We’ve all spent a lot of time within the confines of our homes this year. For many, the urge to take on a decorating project (or two) has been overwhelming. With lockdown, many non-essential (DIY) stores remained closed and we all had to learn to think outside the box, upcycling things we already owned, and buying materials online often from stores we’d never heard of before. I bought all my garden plants online from a garden centre I’ve never visited that is 300 miles away! August could be the perfect month for redecoration and renovation. Few of us are travelling anywhere, and the DIY stores are (as I type) open. We still have our garden to finish, and I’m enjoying (online) shopping for decorations. What home renovation projects are bloggers tackling this August? We asked some …

Garden and son’s bedroom

We are planning two projects this month.

First up, our garden! It’s too big a job to do everything and to be honest it needs a complete rehaul, so I’ve decided to do it one step at a time. We do have a lovely patio area that we’re definitely not making the most of. We’ve just moved our outdoor sofa which we got from Aldi a couple of years ago, to the corner of the patio and I’m going to brighten this up with some colourful outdoor cushions. The ones I’ve got my eyes on are by Celina Digby and they match our bistro table and chairs perfectly! We’re going to plant a wisteria to climb up our garage wall and I’m looking to get some really cool outdoor art for the rest of the wall – I might have to visit Homesense to see what I can find! I’ve just put up a wall planter and planted some geraniums that were reduced at our local garden centre to 50p each!  We want to actually extend the patio slightly to make the patio area bigger. And finally I will decorate the whole area with fairy lights and place our firepit in the corner.


Our next project is my son’s bedroom. He’s starting school in September so I want to make his room a little more grown up. We’re thinking of swapping his room with the spare room as it’s bigger. We were planning to do this a while ago but we have been using the spare room as an office during lockdown. However, a bigger space for all his toys would be amazing and I think he needs more space, especially now he’s starting school!! I’m planning on decorating the room quite simply and bringing the walls alive with some awesome prints I got gifted from Ink & Drop. I spent so long painting mountains onto his nursery wall that I’m relying on prints this time to make the room stand out.

As he’s growing so fast and his tastes change so often, this will be a good way for his room to grow with him too as we can replace the prints without having to redo the whole room! We will definitely look at having some sort of space theme as my son loves space at the moment and we have an awesome Discovery Toy Space and Planetarium Projector that I got gifted from www.theessentialone.com. It transforms his room at night into space and looks magical with the stars lighting up his wall and ceiling. I’m also planning on spending quite some time in the next few days trawling Pinterest for inspiration! I want his room to be somewhere that he can feel happy playing and relaxing and where he will feel comfortable and confident having his own space to learn and dream in.

Submitted by Rowena, My Balancing Act

Front door and hallway

I fell into the category of people whose motivation upped and left during lockdown. My mental home improvement wish list grew by the day and it’s only now that I’ve managed to actually tick a few things off.

I recently discovered two new paint brands that I’ve been experimenting with – Frenchic and Lick paint. The former has completely transformed my front door from a varnished wood, to a beautifully soft colour called Wise Old Sage.


August is all about wood panelling the downstairs loo, a new oak banister and a complete refresh of our hall, stairs and landing. I’ve decided to go out on a limb with a chalky teal colour by Lick paint. Watch this space!

Submitted by Suzanne, Inside, Outside, & Beyond

Master bedroom

We are putting our house on the market this month so are making some simple but subtle last minute changes to our home. The last room I need to focus on is the master bedroom. We have an ornate mirror to hang and need to do a second coat of paint on our bespoke built-in wardrobes.

I have finally got to one of favourite parts of decorating which is choosing the bedding and cushions! We are going for pink, grey and mustard tones. I’m planning to get a white duvet cover, a big soft pink throw and then accessorise with luxury cushions (in grey, pink and mustard.

I’ll be replacing the curtains with a charcoal grey set too and am in the process of going clutter-free at the moment so surfaces will be sparkling clean but sparse. My wardrobe is going to be cleared out to make way for anything I want to put out of sight.

