12 easy bank holiday DIY updates

As we beaver away putting the finishing touches to the S/S issue, getting it ready to be delivered to your door in a few weeks, the 91 team are all looking forward to the long weekend coming up at the end of the month. It is a great time to get busy with some projects around the house that you just haven’t had time for, or perhaps you want to update things a little, but you’re not quite sure what to do? Well, we have 12 lovely ideas that are simple (mostly!) and will give your space an instant update in a weekend! 

1. Make an air plant holder – Either source a wooden palette or make your own using strips or wood and pop it on the wall for a fab feature.

2. Paint a door with blackboard paint – Blackboard paint is a great invention, and we love how Katy of Apartment Apothecary has painted a door in it. Great for leaving notes for your loved ones, or reminders for when you leave the house! 

3. Make your own light fitting – Simply updating your lighting can make a big difference to a room, and you can personalise it by making your own from many found items such as vintage moulds. There are lots of tutorials online for how to make these. 

4. Give furniture a mini makeover – You don’t have to go all out and completely repaint a piece of furniture. You can simply add some sweet detailing like Kerry of Seventy Tree has done on this set of drawers. Making a stencil will help with getting the design perfect. 

5. Strip back a wall to bare plaster – If you fancy a slightly bigger and more dramatic project, then why not take a wall back to it’s bare plaster? This may result in you being more tired at the end of the weekend than you were at the start, but hey, it looks pretty amazing right?! 

6. Beautify your outside space or balcony – fingers crossed for some decent bank holiday weather! If we get it, it’s the perfect time of year to start sprucing up the garden. Add a few lanterns, festoon lighting, repaint the fence and give it a general tidy up. You’ll have a real sense of satisfaction when it’s all looking lovely! 

7. Tidy up your office space – If the weather is not on our side, then why not give your workspace a refresh? We often don’t have time when we are busy working to keep it in order, so sort out paperwork and style up your shelves, it’ll make the return to work feel so much easier! 

8. Make some embroidery hoop holders – A few of these could be perfect for adding to that newly spruced work space or craft room! You can find the tutorial for making them in issue 7 of 91 Magazine. 

9. Decorate with logs – Go for a walk in the woods and collect some logs to chop down to size, or buy some at your local garden centre and make a stack in an unused fireplace or next to one that is working. They make a great little feature all on their own! 

10. Make a bed headboard – if it’s your bedroom that’s in need of some TLC, then why not create a focal point out of your headboard, using a couple of wooden palettes?! 

11. Make your own pillowcases – For a bedroom project that is less labour intensive, why not decorate some plain pillowcases using fabric paint? You can use masking tape to mask off areas to create your design, or simply paint freehand. 

12. Buy great planters – Finally, if your idea of a great weekend is more about browsing car boot sales and markets than sanding and painting, then keep your eyes peeled for great vintage containers like enamel or zinc buckets, wooden crates and old tins, and then pop in some of your favourite plants for an instant update inside or out! Minimal effort required!

We’d love to hear what projects you’ve got planned for the bank holiday weekend, and do let us know if you decide to give any of these ideas a go! Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram to see what we get up to too! (Although we may well be resting our weary overworked eyes!!!)