10 spring DIY projects for the whole family to enjoy

No matter when spring actually arrives where you live, no doubt you want to take advantage of the season's rejuvenating effects to get some home improvements done.

Before you or any family member start a project, make sure you have assembled all the supplies and safety gear needed. Nothing kills enthusiasm or momentum more than having to go back to the store at a crucial point in your work or stopping for a trip to the emergency room.

The following DIY projects for spring may require a variety of different skills and levels of expertise:

• Building structures using power tools
• Mixing and working with concrete
• Using recycled materials and art supplies such as metal, paint, stains, mosaic tiles, glue
• Working with fabric, heat bond and an iron to create fashions for upholstered furniture and windows
• Planting, including sprouting and growing plants from seedlings, transplanting them to pots or into the garden

From working with power tools to planting with your bare hands, instructions and further guidance for these 10 DIY spring projects can be readily found online:

1. Build or extend that deck you wished you'd had last summer. Adding a wood deck is one of the best home improvement projects for ROI, but if you plan to live in the house a while, your enjoyment of a place to hang out with friends and family all spring, summer and into the early fall is return enough.
2. Erect a fence. Having a safe place for the kids and pets to play outside or a place you can go for a sense of privacy and tranquility is one way to create a less stressful home environment. Be sure to check whether you need a permit first.
3. Construct an attractive shed to store your yard and gardening gear. Get creative. Recycled materials such as old doors and windows can form the basic structure. Use lattice panels to wall off an area to store furniture or trash receptacles.
4. Build storage solutions for the shed or garage. These can be as extensive as adding an open attic or cabinets to the garage or as simple as attaching pegboard or a couple of pallet shelves to the shed wall to hold rakes and shovels.
5. Make your own pavers. All you need is wet concrete and frames in the shapes of your choice. Using divided picture frames creates a ready-made pattern you can use over and over to form a walkway or patio.
6. Create your own fire pit. Use two of the biggest bowls you can find, one slightly smaller than the other, to create a mold. Fill it with concrete, let it set, and sand the rough spots. Place two or three gel fuel canisters inside your concrete fire pit with a barbeque grate on top to hold some attractive, heat-resistant rocks.
7. Dress up planters and table tops with mosaics. Give them a dazzling new life by gluing tiles, broken bits of tiles or other materials, shells, buttons -- virtually any small textured or colored pieces -- to the surface of your planters, outdoor tables, bird baths and more. Create a picture, pattern, or random design. Grout, and you're good to go.
8. Turn recycled materials into sculptures to hang on your fence or "plant" in your garden. The artist in you has been hoarding all sorts of used items, waiting for that moment when you can co-mingle them to form a sculpture. With paint, glue, and maybe some welding skills, you can turn the trash into a treasured work of art for your yard.
9. Decorate indoors with fabric in spring colors. Don't forget to beautify indoors, too. You don't even need to know how to sew. Infuse your home with fresh color for spring using fabric, heat bond, and an iron to create new throw pillows, slip covers, and window coverings like Roman shades and curtains.
10. Plant a tree. Finally, do the obvious. From seedling to sapling to big, old shade tree, nothing says "spring DIY project" quite like planting.

Photo credit to Audrey Kerchner