While the community quarantine status in Luzon and other parts of the country has been slightly relaxed, you still won’t get to enjoy the outdoors anytime soon. To help you deal with that boredom, doing some lockdown DIY projects is a good idea. Here is a selection of projects that will get your mind off the crisis and make yourself productive.
Lockdown DIY projects no. 1: Repair your sink and plumbing
With all of your family members staying in for the duration of the lockdown, everyone is likely using the kitchen sink more often. As such, you should use this opportunity to do a bit of maintenance work on it. You can do the work in just a few hours either by yourself or with help from a family member.
The most common thing you will be working on is unblocking any clogs. Here, you should respond to minor blocks immediately instead of just waiting for it to be a major clog. The former is a lot easier to deal with and will help you avoid all the hassle. In most cases, you just need to put in at least two tablespoons of baking soda followed by a cup of vinegar. Once dissolved, you can remove the clog by pouring hot water down the sink and using a plunger.
With more severe clogs, you have to get down and dirty. Depending on how severe the clog is, you will need to remove the U-pipe found underneath the sink, as this is where the clog most often accumulates. Remove the clog by using a metal rod or plumber’s snake to prod and push it. If it is hard to move, you will need to use a chemical like muriatic acid to soften it further.
Once you have the sink unclogged, check it for other repair works that can be done. Take note of the ones that you can easily do, such as removing mold and grime on the tiles. For the repair jobs that require a plumber, you might want to schedule them after the current lockdown is lifted.
Lockdown DIY project 2: Make garden planters
One of the best lockdown DIY projects that you can do is creating a home garden to grow your vegetables. But if you don’t have a large plot in the yard, this can be a bit of a challenge. In this case, you can make planters to suit the space that you have.
What is great about this project is that you can create your planter out of any container. Plastic soda bottles are popular here since they are easy to find. For this project, you can turn these bottles into self-watering planters.
Materials
- Plastic bottle
- Garden soil
- A strip of cloth from an old shirt, around 6 inches long
- Marker
- Scissors
Steps
- Mark the center of the bottle and draw a line around its circumference.
- Cut the bottle along the centerline to make two halves.
- Take the bottle cap and bore a hole that is large enough for the piece of cloth to pass through.
- Push the cloth through the hole on the cap until it is halfway in. Screw the cap back on the bottle.
- Fill the bottom part of the battle with water about halfway up. Put the top half of the bottle upside down with the piece of cloth immersed in the water.
- Fill the top half of the bottle with soil and plant your seeds.
This planter works by having the cloth draw the water and distribute it into the soil. To refill the planter, you just lift the top half and pour in water. This makes it great for those who might be too busy to water their plants regularly.
Lockdown DIY projects no. 3: Create a gallery wall
This simple lockdown DIY project is a great way to beautify a bare wall without much effort. Creating a wall gallery is also a good stress reliever to get your mind off the current pandemic. And after you are done, you can look back at the newly decorated wall to relax your mind every now and then.
To make your wall gallery more entertaining to look at, create some theme around the photos and artwork you are going to put up. For instance, you can adorn the wall with photos of your outdoor trips. This would serve as a good motivator for you to plan your trips when the pandemic is finally over.
Another route you can go is to print out inspirational quotes to hang on the wall. Choose the quotes carefully, as you want something that household members can relate to easily. In case you don’t have a large printer, you can instead create stencils out of cartolina or cardboard and use these to print your quotes on decorative paper.
Keep yourself busy with these DIY projects
These lockdown DIY projects are not just there to keep you from getting bored while waiting for the community quarantine to end. By doing these projects, you also learn a lot of new skills that will be useful in a variety of other activities after the pandemic. Try these and other tools and have a more productive stay at home.