Home Improvements to Consider when Working From Home
So many of us will have seen drastic changes to our everyday routines in the past few weeks, it’s a strange time all round.
With the majority of us confined to our homes for the foreseeable, even when it comes to our working life, it’s likely that many of us will be in search of projects to keep us entertained whilst we’re self-isolating.
Whether you’re looking for easy ways to brighten your home office, or fancy trying some simple DIY, there are plenty of things you can do whilst you’re stuck at home.
As such, here a few home improvement “to-do’s” that could help keep the boredom at bay for a little while at least, as well as updating the look of your home whilst you’re spending an increasing amount of time indoors.
Washi Taped Walls
This is the super simple project for those who want to introduce a pop of colour or to add a feature wall to a room – and the best part is, it’s perfect for homeowners and renters alike.
Washi tape is an inexpensive way to transform the look of a room with ease and can certainly help to brighten the space around your home desk, which in turn will help to motivate you whilst WFH. If you’re not quite sure where to start, then Pinterest should provide you with plenty of inspiration to get your creative juices flowing.
Places such as Paperchase or smaller art shops who are still delivering should have plenty of choice for you to pick from, so whether you fancy adding monochrome stripes, or instead would prefer to go bold by adding a rainbow full of colours to your walls, the sky is the limit.
Personal Touches
Do you have a pile of prints and photos you’ve been meaning to hang on your walls for months? I’ve been meaning to hang up my Dr Seuss poster for ages! Or perhaps there’s a shelf or two you want to put up and adorn your favourite books and trinkets from? There has never been a more convenient time to get those smaller DIY projects done and dusted.
Make sure you have the right tools for the job as a spirit level is an absolute must if you want to avoid any wonky shelves or photo frames, and if you can, get a second set of eyes when it comes to keeping this level and evenly spaced.
Bring the outside to you
You may not be able to spend a great deal of time outdoors right now, but that shouldn’t stop you from bringing the outdoors to you.
Adding plants to your home office and to your home in general, can instantly brighten a room and is a fantastic way of promoting cleaner air and can also help with improving your mental health too, which is something many of us will be grateful for in the coming weeks.
It’s worth doing your research first to find out what plants would work best for you and your home – especially if like me you’re sometimes to forget to water them….
Boiler Maintenance
The weather doesn’t quite seem to have made up its mind of late, with hailstones one minute then beaming sunshine the next. As such, you’re probably not quite ready to part with central heating just yet, especially due to spending an increased amount of time at home.
Whilst you might have to hold off on a full or complete rehaul of your boiler until the worst has passed, there are some simple boiler maintenance tasks you can be doing yourself in the meantime.
- Making sure your radiators are bled when needed, at least once a year
- Ensuring the boiler is working properly on a regular basis, and watching out for any warning signs, and keeping an eye on the
- Check the pipes for any drips
- Update the insulation on the pipes – but, only if you can get the supplies delivered
Of course, it’s not recommendable to do any major work when it comes to your boiler yourself, these smaller checks and jobs will help it keep ticking over for now, added Taylor’s, heating and solar specialists.
Of course, alongside having a nice area to work in, you are going to want to stay hydrated. You could look at investing in a water filter to help keep your water intake up and know you are drinking good quality water too!
These are just a couple of suggestions to help keep you busy, but hopefully, they’ve helped to inspire you for a little while at least. Let me know what other projects you’re looking forward to completing in the coming weeks – I’d love to hear from you!
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Having living plants in the house certainly brightens any room! Some plants even remove toxins.
There is nothing quite like some plants in the home is there?
These are great tips!!Also find that setting your working space near a windows improved my wilingness to sit and stay there for 8hours!
Lovely ideas, especially plants, I really am trying to introduce more plants in the house, they make me feel good
Bled our radiators over the weekend as we did have one that didn’t seem to be heating the top half and glad to say it is now rectified.
some great ideas, love the plant idea the most
I love having some plants in the house – i think it makes such a difference!
My husband & I have made a list of projects to do, some small and some quite large, which should keep us busy. We’ve started on those which don’t require us to buy any new tools or materials. I’m also on a mission to finally rid my front garden of perennial weeds, so it’s been great that the weather has been fine and I’ve been able to spend lots of time outdoors.
I am also a big believer in bringing the outdoors into the home. I have adored plants since my late teens – and always preferred them to flowers. Apart from anything else, there’s no pollen, smells or other things that may set off allergies in the way some flowers do. They also last considerably longer. So, plants officially rock!!
Some great tips, I’m definitely going to add some indoor plants.
Some excellent suggestions but my wife has already given me a “to do” list of all the things I was supposed to get done years ago.
Oh no haha! Good luck getting them done.
Yes, I have loads of prints, paintings, posters and photos that I have been meaning to put on the walls for ages. I have no idea why I haven’t done it but thank you for the nudge!
Aww yay I hope you love it once you have them all up!
Some of these are really cute! Love the photo idea – I currently have a plant like the one in the picture but I’m not great at looking after it as I’m pretty sure its slowly dying 🙁
I have to admit I don’t have the most green fingers – I do try though.
