Dangers of DIY over the festive period

When we moved into our home a few years aog, it was just before Christmas, we rushed to get everything in and a tree up just in time for our eldest to enjoy the festive period and even though the house needed work in parts we were keen to get it feeling as homely as quickly as possible.

After an initial quick re-paint in most of the rooms, we hastily unpacked most of our boxes, hung up prints and art work and filled the shelves in our alcoves filled with books and DVD's. We decided this was the best course of action to provide a bit of consistency for our son during a time that can feel quite unsettled. We then would work on each room, doing any repairs or re-decorating as needed.

As our living room was the most used space we decided to leave that a little later than the kitchen which we did first, followed by the bathroom. We quickly realised the owners before us had been keen DIYers and not the best kind either. Luckily John is pretty practical, he had trained as an electrician when he left school and he also knows when something is beyond his skill set and when to call in professionals. We had discovered a few unusual things along the way, such a doors with spaces for glass panels at the top but no actual glass, or lights being placed on right on the edge of a wall, mirrors covering screw blotches and very interesting coveing that stop and started in odd places. So when we finally decided to start on the living room we didn't know what we would find.

Part of the Alcoves in our living room which now have proper shelves in them.

The alcoves had a very strange wooden frame around them which we removed and then had a closer look at the shelves within the alcove after removing all our books. Nothing besides one or two bent nails and super glue was keeping these shelves up! All that time we had heavy books on these shelves and at any point they could of fallen down, in fact one shelf was keeping the one above up. The books were also very close to where the kids play and could of easily fallen on them at any time. It was only under closer inspection we realised this and so glad we did. It's blows my mind in a way someone who out shelves up using super but that's the thing with DIY it can save you money but if not done right can cause some serious health and safety risks and the last thing you want to do is have to make a claim for a personal injury because of it.


If you are keen to get your self stuck into small DIY jobs in your home make sure you do your research, especially as the NHS is under more strain the usual around the festive period and the last thing you want do it add to that due to a preventable accident. Also start small and play to your strengths, while I am pretty creative, good with interiors and happy to upcycle furniture and repaint rooms I am not great with drilling or basic carpentry although John is, so we help each other as well as get in professionals when it's simply beyond our skill set. We also have a few easy to follow DIY books which have helped and websites like Pinterest can be fantastic for interior hack inspiration.

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