While the sun’s shining outside, it’s the perfect opportunity to revamp your home.

On a sunny day, you can head out into your garden, and do your DIY in the sunshine - not only is it a job ticked off the to-do list, but that actually sounds like a lot of fun!

Plus, once you’ve finished your home renovation chores, you can enjoy your newly upgraded space for the rest of the year.

Don’t worry though, we aren’t about to completely fill your Summer calendar with DIY jobs!

We’re firm advocates of the idea that lots of little changes make a big impact. Even with just a couple of hours of work, you can bring a new lease of life to your home. This will leave you feeling much more positive when you’re working from home, or having people over to visit (which we’re finally allowed to do again!).

As you know, this year we’ve been spending a lot more time at home. This has been lovely in some ways, but definitely challenging in others.

Some of these difficulties have been spotting little flaws in our home, or design elements that we want to alter. Many of us have also found that we’ve been short of space. A lot of us have had to set up impromptu home offices, so we’ve been lacking in spaces to get away from work, and wind down after the day.

Or, quite simply, we want to invest some energy into making the home our own little sanctuary once more.

Naturally, we want to make the experience of being at home as good as possible, both for ourselves and for our families, too. So, if you’ve got a weekend at home, or a few extra days off to use, committing to DIY is a decision that you won’t regret.

So, in this next segment of our Summer-inspired blog posts, we’ll be focusing on some easy yet super effective DIY ideas. Below, we'll show you our favourite small improvement ideas, to help you create a better space for the whole year.

1. Add Smart Lights to Your Kitchen

Any designer will tell you that light makes a HUGE difference to your interiors. A bit of extra light will make your kitchen feel more chic, open, clean and positive.

But don’t stress, you don’t necessarily have to tear down a wall, or fit a new window. We’ve got some much more affordable alternatives.

You can bring in more light by adding new, brighter light fixtures in. The Philips Hue lineup for LED bulbs come in a variety of shapes and sizes for just about any household lighting need.

To get going with a Philips Hue in your home, you’ll need at least one connected light and the Philips Hue bridge, which connects to your router and allows you to communicate with your smart bulbs.

Using HomeKit or IFTTT you can also create elaborate scenes across all of your connected tech such as having your temperature set to your perfect sleeping level, while at the same time having your lights turned off, your blinds closed and your security alarm armed.

Visit their website to find out more about how to create the perfect lighting for your kitchen.

Installing a Smart Thermostat

This one is more comfort than style, but you’ll appreciate the change just as much.

With this, you can control the temperature of your home, and easily modify it throughout the day. It’s a great, quick way to upgrade your home. In fact, there are some models out there which allow you to control the temperature through your phone.

The Nest 3rd generation smart thermostat is the go-to name when it comes to smart thermostats and with good reason, this brand (now owned by Google) continues to drive innovation in the smart home space and their smart thermostats are leading the way.

Nest learns from you, by monitoring your heating use it automatically adjusts and syncs your heating with your behaviour, knowing the times of day you use your heating, as well as the ideal room temperatures you prefer. They recommend professional installation for the latest version.

Visit their website to learn more about the features and benefits for your home. 

Instal a smart lock on your door

This is the ultimate speedy DIY, but you’ll be able to reap the rewards from it for many years to come.

A smart lock allows you to enter a keypad to get into your home. It sits just where a conventional keyhole would, but instead, it features a combination code pad. This way, you can keep your home secure, without ever having to worry about forgetting your keys again!

And the best part? All you need to do is switch around a couple of screws in the door. It’s as easy as that.

To find the perfect smart lock for your home, see this complete guide.  

Make a Cozy Window Seat 

It’s never been easier to create a sweet, stylish and cosy little snug in your home. Window seats are bang on trend, and it’s easy to see why - they make a beautiful little reading spot, where you can soak up lots of natural light.

All you need is a few comfy cushions, and a bit of creativity.

Or, if you really want to go out, this blog tutorial from House Beautiful gives you some fantastic DIY window seat inspo.

Gain Storage (without shelves)

In a busy, family home, storage is always hard to come by. But it’s such an essential element of home life - without giving your possessions a proper home, you can soon feel like your home is disorganised and chaotic.

We absolutely adore this idea from Vintage Revivals. They’ve provided a full guide to creating your very own DIY Giant Pegboard.

Now, it may sound like a huge task, but actually, it couldn’t be easier. With some plywood, panels, peg boards and wooden dowels, you can create a stunning feature piece for your home, which gives you loads of extra space to store your bits and bobs.

Remodel Your Kitchen

We may be biased here, but we absolutely believe that the kitchen is the heart of the home.

So, it’s well worth investing some time into revamping your kitchen. You can do this based on what you use it for the most - if you’re more into hosting than cooking, enjoy small family dinners or big get togethers (or all of the above) then adapt your kitchen accordingly. That way, you can make using it more enjoyable.

Our quick Summer DIY tips for kitchen remodelling are:

• Give the walls a fresh lick of paint
• Repaint your cabinets
• Choose some new wall artwork
• Add under-cabinet light fittings
• Invest in a proper spice rack
• Properly organise your fridge
• Search for new kitchen accessories and gadgets
• Update your old and out of date Kettle

There’s a whole world of kitchen gadgets out there, and - from the simple to the sophisticated - these tools are brilliantly designed to help you enjoy spending time in your kitchen.

The iKettle is a fantastic example of this. With it, you can boil water precisely, quickly and effortlessly.

It works by partnering up to the Smarter app through your phone. Then, whenever you need some hot water, you can set the specific temperature through the app, and then tell the kettle to get started. You don’t even need to be in the same room as the device!

This makes it perfect for both weekend lie ins and weekday morning routines alike. It helps to keep you more organised and, by making your much-loved tea breaks more effortless, makes spending time at home more enjoyable.


Now, you’ve got loads of ideas for Summer jobs. You certainly won’t be short of home renovation inspiration!

If you want to get cracking with your Summer DIY list, be sure to check out the Smarter online store. There, you can find more kitchen upgrade inspiration, and treat yourself to a brand new iKettle while you’re at it.

Written by Josephine Walbank