Cold Weather DIY Projects

Make Progress on Indoor DIY Projects

Across the nation, we are dealing with cold weather, storms, ice, snow, and lots of rain. When you think of DIY projects, most of us think of the outdoors. Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean your DIY building projects need to stop. With some adaptive ideas we share, your DIY projects can make great headway during the cold weather months.

Our indoor DIY building projects range from the mundane to some great memory-making DIY projects that can be passed on for generations. Hopefully, we have your interest by now, so let’s dig in and have some fun building this winter.

Think Modular Building for Your DIY Projects

If you have a large garage, barn, or shop, it’s possible to build your outdoor building projects in a modular format and make a lot of progress during the winter months. Building your outdoor projects modularly saves you time this next spring and makes good use of your time when there is inclement weather.

What projects you decide to build in a modular format will depend on the amount of space you have to dedicate to building and also storing the pieces of your project over the winter. Most projects can be broken down into floor panels, siding panels, and roof panels.

If you don’t have much space for indoor buildings, it’s still possible to build smaller buildings in a modular format, such as chicken coops, small playhouses, treehouses, and smaller outdoor buildings. Most buildings under 120 square feet can fit in a double-car garage or similar indoor building space.

Preserve History & Memories

Over the years, you have probably heard family members share stories of growing up. If you have a good memory, you’ve probably shared some of those stories with your children or other family members. I am so thankful that a few years ago, I interviewed one of our family members and recorded 13 hours of interviews spanning from the time of their childhood to the most recent past.

You gain so many insights interviewing a loved one about your history and theirs. If you are a little timid as to what to ask, there are so many resources these days for good interview prompt questions on the internet. Google family archive interview questions and a plethora of sites will be displayed, from the UCLA Center for Oral History Research to My Heritage, and more.

Not only is this a fun wintertime activity, but it’s made even easier with technology. Not all our relatives live close by so you can visit but you can record them on your phone. I used one of the free conference calling services that have free recording services and it worked so well. Each of us phoned into the free conference calling number, I clicked record and started asking open-ended questions.

For families that have a history of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, doing interviews with your family members when they are still fully functional gives you a wonderful bridge back to when your family member’s memory was intact. Many of my friends with family members with memory challenges wish they had interviewed their loved ones to help preserve memories spanning a lifetime.

Repurpose a Room or Space

Winter is a great time to organize and renew a room or space in a room. Many times, life gets so busy that the last thing we think of is reworking a space in a room or reinventing a room’s purpose. When kids leave home, we may sometimes repurpose a room, but even if you are just reinventing a space, it renews and recharges a room and gives it a lift.

There are so many additions you can make to a room that also allows you to purge the old and bring in the new. Think of adding a reading nook, a craft area, a sewing area, a comfortable chair, and a cookbook case to your kitchen, or adding a meditation or family altar to an area of your home. The ideas of repurposing an area are only limited by your imagination.

These types of projects can be an afternoon or span a few days on how extensive you want to make the repurposing project. It’s a great way to see a space, a room, or your house and envision the possibilities. The cost of most of these repurposing ranges from no cost to a few hundred dollars. It’s a great way to make good use of winter weather and enjoy your home more.

Make Your Stairs Work for You

I never thought of creatively using the area under my stairs until a friend made the space under her stairs her podcast room. It had just enough space for a small desk and recording equipment and she could easily enhance it so the sound quality was consistent. This got me thinking of how people could use the area under their stairs in creative and useful ways.

Some fun ways to reinvent the space under your stairs:

• Make the space under your stairs into a study area for your kids
• Recreate the space under the stairs as a home office
• Make the area under your stairs into a bookcase
• Put a fold-up guest bed under your stairs as a daybed
• Make the space under your stairs as an indoor playhouse for your kids
• Install a wine storage area under your stairs
• Install a gas corner fireplace under your stairs as a focal point for your room
• If you have access to the back of your stairs, you can make the accessible stairs into a bookcase on each back of the stair-step
• Use your under-stair area as a coat closet or cleaning closet with a door

There are so many great ideas shared on Pinterest and Instagram of DIY building projects that repurpose your under-stairs area that we know you will get inspired!

Reinvent Your Pantry Area

One of your home’s most used storage areas is your pantry area. It’s also an area that can become problematic and a mess easily in your busy life. Reinventing your pantry area or pantry closet is a great winter DIY project. We give you some tips today to make your pantry more accessible and neater while making better use of space:

• Install under-counter lighting on your pantry shelves so you can see what is stored there more easily
• Buy pull-out cabinet organizers for your panty and get better access to deeper shelves
• Consider buying a rolling cart for your pantry for your most used items
• Install a lazy Susan for corner areas
• Use clear square containers so you can see the contents
• Label everything and put pull dates in bold type on the front of your cans with a magic marker
• If you have a solid door into your pantry, make it work for you by buying and installing a door organizer
• if you have tall shelves, buy shelves that can give you multiple shelves
• Put all flour in plastic zip-lock bags and label with the pull date. if you have the space, store your flour in plastic or glass jars with lids
• Rotate can goods when you buy new, bringing the oldest to the front

Organizing your pantry not only makes life easier, but it will also save you time and money with less food waste.

We hope you enjoy your holiday season. As you are planning your DIY projects for 2025, be sure to source what you need for your building projects, from Shed Windows and More.