Submitted by Clare, My Tunbridge Wells

Panelling and tiling the hall

We have been living in our house for just over a year, and we have taken on a home project. Not the biggest renovation but our house was very dated and has needed an update. So with the COVID-19 putting our holiday plans on hold this year, we decided to use the holiday money and add some panelling to our hall stairs and landing. I have been wanting to make our hall way more of a feature so we decided on panelling, well I did and the hubby is doing the work.

I try to use smaller local companies where possible, I ordered all of the MDF wood from a local timber merchant, who kindly cut it all into the lengths we needed. So far, the panelling is in place, we are filling the screw holes as we speak, then we shall begin sanding it down. I have plans to get it all primed and painted, I do like white woodwork, so it’s all going to be white, with very pale blue above it with white ceilings. I’ve chosen a Victorian patterned floor tile for the downstairs hall way, then I’m planning to paint the stairs white and leave a middle wooden runner until find the perfect carpets. Fingers crossed we will get it finished this month.

Submitted by Sarah, Champagne & Petals

Lots of painting

COVID-19 has given us one positive thing – time at home to get all of the jobs done we have been putting off.

My August plans for home/environment improvement will be painting!  We have a large shed in our garden which is painted a lovely Sea Grass green colour.  It looks lovely in our garden and I have a ‘horse feeder’ type plant holder in the exact colour with white flowering plants and it looks lovely.

I liked the colour so much that I have decided this summer (what is left of it) to paint our beach hut on the Suffolk coast the exact same colour. The beach hut has a sign with its name but I will also be changing that to match the beach hut.

I am into personal branding at the moment on my blog and social media so why not my environment. With this in mind the two sheds we have on our allotment need painting and yes, you guessed it – they will also be painted Sea Grass as soon as possible!

Anyone want to help just message me – hahaha!

Submitted by Heidi, Kitchen Talk and Travels

Downstairs guest toilet

For a small home improvement project for this summer, we painted our downstairs guest toilet a beautiful dark blue colour using paint from Lick. It was a small and very plain room with white tiles and white walls. I’d been thinking about using a bold, dark colour somewhere in the house and this small area was perfect to experiment with. We got a kit with all the equipment we needed from Lick too so that we didn’t need to go to any shops which was perfect in the current world situation. It was the right size project for us to undertake during lockdown and because it was such a small room, it didn’t take very long at all. It’s made such a difference to the room and we are very happy with our guest toilet makeover.


Now we’re keen to paint more walls in our new house and I’d be happy to experiment further with bold colours!

Submitted by Petra, A Mum Reviews

A garden to chill and relax in

I’m hoping to make the most of the British weather this August and give my rather forlorn garden a makeover. It’s quite sad looking at the moment and very over grown. A bit ‘Stig Of The Dump’ if I’m honest. Like many we will not be going on holiday this year and I so want to make the garden a much nicer place. Somewhere to just chill and relax. I’m aiming for an Italian feel, recreating my own little corner of Naples in Newton Abbot. Think Olive trees, dark greens, black and whites along with my signature pops of gold.

If all goes to plan I’m aiming to make a couple of garden benches myself, build a pergola and create a water feature and fire pit as well as putting in some raised beds to encourage more wildlife into the garden. I want to zone it too, to create eating, sitting and chilling areas. My ultimate dream is to build an outdoor kitchen but that one might have to wait for next year! Here’s hoping for an extended summer this year and a glorious September to be able to enjoy it once I’m finished.

Submitted by Rachel, Raspberry Flavoured Windows

Swapping bedrooms

We have just finished our big DIY project for the summer by swapping bedrooms with our two young boys (aged 7 and 2). We live in an Edwardian two-bedroom terrace so space is at a premium and we decided to swap rooms to give them more space to play in and inevitably, to grow up in.

We have waited until now to take on the project as my husband has been working throughout lockdown and up until recently, our children couldn’t stay with their grandparents overnight. Decorating with an inquisitive toddler around is no fun at all!

