DIY In The Household

It has been stated many times that DIY has never been a more popular hobby than it is today and if the thousands of television adverts for stockists of D.I.Y materials is anything to go by, it appears not only is this the case, but additionally it shows that it has never before been so easy to undertake a DIY project in the home We hear the term D.I.Y nearly every single day and although nearly everyone who hears it knows that the term is the acronym for the phrase ‘Do It Yourself’, giving any further description may be challenging. The official definition for DIY is it is usually a saying used to describe the building, repairing or modifying of anything without the assistance of experts or paid professionals. However in recent years the saying has been attached to the Arts and Crafts movement as well as the pirate radio station and indie rock scene, the most frequent use of the phrase is when it's applied to home improvement.

The phrase ‘D.I.Y’ in relation to home improvement jobs attempted by individuals entered everyday use during the 1950s. Maybe it's stated that the creation of VCR's (home video systems) in the seventies gave the D.I.Y ‘movement’ a considerable boost as this allowed consumers to view audio-visual demonstrations of basic D.I.Y. procedures (produced especially by expert D.I.Y. instructors) in the comfort of their very own home rather than having to attend educational classes (as had been the situation formerly). However, it is evident that the most successful advances in the D.I.Y. movement emerged in the mid-90's since it was at this time that advice sites and online bulletin boards, made especially for D.I.Y. enthusiasts, emerged on the internet and these sites allowed inexperienced people to request guidance, help and tips from the experts with regards to D.I.Y projects that they are planning to undertake. The mid nineties also saw the creation of tv shows exclusively catering for audiences of D.I.Y enthusiasts of all skill levels as did the emergence of entire channels exclusively devoted to D.I.Y. Both developments were undertaken as an attempt to attract the increasing quantity of D.I.Y enthusiasts that have decided to undertake their own projects (which range from arts and crafts skills such as knitting to full scale home renovation).

The emergence of a more practical and ‘hands on’ culture since the fifties has resulted in an enormous increase in the number of D.I.Y stockists from small, privately owned enterprises to national and also international chains. This near-surplus in the supply of decorating and other D.I.Y materials (in comparison to earlier decades) implies that it has never been cheaper to take up D.I.Y.