Hill Homes: Projects for your inner weekend warrior

Our first weekend project: building a wall in our garden to add some height and flowers to the barren space

When you bought your house, you thought it was perfect. A few months or even years later, you start to fall out of love and accept that maybe it’s time to spend a little one-on-one time improving your home, one weekend at a time.

You don’t have to be Bob Vila or Mike Holmes to tackle these weekend warrior projects:

Declutter and reorganize
It’s a common theme in many Hill Home columns, but decluttering and organizing one’s home can do wonders for both the space and the people who live in it. Most decluttering projects can be done in one weekend’s time, so start by picking a room or two, and sticking to decluttering the space you have settled on — it’s easy to get off task if you don’t stay focused. Next, decide what you want to keep and what you can donate, recycle or dispose of. When the space is free from clutter, take the time to organize the space using storage systems such as the Container Store’s Elfa system, or simply use shelves and decorative boxes, like the one’s available at stores such as Target or Ikea. Organizing a space will help cut down future clutter and save you from future weekends spent tackling decluttering projects.

Summer cleaning
Let’s face it, city homes get dirty — fast! The yearly fall and spring cleaning projects that were good enough for our moms, won’t be enough to keep the dirt and dust bunnies from invading our hill homes. Again, it’s important to devise a plan and stick to it when cleaning your home. Whether you start with the dirtiest jobs first, or simply go from one room to the next, keep a chart of the tasks you want to complete and don’t move on until you finished the task at hand. Your reward will be a clean home. And don’t forget that cleaning burns calories!

A fresh dose of color
If you are already a neat freak who buys up Elfa systems every winter or your cleaning company handles all of your heaving cleaning needs then consider taking a weekend to refresh a room in your house. Whether it is the living room or a bedroom, simply repainting walls and refreshing your linens will go a long way to liven up the space and your home. While this project will require some lead time — that is, you’ll have to shop for fabrics and paint prior to starting your project, you could be enjoying your new space by Sunday afternoon if you start early and work efficiently. Start this weekend project by painting on Saturday. In between coats you can prep linens for the new space. When done, simply put your room back together using your new linens and accessories.

A cleaner clean
You’d be surprised what you could do in a weekend to improve a bathroom (disclaimer: with a postcard permit), so why not make a bathroom redo your weekend warrior project of choice. In a weekend’s time you could replace major fixtures such as the toilet, vanity or sink as well as refresh the minor fixtures, including faucets, shower heads, knobs, pulls and lighting. If you are looking at a long weekend, consider installing or reinstalling wall or floor tile and adding a fresh coat of paint to completely transform the space that helps keep you clean!

One with nature
Yes, it’s hot, but that doesn’t mean to can’t roll up your sleeves and get your yard filled with weeds under control. Past Hill Home columns have talked about ways to improve your tree box. When you are tending to your front yard, don’t forget that long neglected backyard. If you are concerned about new plantings surviving the heat, why not consider deep cleaning outdoor decks and patios and refinishing or repurposing outdoor furniture. In small homes like ours, we need to take advantage of any living space we can find—indoors or out.

Tell us what home improvement projects you have tackled — or hope to one day tackle — in a weekend.