DIY beginnings

I have the attitude that you can pretty much make anything if you can be bothered to take the time to have a go and remember these 5 tips:

1) People's rubbish can be your treasure, so don't rush to buy things yet.
2) Don't be afraid to have a go. What's the worst that can happen?
3) Pallets are a great source of free wood and they're everywhere if you aren't afraid to ask.
4) Friends are great ''free'' labour, if you pay in beer and food.
5) There's a youtube video for everything!

I was always keen on making things from wood that were useful, like spice racks for mum or shelving. but my 1st real building project was the pizza oven at my mum's house. It was 1st April and

I thought it'd be a laugh to have a pizza party with all my friends for my birthday at the end of the month.

30 days to build a pizza oven!

I had no experience of laying bricks or arches & didn't even have a trowel or a wheelbarrow. So mum and I went down to get a trowel, barrow, bags of sand and cement. I used all dad's spare bricks from around the garden to get started. It was slow going and rubbish brick laying but i persevered until I was out of old bricks. I ordered some more bricks, got some free bricks from a family friend and spoke to our family builder about other tips and things and after a month of April showers and fitting it around work; it was complete the evening before the party.

That pizza oven provided so much fun for years with family and friends and all for a bit of hard(ish) work and just giving it a go and not worrying if it's not perfect!

Since moving into my own house, the 1st thing I wanted to build was a pizza oven as I had confidence from my 1st attempt. I took 6 months on this one and really improved my brick laying and design so much. With every layer of bricks you see something forming and this can be very rewarding and builds your confidence in other areas. I'll do a different post for the stages of building 'the poven' but here's a picture of what it looks like for now to hopefully give you some inspiration for starting your own project.