose so be sure to explore all your options when looking at purchasing garden sheds.
Upcycle a Piece of Furniture
If building an entirely new room is a bit out of your family’s league, then why not try an easy home improvement project that can be completed in a day? Families tend to gather furniture as they grow, and it is easy to end up with more bookcases or kid-sized tables than you actually need once children start outgrowing their furniture. Why not take some of those older and outdated pieces and create something new that the whole family can use?
With a coat of paint and some hooks, an old bookcase hung onto the outside of a cupboard can help out in the pantry by providing space for tins and bottles to be stacked neatly. Children’s chairs that they have outgrown can be converted into hanging plant shelves simply by cutting off the legs and mounting the back of the chair to a wall. A fresh coat of bright paint can help complete the look.
Being able to complete a home improvement project with the whole family can give the whole household a sense of achievement and pride. Projects come in all difficulties and can cost next to nothing or require a big budget, so why not get started on one today?