Your Pre-Holiday DIY Checklist

You're probably scowling at me because I mentioned the holidays, but the truth is that they'll be here before we know it. And if you're expecting family and friends to drop by, now is the time to tackle DIY projects so that you can impress your guests with your handiwork.

If you'd like to spruce up your home but aren't sure where to start, we've compiled a list of popular projects that you can easily tackle in a weekend or a few days. Plus, they won't break the bank, either, giving you plenty of money for holiday shopping.

1. Clean your carpets: The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving are a great time to schedule a carpet cleaning. You can opt to have a company come in and take care of the dirty work (pun intended) or you can rent a steam cleaner and tackle the floors yourself.

2. Refinish your wood furniture: Take an inventory of your furniture. Maybe you have a few pieces that could use a little TLC. Pick a weekend when the weather's nice so that you can take the work outside. Clean and sand the furniture and then apply a couple coats of stain and a protectant seal. This is a great time to experiment with colors, too, if you want your piece of furniture to be lighter or darker than its current hue. When you're done, you'll have a like-new piece for a reasonable cost!

3. Cabinet facelift: Speaking of staining furniture, you might also want to consider staining or painting your kitchen cabinets. Replacing cabinets can be quite costly, but by giving them a fresh coat of paint and new hardware, they'll look like new and will help transform your kitchen, too.

4. Tackle the odd jobs. Maybe you have several pieces of art that you've been meaning to hang, or some shelving that needs to be assembled and displayed. Or perhaps you've been intending to de-clutter a room, or organize a certain area of the home. Now is a great time to make a list of these sorts of odd jobs and plan out a schedule so that you can work on a couple of them a week. It's amazing how big a difference a few small changes can make, and nothing beats the satisfaction of expending time and elbow grease to make your home look better and more inviting.

What's on your to-do list before the holidays?

Photo: Flickr.com/flossyflotsam

Katy Ryan | Comments () |

Melva Michalec

Awesome article, I'm regular visitor of this website, keep up the good work, and I will be a regular visitor for a long time.

Modern Wheels

nice list.

KHB

Can area rugs/oriental carpets be cleaned with a rental machine?

hardwood flooring

I agree with @tinagleisner:disqus the rest is easy for me. But refinishing a piece of furniture will take me long hours to finish it.

tinagleisner

Gosh, I think refinishing a piece of furniture is more complicated. First you've got to strip the existing finish and as you state sand the piece which can be quite a chore with lots of nooks & crannies. Then you might want to stain it, plus several coats of some type of finish ... I'm more familiar with polyurethane. There is drying time between coats ... so I really think it's more than a weekend and you'll need indoor space for drying & backup if it rains.