We decided to go with a blue and white star and space theme for the boys’ new bedroom. We decorated the majority of the walls in white with the feature wall painted in Dulux Sapphire Salute. It’s a beautiful colour. We completed the room with a new grey carpet and matching single beds from Noa and Nani. Our toddler cotbed days are now over!


We have used a lot of Ikea cube storage in their room for their toys and it works really well. They can now get their trains, planes and cars out and play with the extra space.

In our new bedroom we have decided to go with a navy, blush pink and grey theme with a splash of Dalmatian print to modernise it. We have new Ikea Pax wardrobes which allow us to make the most of our high ceilings. Despite it being a very full on project, we managed to complete it on time!

Submitted by Emma, Mrs Shilts

White and bright bathroom

After a year of chipping away at renovations to our London Victorian terrace, we’re finally tackling the last room – the bathroom! We want the bathroom to feel like a haven, but still be functional for family life with two small children. It’s a small space so we’ve had to be clever with storage. We’re planning an entire wall of built-in mirrored storage, perfect for hiding away all the little bits and pieces that inevitably live in a family bathroom! There will also be plenty of open plywood shelving, the perfect home for the many plants that live with us. The colour palette will be white and bright to keep things airy and fresh, which is especially important in a small space.

Submitted by Innes, aboderie

Creating a reading nook

We moved house in February just prior to Lockdown but whilst we have had plenty of time to get to know the house, we haven’t been able to buy many basics (even white paint) to do much decorating.

We’re going to make the most of August by freshening up old paint with neutral colours, adding new mirrors and houseplants and, most exciting of all to me, creating a reading ‘nook’ on a large landing space in preparation for Autumn.  It’ll have bookshelves, an old Parker Knoll chair my dad has recovered and some cosy lighting.

Keeping wall and ceiling colours simple means I can change the colour accents from throws and cushions – especially when the autumn/winter homeware ranges hit the shops – roughly about now!

Submitted by Linda, Mother Distracted

Facelift for the garden office

With the children at home, and my husband and I trying to work, our garden office was key to keeping any kind of peace! However, although not old, it had become a bit of a dumping ground for ‘stuff’ that needed sorting out. It hasn’t actually been used as an office for a couple of years. So, we set about redecorating it. To be honest, we’ve had so much time to play with (no travelling), we’ve done the whole garden!

The office used to look like an office. There was nothing inspiring about it – it was functional. With the redecoration I was determined to ‘bring the outside in’ with big-leaf houseplants, wood worktops, and several shout outs to the travel that we love so much. It took a while to decide exactly what colours to use, where to source new furniture inexpensively, etc. We love the finished item.


We also treated the outside with a stained wood preservative. With a heatwave looming, all we need now is air conditioning in there!

Submitted by Tracey, PackThePJs

Renovating an RV

Last year we made a decision to buy a £4K old RV off of EBay with the plan to renovate it into our home. It’s been a period of blood, sweat and tears over the last year but we’ve finally got to the stage of finishing the interiors. We complicated things somewhat by moving into it in May when we sold our family home in London. We had planned to travel in it full time but at the moment we are in a campsite until we feel it’s COVID safe to leave. I’ve been loving doing the interiors over this last month or two. Previously when we’ve renovated homes my husband always wanted to stick with neutral colours for the sake of selling it in the future.

This time I’ve been using lots of patterns, blues, navy’s and light grey since we have no plan to sell it. All our fixtures have been sprayed rose gold which I feel is right on trend at the moment. They were a horrible dark brown so it’s been such a transformation to frame all of our amazing views from our big windows in one of my favourite colours.
It’s been so nice to have a home for many of the textiles and ornaments we’ve collected over the years from our travels.


We have renovated 3 properties in the past but this project was very unique. As a family of 4 we’ve needed to make every inch of the RV count. My husband has built some nifty storage and it’s an amazingly functional space!
Submitted by Karen, Travel Mad Mum