Summertime is here, and with it hopefully a return to normality as the pandemic life is set to become a thing of the past. One thing lockdown has been good for is new hobbies, with many of us picking up a new pastime to help ease the woes of living on restricted terms, and as such home DIY has become a lot more popular. If you’re part of the nu-wave DIY crowd, you’ll know that woodwork is one area of the hobby that offers particularly good returns for beginners, thanks to the simplicity and usefulness of many projects you can take on. With the warmer months upon us, here are five great DIY woodworking ideas that are worth your time.
A chopping board for your kitchen
There are multiple reasons why a chopping board is a great project to start with this summer. First, it can be as simple or advanced as you want it to be – from a basic, generically shaped block of wood to a more complexly carved board with handles. Second, it’s cheap and cheerful to build. And third, it’s an incredibly useful piece of everyday kit that you’ll get much more than your money’s worth from.
A bench for your terrace or garden
With June starting off rather nicely in terms of the weather, you’d be foolish not consider an addition to the garden, so you can enjoy treasured moments of sunshine to the full. A bench can be literally a couple of boards and a collection of jack screws and be finished in a couple of hours.
A perfect “big” project for a novice woodworker.
A bar for your garden or shed
The traditionally blokey dream of having a home bar is not as farfetched as it used to be, especially when you consider that making one in your shed or garden is well within the reach of your average DIY hobbyist. With this summer set to be a rather social one as we all make up for lost time not seeing one another, turning your energy to enhancing your social space outdoors would be a rather wise and rewarding move.
A picnic table for your garden
The same theory for the bar goes for a picnic table too, just you’ll be replacing the beers with a nice bit of BBQ or a few sandwiches. Similar to the bench, a homemade picnic table can boil down to a few simple ingredients and offer great return on investment.
Perhaps one to have alongside a garden bar if you’re looking to create the ultimate hosting area this summer.
A doll house for your kids
You can’t forget about the kids, and if you fancy a step up in technical difficulty and want more of a passion project, a doll or treehouse is a great idea. Naturally, you can’t be as rough and ready with a an area your children are going to play in as say with a bench or picnic table, but you’ll still be looking to make all three of them completely safe for use.
See if your kids have a fantasy play area in mind. If it’s within reason, you might surprise yourself with how far your woodworking skills can take you in making that dream a reality.
If you’re planning on keeping up with your DIY this summer, then these sorts of basic but highly rewarding woodworking projects are a great way to show off the fruits of your labor. Whether it’s a basic chopping board for the kitchen or a new playground for your little ones, you’ll find a lot of satisfaction in taking on a new project in the coming months.