I know there’s been probably hundreds of blog posts out there with tips on how to survive lockdown, social distancing or shielding in the current Corona Virus crisis. I’m probably not going to tell you anything you don’t know, but I want to share a couple of the things I’ve already done in the house and other small things I’m planning without going to the shops for supplies.
Have a rummage and a stock take
The first thing I did was to take a wander to the garage at the end of the garden to see what component parts I have to be able to make some updates to the house. I was pleasantly surprised with what I found – I had more paint than I expected. I sorted the shelves and put all the goodies in some sort of order. I found lots of polyfilla, sandpaper, and other preparation equipment for painting such as sugar soap, primers and undercoats.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the amount of paint I found. A few pots of woodwork paint and a few pots of emulsion. I didn’t realise I had some of this, or had long forgotten. Sadly I didn’t find much white, but I did find blue, grey, pink and a mauve/grey colour. I also found a couple of extra pots of decking paint – and it really needs to be done this year.
My Annie Sloan collection didn’t fare quite so well, they are pretty old but some of the tins I found are definitely still usable and I’ll be redoing some of the work I did on the decking in this post as the pots need repainting.
Once you have done a stock take, you might find you’ll be able to get on with some of those small jobs you’ve been meaning to do for a while (and let’s face it, there’s not much excuse to not do them when we can’t leave the house!)
My next stock take is of fabrics so I can see if I can crack on with the sewing machine in the next few weeks!
Plan your home updates
Just because we are being asked to stay home there’s a temptation to throw some paint on the wall to feel like we’re doing something or to pass the time, relieve boredom or to do a quick refresh, only to hate it a few months later.
There’s nothing wrong with a quick refresh of course but I think it’s important to plan and list the work you’d like to do whilst at home to make sure it’s quick refresh that you WANT to do, rather than it being a reaction to boredom or being stuck at home. I might have blue paint in the garage but do I want the same blue paint in another room in my house?
I’ve got a list of small things that I’d like to achieve –
- Touch up the paintwork in the bedroom and hall to remove the wheelchair scuffs
- Fill the hole in the bedroom where we moved the curtain pole, then paint over the filler
- Paint the pots on the deck
- Paint the deck
- Finish painting the wardrobe in the front bedroom
etc etc. I haven’t got grand plans to redecorate the whole house or landscape the garden. I’m just making a list of things I know I can do whilst in lockdown from COVID-19 and without having to buy unnecessary extras.
Experiment!
If you haven’t got all the paint you need for decorating a room, perhaps try mixing a couple of the paints you have to make it stretch further and avoid the paint going to waste, and come up with a unique colour. Try a couple of spoons in a yoghurt pot and see what you can come up with.
You can also think about upcycling some furniture to create a new look in your room. Again, make sure it’s a colour and approach you want to take rather than doing it out of boredom!
You might also have a box full of tester pots. You can easily use these by taking on small jobs or experimenting with colour blocking in the kid’s room, here’s an example from Melanie Lissack who is the queen of colour blocking. Look at this superb colour blocking, all done with tester pots. You might be able to come with a similar idea, do take a look at her blog for the great ideas on how to use small pots of paint.
This week I made a quick and easy change by using a small amount of paint to go round the cornice in the spare room. I painted it a mustard yellow about 18months ago but I’ve got tired of it, so I made a quick change with some of the paint in the garage. I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out!
Create Wall Art
You can play around with the paint and wallpaper you might have lurking around to create wall art. You can make small pieces of wallpaper into artwork very easily, I’ve talked about it here and it’s cheap and so simple to do. Perhaps you can take a few pieces of wallpaper and can cut and mix them together.
Perhaps you can use the paint to paint your own artwork using old pieces of card or paper. Be bold! What’s the worst that can happen?
There are lots of other things we can do in this uncertain period. Our home is our sanctuary and our safe space, so whilst we are home being safe we might take the opportunity to sort the loft, declutter the wardrobe, clean the kitchen cupboards. But you don’t have to do anything of course, you might just want to read that pile of books you’ve recently bought or learn how to meditate. And that’s fine too.
I’m going to spend my time doing those pesky jobs that I keep putting off. Maybe I’ll stop being a procrastinator after all this Covid-19 crisis is over. Maybe. Maybe not!
What jobs do you have planned at this time? Let me know in the comments below! Stay Safe!