HGTV's Shane Duffy Explains How Anyone Can Become A Home Improvement 'DIY-Er'
While Shane Duffy is new to HGTV, he's quite familiar with completing DIY projects. The newest co-host with Taniya Nayak of Season 2 of "Build It Forward," Duffy is a master at DIY home renovations and is co-owner of the renovation and design company called SD Squared. At the same time, he also believes that anyone can become a skilled DIY-er, even those with no experience. "What I tell people is that they're only one tool set away from being a DIY-er," he tells Realtor.com. "Everybody has the capability, they just don't have the practice and tools to do it." Luckily, these things can be acquired.
If you want to become a DIY-er, the first step is gaining knowledge about whatever project you want to tackle first. You could research what tools you need and what techniques need to be followed. Then, you can purchase the right tools and learn how to use them properly. After you've accomplished that, you can tackle your DIY project with confidence. Duffy and his business partner Sandy Dias say that completing DIY projects around your home can be an empowering experience, as you'll feel good about creating something yourself, per Fox News.
The easiest projects for beginners
If you're a DIY beginner and you're not sure where to start, Shane Duffy has a few easy project recommendations. First, he says painting is one of the simplest ways to update your home. "Painting is easy, and anybody can do it," he told Realtor.com. "The barriers to entry to painting are just getting a paintbrush and a roller and doing it." Another easy project? Building wood pallet furniture, like a bed frame or an outdoor bench, which he demonstrated on Fox News. This could easily be done by stacking the pallets and connecting them with screws.
Once you've mastered some of these easy projects, you can then move on to harder ones, like feature walls. "When it comes to more skilled crafts, for example, doing a slat wall, like a wood feature wall, you're going to have to invest in some tools," he explained. However, he adds, "If you don't have the tools, you can do that feature wall with wallpaper or paint." He also showed how to create a cement feature wall, which involves priming the wall and applying the cement with a putty knife. "If you want to tackle this project, don't feel intimidated, it's not that hard," he said (via Instagram).