At-Home Projects You or Your Painting Professional Can Complete in a Week

With such busy lives, we’ve all been guilty of not finding the time to complete (or finding the time to hire someone else to complete) even a small project around the house. Now, with many of us spending more time at home, it’s a great opportunity to tackle an at-home project that can provide a sense of accomplishment, while adding value to your home. Whether you choose to do these DIY or you choose to hire a pro, this list of ideas will get you started.

Paint Your Front Door

A fresh coat of paint on your front door is a simple, yet effective project that can update the exterior of your home. This project doesn’t take an extensive amount of work or time but can have a lasting positive impact.

If you are having difficulty deciding on the color you want for your front door, take a photo of your home’s exterior and then, upload it to one of the free online house paint visualizers. This way, you’ll get to see your home with a specific door color you’ve been thinking about, before the work gets done, just to be sure the color is one you’ll love.

Professional tips for painting your front door:

1.     When choosing a color, make sure to test colors against the door at different times of the day so you can see it in a different light.

2.     It takes about 1 quart of paint to finish a door. You can apply your paint with a brush, foam roller, or low-nap roller.

3.     Make sure you apply primer to the door before putting on a coat of paint and do not reattach the door until everything has completely dried.

4.     If you do not have a glass or storm door, make sure you use exterior paint to withstand the elements.

Make a Gallery Wall

A project that you’ll likely want to participate in, at least partially, is creating a gallery wall in your home. A gallery wall is a new design trend that encourages homeowners to hang multiple framed photos on one section of a wall. It is a home project that is easy to accomplish and will add a personal touch to the look of a room. This can be done without the need to purchase frames if you already have a lot of frames in your home.

Image Courtesy of Pottery Barn

Professional tips for designing and creating your gallery wall:

1.     Your gallery can consist of any kind of photo from fine art to family photos.

2.     Make sure you plan the wall layout on the floor before hanging anything. Measure the area you want to use and sketch it to scale on a piece of paper first so you can make changes there on paper before hanging photos.

3.     Try to stick with two or three frame colors for a cohesive look and feel. If you want a streamlined look, try plain black frames with a few metal frames for an accent. If you want to have your gallery wall feel more welcoming, try warmer wood tones and whites for your frames.

Create a Home Office

Many of us are getting used to working at home, and some of us have been able to imagine a home office that we’d love versus the one we currently have. Once you know what’s missing in yours, you can set about planning and creating a home office space that will serve the purpose for years to come. Creating a home office might take more effort and planning than some other projects, but it could, in addition to adding value to your home, also be beneficial for your current work-life productivity. Repurposing a room to be a home office gives you the space you need to get your work done efficiently and hopefully with minor interruption.

One of the most important parts of this project is choosing the right desk for your type of work. There are many options for different types of desks for an office from closet desks that utilize shelving as a workspace, to fold up desks that collapse onto the wall, to a traditional work desk. Take a look at what you’re using now. In what ways does it fulfill your work needs and in what ways does it fail to meet them?

Professional tips for creating a home office:

1.     Make sure the space you choose as an office has the option for privacy, but don’t shutout the sunlight. Having natural light streaming in while you work can boost your mood and give you more energy.

2.     Consider adding more than just the basics to your room like a plant, family photos, bookshelves, or pieces of art.

3.     Add a fresh coat of paint to your office based on your needs. Does your work call for you to be energized and creative? Try a bold, bright color to keep your mood up the whole day. Is your line of work particularly stressful and has you working long hours? A soothing shade of blue or green can calm and soothe you when things get hectic.

Our Painter for a Day service provides you with 8 full hours of painter’s time to touch-up and freshen up the finishes around your home or even complete a small project. Whether you want to change your front door color, or you’re ready for a full exterior painting of your home, we can give you a virtual estimate and complete the job completely contact-free.

We’re Big Dog Painting and we’ve been painting in the Boston area, working with interior design firms, general contractors, and homeowners for the past 10 years. We’re a painting company you can trust to do the highest quality work, who’ll communicate with you about your project in the manner and frequency you prefer. And we’ll leave your space cleaner than when we first arrived to work on your project.

Big Dog Painting proudly serves the following counties and cities and the surrounding areas:  Winchester, Lexington, Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge, Medford, Lynnfield, Middleton, North Reading, Andover, North Andover, Woburn, Wilmington, Topsfield, Peabody, Danvers, Wellesley, Newton, Weston, Wayland, Chestnut Hill, Brookline, and more.