desymbol: 12-Year-Old Gives Family Home A Makeover While Spending “About $100-$150”, Shows Pro Handyman Skills

This 12-year-old girl had nothing to do during the lockdown, so her DIY-expert mom asked her to help around the house. But once the little one started, she couldn’t finish.

Susie Levache from Kent, United Kingdom, said her daughter Bea is determined, rebellious, fun and creative, so it’s pretty natural the girl wanted to make use of her extra free time. “During the lockdown, she was complaining of being bored whilst I was trying to catch up on some home renovations and updates,” Levache told Bored Panda. “To ‘teach her a lesson’, I asked her to measure up a wall for me that I was going to panel. I then showed her how to use the workbench and a handsaw and before I knew it, she had completed the paneling in my office alone.”

Soon, the apprentice decided to make her way around the rest of the home, and her mom was happy to supervise her and guide her through.

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“She’s very precise whereas one might call my style ‘slap-dash’ so what turned out to be a lesson in parental expertise backfired when she showed how good and how capable she could be”

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“When she got her confidence, she then would suggest ideas to me”

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“For example, for the kitchen reno, we had to use what we had as the stores were shut so she recommended painting the cupboards mismatched and it looked great”

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Levache told her daughter to go ahead and try what she wanted as she had all the time in the world to remedy any mistakes. This stopped any tensions from overwhelming Bea and helped her massively. “She now uses the handsaw, spirit level, electric drill, sander, and tile cutter confidently,” her mom said. “She even had a go at stenciling and her next project is to renovate her brother’s room using some carpentry skills.”

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Even Caper, the family dog, enjoyed the way everything turned out

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“She was really worried initially but with some guidance and knowing there was no jeopardy, she went ahead”

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Levache herself is an avid recycler, and it really contributed to the redecoration. “I love to reuse and to repurpose and I like this process to be circular, not linear, so I have quite a stash of old handles, old frames, tired old broken furniture in my shed along with paint I have from previous jobs.”

“In terms of our budget, it was actually very little because we already had timber, glue, paints and old handles, etc., so in real terms, we spent about $100-$150 on extra items,” Levache explained. “But everything else, we either raided the attic or painted stuff from other rooms to give it a new lease of life. We had a really productive week and did countless rooms in about 10 days and we are still going.”

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The mom said they know quite a few people who really want to change their environment but they don’t feel they have the skills or confidence to give it a go. So she and her daughter are over the moon now that they have had messages from moms, wives, and from kids internationally saying they’ve redecorated and are loving changing their spaces, all because of them.