Limewashing a brick chimney breast over a weekend, and the cloudy finish we chased.
Our living room had a red-brick chimney breast that fought every other colour in the room. Three thin coats of limewash, brushed on wet, tur…
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#diy
Every essay marked with this tag, newest first.
Essays
A fold-down wall desk from a single pine board for a room with no room.
Our spare room is a guest room, a laundry sorting space and, on weekdays, an office. A fold-down desk made from one pine board solved the of…
Filling and repainting a scuffed skirting board in one quiet afternoon.
Our skirting boards carried ten years of vacuum dents and shoe scuffs. An afternoon with filler, caulk and a 38 mm brush gave the whole room…
The cane-webbing screen we built to hide a radiator without blocking the heat.
Our living room had a chunky white radiator that pulled the eye the moment you walked in. A slim cane screen on two hinges hid it, let the h…
We resealed our butcher-block kitchen counter with three coats of oil
Three coats of oil refresh the grain and protect against everyday spills. We detail the process, tools, times, and the quiet satisfaction of…
Painting our cast-iron radiators the wall colour — a quiet transformation.
Our cast-iron radiators were glossy white and screamed for attention in a soft-painted room. A weekend, a wire brush, and the wall colour la…
The under-stair cupboard we built by hand on a long weekend.
Under-stair voids are sold as wasted space because nobody bothers to fit them. A weekend of careful joinery later, ours holds a vacuum, a to…
Re-grouting our bathroom on a Saturday — and the small things that made it look new.
Our bathroom needed a renovation we could not afford. We re-grouted instead. One Saturday, fifteen euros, and the room looks five years youn…
I limewashed our hallway on a Tuesday — here is what I would do differently.
Limewash is the only paint that gets better as you make mistakes with it. After a Tuesday with a brush and a plastic tub, our hallway has th…