However much you love your family and enjoy spending time with them, being cooped up with the same people for weeks can become deeply frustrating. That is unless you find something worthwhile to do with your time. Such as these small projects in and around the home that will not only keep you busy but will also ensure your home looks beautiful.
Improve things in and around the patio
Summer is only a few short weeks away. Now is the right time to re-lay the handful of unstable patio bricks, or to make sure the bench gets a new coat of paint. Another good idea is to revamp the fire pit. Perhaps just replace a few of the older, ugly-looking bricks or stones – even if it’s just to show your friends you haven’t been lazing all the time you had to remain indoors.
Fix or replace those ugly old doors or window screens
The moment you open up the doors or windows to let the fresh near-summer breeze in, you absolutely do not want to incur the wrath of the lady of the house by allowing a plethora of creeping, crawling and flying insects into the house. Take a couple of minutes to carefully scrutinize every door and window screen for holes, and if necessary, cover them up with a basic screen patch. Unless they look genuinely horrible, in which case you should think of replacing the whole screen.
Organize your workspace or garage
Whether you are a DIY enthusiast or not, your garage or workspace will need to be cleaned, tidied and organized regularly. Begin by sweeping out all the debris and winter dirt, so you can see more clearly what needs to be done. Next, everything has to be gathered in one place. Now bundle the things you don’t intend to keep in garbage bags and take them outside.
Your next step should be to sort the things you would like to keep into groups of related items, e.g. cleaning materials, oils, wrenches and other tools. If you don’t already have a couple of those, buy a few heavy-duty plastic storage tubs from a building material or hardware store and use them to neatly store and label all these items.
Paint the front door
This one will really show friends and neighbors alike that you’ve been keeping yourself productive during those long days at home. You will need fine-grit sandpaper, a paintbrush, a damp rag, a roller tray, a low nap or foam roller, a screwdriver for removing the doorknob, a quart of semi-gloss paint, paint and varnish remover to strip the old paint (only if needed), primer if you will be stripping the old paint, and a hard plastic putty knife i(also only f you will be using paint stripper.)
The details of how to do this are beyond the scope of this article, but briefly involve removing the doorknob, washing the door with a clean rag, sanding out the door with fine-grit sandpaper, applying primer, letting it dry, and finally applying the paint.
Clean and organize your pantry
Over time most pantries become cluttered with foods that might never be used or are past their expiration date. While you are at home you might as well clean and organize it, so it becomes a joy to use again. There are a few logical steps involved:
Inventory.
Start by taking stock of everything in the pantry. This will help you to make a mental note of items you’ve never used, food that’s past its expiration date, or has gone off, and nearly empty bottles or boxes.
Sort.
Next start separating everything in the pantry into one of four different groups: keep, compost, donate, or throw away.
Clean.
While the pantry is empty, clean the shelves, the insides of cupboards and other containers, and the outside of bottles, jars etc.
Restock and organize.
Next, it’s time to restock the pantry in an organized manner. Keep the following tips in mind:
– Keep products such as rice, sugar, flour etc. in clear containers.
– Label every container.
– Group similar items together to make them easy to find. Examples include breakfast foods, spices, baking products, tinned meats, tinned vegetables.