It can be hard to give someone an idea of the true level of work that goes into something that you have made, especially if the reader would like to do their own version.
I try, wherever possible to provide good summary of the process that I followed – but ultimately with DIY everyone’s situations and knowledge is different so to get the same results is often a utopia which is unreachable.
So, I thought that I would structure posts in my “Projects” section in the following way:
- An introduction to what I wanted or the brief I was following.
- How much it cost me in relative terms – I estimate the material value as I tend to buy in bulk and then use as I go. I have a rudimentary pricing model which I used to break down the consumption of the materials which I have bought which is accurate to within a few pounds – I do this so readers can weigh up if they want to buy something that is ready made – of if they want to have a go themselves.
I also include a “Difficulty rating“. This is how hard I found a project to do. This will vary from person to person – there are many of you out there who know far more than I and you might be puzzled why I struggled – but this site is about me documenting my own journey and to give others ideas.The difficulty rating is based on a score from 1 – 5 and breaks down as:
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- I could do this in my sleep – basically a nice and gentle bit of work. Not too much brain power used and can be achieved with basic tools and knowledge.
- Needed a little thought, but generally something which can be done with very generic tools.
- Planned work with which has a number of materials in play and the design has needed to be thought through. It may need one or two specialist tools.
- Hard. I will have thought about this for a while and needed to research a number of aspects of the work. From a tool perspective there will be quite a few in play, including some of a very specialist nature. Might also involve knowledge of electrics, plastering, decorating – or – need some plumbing. Basically a job that needs an understanding of multiple disciplines.
- Bloody hell – projects with this rating are exceptionally hard. They need months of planning – perhaps even a professional trade to complete elements of the work. The tools needed are pretty much all expensive and not part of a normal DIY kit bag.
- I list the tools and consumables which I used on the project. Not everyone will have the same tools (some of you may have far more than I) – but, it gives folks an idea of what you may need if you wish to do your own version.
- Where I remember, I try to include photos in chronological order and in the future I may include videos, but for now I am on a basic hosting plan to see how things go. Plus, I am not the most photogenic person in the world – so I will try not to subject you to me too often.