Photos by Susan Blackburn Photography

[From the 2026 Home & Lifestyle Magazine]

Our DIY Diva, Maureen Werther, shares her insights about designing and decorating your home …on your own!

Whether you call it the hallway, entrance, or foyer, when you open the front door to visitors, what they see there is often a first glimpse into the homeowner’s personality and style. Local author and DIY “Diva” Maureen Werther shares some insights, advice, and “lessons learned” as part of her home re-design journey.

Maureen, tell us a little bit about what led you to try your hand at DIY on a budget.

Maureen:

“I moved into my home in 2014 and within a year, my job had disappeared, forcing me to table some of the improvement projects I had in mind when I first bought the house.

Fast forward about 6-7 years. I had landed a new job as Communications Director for an association management firm, and my hours were long and busy, leaving me with little time - and even less energy - to start my own DIY projects during evenings and weekends. Two years ago, I decided to retire and pick up on my original decorating and design plans. I was tired of living in a house that, after nearly ten years, still did not feel truly like my home.

“Let’s Start at the Front Door”

Soon after moving in, my hallway quickly turned into a storage space. Because the house is so old (about 150 years old), closet space is pretty much non-existent, and the basement is a “challenge” to keep dry. So, the hallway unfortunately became a repository for winter gear, bikes, snowshoes, etc. It was definitely past the time to transform the neglected space into an integral part of the house, one that was inviting and conveyed a sense of drama and style that is so appealing to my personality.

1.

Which brings me to my first piece of advice:

If you’re going to commit the time, energy and dollars, make sure it’s going to be something that YOU love!

This advice works for someone like me. I don’t plan to sell my house anytime soon, if ever. So, I wasn’t restricted by the standard realtor advice of making everything neutral. Anybody who knows me would never describe my personality as “neutral!”

My initial plan was to strip down and restore the hardwood staircase. There were at least five different colors of paint that had been layered on over the years, and I thought having the natural wood would be such an improvement over the dingy and chipped mud-brown paint the last owner had unfortunately chosen.

2.

That plan fell apart pretty quickly and brings me to my second bit of advice: Know Your Limits!

My experience in refinishing wood was cursory at best, and even though I followed the advice of my friends at Curtis Lumber (along with some very accomplished woodworkers on YouTube), it took hours of backbreaking and painstaking work scraping off years - no, decades - of old paint (not to mention the messy and toxic product I used for stripping the paint). And I had only finished one of the twelve steps in the staircase!  When I finally got down to the natural wood, it became obvious why paint had been chosen by the previous homeowners. The wood was very worn, with some of the original nail heads beginning to break the surface. (I could just envision my socks getting snagged on an old nail and tumbling headlong down the stairs!)

Carpeting was a much better way to go. There’s something cozy and comforting about the feel of a nice soft carpet underfoot, especially in a very old and very drafty house, and I thought it would add warmth to the whole space.

Thanks to the folks at Ballston Carpet and Tile, I was able to find a great carpet on sale that would match the style and colors of my planned redesign for the entryway. It was a rugged pile that would withstand people and cat traffic!  The installation was quick and painless, and I could not be happier with the result. I still want to venture into furniture refinishing, but starting with an entire staircase is probably not the best project for a beginner.

Coming back to the “drama” component of my DIY redo, I decided to give the foyer a more Victorian feel, partly as an homage to some of the beautiful examples of Victorian architecture and design in the community, but mostly because I adore big cabbage roses!

After finding a pattern and color scheme I loved, I promptly ordered the wallpaper. The cost was $50/roll, which was a little pricey for my budget, but I decided it was worth it, and I would save dollars elsewhere.

Remember my second piece of advice about knowing your limits? Well, that flew out the window with the wallpaper project. The closest I’d come before to wallpapering was putting contact paper in my drawers and kitchen shelves. This job was a real first for me, but I was determined to make it work. Granted, it was a ‘peel and stick’ paper, which made the job infinitely easier. However, I had more than one “I Love Lucy” moment, getting tangled up in sticky lengths of paper, while balancing on my stepladder. I very quickly worked out a method that would allow me to do this job solo, and to do it right.

3.

My third, and possibly most important, piece of advice:

Having the right tools for the job.

Growing up, I would often hear my dad say, “If you don’t have the right tools for the job, you’re gonna be frustrated and end up making mistakes.”  And boy, was he right! If you are going to commit to a successful and rewarding DIY project, make the necessary investments in the tools and aids you will need to complete the job.

If you are working on your own, I cannot stress the importance of this point enough. As a single woman “of a certain age,” I needed tools that would help me in lifting, moving, and transporting heavy or cumbersome items. I also needed tools and equipment that would allow me to do jobs that were typically meant for two sets of hands.

Of course, if you have some extra muscle around the house, by all means, take advantage of it!

BEFORE

AFTER

4.

One last piece of advice I would give you:

Create a budget and stick to it!

It is a fantastic feeling to enter a room that you’ve transformed, knowing that you created that space yourself! Don’t sabotage the effort by overspending and having your joy turn into nagging guilt because you spent more money on it than you can afford. Take your time when making design and decor decisions. Believe me, if something in the antique store that you loved isn’t there the next time you visit, it’s usually a sign that it wasn’t meant to be, and something even better will come along.  That has happened to me more times than I can count, and I’ve also become a more prudent and efficient planner and shopper in the process.

So, Maureen, What’s the next space you’ll be working on?

Right now, I’m working on painting ceilings and trim in my living room and my “parlor.” It’s taken me a while to get the right colors for each room.  I’ve learned how tricky that can be. Something that looks perfect in the morning light may look totally different on a cloudy day, or at different times of the day.  So, I’ve taken my time and tried to follow my own advice. I can’t wait to share those spaces in an upcoming feature!

Thanks, Maureen. We can’t wait to see it!

Watch for another installment of the DIY Diva in
Simply Saratoga H&G, due out in May!