DIY

[Navy Maven]

My advise is youtube everything you are going to attempt, and watch as many different videos showing techniques as possible.

Then factor in that these people will have had a lifetime of work experience and instruction behind what they do, and decide whether or not you can do it well enough.

The other alternative, is simply to wait and do the projects in dribs and drabs.

We used taxi boxes to store the entire interior of our home whilst we got our timber overlay flooring done.

We had saved and done the majority of those renovations after a few years, but I painted the house when we moved in, and having been in there 4 years and doing a major renovation, I re painted the house knowing that they start to look tired after about 8 years and could use a re coat.

There are more factors to consider.  Even if you do a good job, what will take a pro 1 day will likely take you about 3 (or more) depending on skill level.

I would always paint, irrespective.  Pros go that quickly that they tend to do as bad a job as an amateur who is trying really hard to get it right.

That's a good point. I'm hoping one of the benefits of moving to a smallish town though is the quality of the tradespeople. I've found in the past that you live and die by your reputation in a small community. My Mum was a hairdresser and drove a dentist out of town through her own word of mouth (in fairness the dentists negligence nearly killed me when I was 9). So whichever project I pay for, I'll definitely be asking for local recommendations.