‘I made videos of me filling holes’
Looking for DIY advice? The Carpenter’s Daughter, aka Vikkie Lee, 37, from Doncaster, has the answers!
A‘lthough my father ran a woodyard and renovated houses, growing up, I never got involved; I was told it wasn’t “for ladies”! But when my husband and I bought our first house in 2014, I wasn’t afraid to go for one that needed work. It looked so dingy, and somebody told me it was spooky. To me, it looked like any other renovation I’d seen – it looked do-able.
We got lots of quotes from various tradespeople but I was worried about being ripped off, and Dad lived too far away to help. So I started watching Youtube ‘how-to’ videos and doing little jobs myself such as filling holes in a wall or patch plastering.
I was running a second-hand clothing shop on ebay, which was going well but was hard work, and I found myself procrastinating by making cookery videos with my phone propped up on the worktop. Then, because I was doing so much DIY, I started filming that, too. A lot of the videos I’d watched didn’t have enough information for complete beginners like me, so I decided to make mine more basic.
One of my earliest showed me fitting a cover for our ugly boiler, filmed with my phone propped up nearby, while I chatted and explained everything I was doing. I wasn’t a professional so didn’t expect to be taken seriously, but my DIY confidence grew as my views increased.
My videos are quite simple – there’s no fancy editing, but I help demystify the DIY process. Filming them has been good for me, too, as it’s encouraged me to crack on with doing jobs! We’re now working on our next house and I try to do at least one project a week. I thought I might be laughed at, but I’ve always said “don’t knock someone for trying”, so maybe I attract that kind of audience. I also got to appear on the ITV show Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh last year, doing things like making a plant stand out of a drawer, which was really enjoyable. I actually don’t want the channel to get too big; I don’t want to be the Zoella of DIY! The bigger you become, the more public your life is and the more criticism you get. So I’d like to carry on as I am, just making videos and helping people.’