Some really handy ideas here
Our 2nd son who lives at home was going to do all the downstairs flooring whilst we were away in June.
I can’t see that happening now. He was going to rip up the kitchen, dining area, lounge and hall. Probably have to go to next year.
If we don’t go he will do a load of snagging jobs round the house. He is a carpenter by trade hence.
Oh no that’s such a shame – I hope you manage to get a few bits done!
Great tips, thanks for sharing! We have some paint in still that we brought a while ago but never got a chance to do so we are going to tackle that over the next few weeks. I am also hoping to find time to put some of the photos I have taken and accumulated into frames to display too!
Ohh that sounds like fun I hope you enjoy having a bit of a mini makeover!
We are hoping to get some things done around the house while we are staying home. These are all good ideas.
Good luck on getting a few things done around the home!
I think that a new plant is exactly what I need for my working area! It’s such a great idea!
Yes! Get yourself a gorgeous new plant!
These are really good ideas, I especially love the washi tape and it’s been a while since I’ve looked through any photos and prints- a great project to do, it might take me a while to decide what to put up on the wall.
There’s something wonderful about just being able to create your own area isn’t there?
Yes these wonderful tips, But with two kids running around I don’t think we can have home improvement in my house.
Ekk I hope all is going well within your home.
You always share some great home improvement tips which I would never have thought of. And now is a particularly good opportunity to enhance our homes. Thanks for sharing.
I am so glad you enjoy them – it is fun to think up different ideas.
I think now is a good time to do anything like this as we all have so much time. I would like to do some painting and decorating soon
Definitely, if you don’t have much to do as well it gives you something to focus on as well.
These are such great ideas! I have actually got a few things framed up and repainted my walls as well. I find I have more times since I am not spending my whole day driving kids around
Ohh it sounds like you have been so busy already!
Sarah I love these! The framing and personal touches is a great idea and now is the time because I am constantly looking at my walls.
I want more plants indoors. I don’t have green fingers and now may not be the time to try
It is so nice to have things uplifting around you I think I’ve been putting things up all over the place lol.
I would love to do something in the house. Home improvements make you feel so good!
I hope you manage to get something done around the home.
I really want to bring the outside in. I’m trying to decide what plants to have in the home to give a little life to our living room. Until I decide cut flowers will have to do.
Ohh that sounds like a fun thing to be pondering over – I hope you come up with some ideas!
Having plants inside is definitely good for your physical and mental health. I do think having a nice cozy workspace is so important x
There’s something just relaxing about it isn’t there?
Love the idea of washi taped walls, such a great way to personalise your space without damaging any walls
It is so fun isn’t it – and it does come off so easily as well after if you want to change it.
Great tips! I love having plants inside the house and I have a few of them. I have the lucky bamboo and some snake plants.
Ohh I would love to have some bamboo – I’ve been thinking about that recently.
Washi tape walls are the way to go. I have inspiration quotes and pictures that I haven’t put on the wall simply because I don’t have time to frame them. This is perfect!
It is such fun to be able to put different things up like that isn’t it! I can think of so many different things I could tape up lol.
I’m a crazy plant lady so any idea that involves indoor plants is a yay for me!
Ohhh yay for plants – they can really make your room feel so awesome.
I love having live plants in the house. They brighten any space.
They really do, don’t they – always amazes me how a plant can brighten a room.
These are some great ideas. I love adding plants to my house, I only wish I had more natural light. Thanks for the reminder about bleeding the radiators, we need to do that!
It is a shame when you don’t get a lot of natural light – I lived in a place which didn’t get much and it was hard.
We’ve spent the last fortnight working and trying to get school work done. I am now on holiday for a fortnight, and the children don’t have to do work, so we could look at some of these home improvement challenges
I hope you have a nice time, being able to relax and just do nothing for a while.
We bought hardwood flooring before everything went nuts, so that’s what we’ll be doing to keep busy this month. I’ll be doing some paint touch ups too that I’ve been neglecting for so long.
Good luck getting your flooring down – just think about how lovely it will look after!
I have a list of things I plan on doing now we are not working. The garden fence needs painting and i am decluttering room by room alongside home schooling two kids and blogging.
It sounds like you have a long list to keep you going! I hope you manage to get through it all.
I am one of those people who like to change up the decor, so these tips are really fun right now. I love to watercolor, so now I have a way of showing my newest work.
There is something awesome about being able to make little changes around the home isn’t it?
I won’t lie I am finding this new way of working/schooling pretty tough.
I think part of that is because I am never just allowed to be at home, so I am sitting here juggling work and home schooling but thinking about all the jobs I want to get done around the house, but never have time normally to do it.
These are great suggestions. I love the Washi tape one.
Claire x
I will keep these in mind! I didn’t even think of some, but it’s a good idea.
It is fun to be able to do a few things around the home while you’re in it so much isn’t it?
As you know I have just moved into my new house so I’ve been adding personal touches whilst I am trying to work from home. These are great ideas.
Ekk so exciting I hope you enjoy getting to make it your home.
Great tips here, having a photographer for a husband I have just walked down to the studio (in our garden) and the floor is full of prints and frames he is changing x
Sounds like he is keeping himself busy as can be!