5 Great Tools for Every Beginner DIYer

A LIST OF HELPFUL TOOLS TO GET YOU STARTED ON BUILDING ALL THE PINTEREST PINNED DIY PROJECTS YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED

Investing in a basic tool kit can be really expensive for a beginner DIYer. Most of the tools on this list aren’t even mine, they’ve been borrowed. I would love to one day own a whole garage full of tools but right now, I am borrowing what I can, buying what I can’t, and saving money by not paying for furniture or services that I can do myself if I had the right tools.

1. DRILL/IMPACT DRIVER

I’ve listed these in order of what I think you should acquire first and honestly, you can’t do very much without a drill. Now, Taylor has a fancy heavy duty drill (well, I think it’s fancy) that has a lot of power, but for my smaller projects, I have a more affordable drill that has worked pretty well for me! If you want all the driving power available, an impact driver can really be helpful.

Oftentimes, for just a little bit more, you can get both a drill and an impact driver set. A plus to having both is that an impact driver does a much better job than a drill does for driving in screws. As simple as that sounds, having both available to me has been really helpful. This is because if you are drilling and screwing a lot, not having to switch the drill bit around is extremely time-efficient.

You, as a beginner DIYer, could probably get by with just a drill but I do recommend having both at your disposal. Taylor has a lot DeWalt brand tools and I really like them. Our drill is DeWalt too! Here is a 2-pack drill/diver combo kit from Amazon.com that is super powerful and will help you with everything!

For beginner DIYers I have a drill on the left and an impact driver on the right. The drill is black and yellow and is a DeWalt. The impact driver is black and grey. — *This is what I have been using. The left is our DeWalt drill and the right is our Makita impact driver.*

2. RANDOM ORBITAL SANDER

I’ve borrowed so many of these and finally, I live with someone who has one! I have used various power sanders for so many projects and I recommend you either buy one or find someone who will let you borrow theirs. For a beginner DIYer, they are extremely helpful for all your future projects.

I would start with a random orbital sander because it helps for general smoothing of wood in many of the projects I’m going to be doing here for you. They are generally more lightweight, versatile, and forgiving than the other types of power sanders available. Not only are they fairly affordable to purchase initially, but you can also get large packs of sanding discs in varying grits for reasonable prices as well. By having several different grits on hand, a random orbital can be used for everything from surface material removal to fine finish-sanding. You can find the one I use here, on Amazon!

*I have been using a DeWalt Random Orbital sander.*

3. MITER SAW

I used to use a Miter saw at the woodshop at my college and haven’t had access to one for so many years, until now! If you are cutting trim or wood boards, the miter saw is a must-have. You can adjust the cut angle in two directions! This allows you to cut trim corners precisely. Definitely a must-have for cutting trim and baseboard.

There are two main types of miter saw, fixed-blade and sliding. We have a fixed-type miter saw with a 12” blade. The downside of a fixed blade saw is that you sacrifice some ability to cut a wider board, but they typically produce more accurate repeatable cuts. Sliding miter saws allow you to cut wider boards, but since there are more moving pieces that extend further out, they have the potential to be slightly less accurate.

This is a picture of me wearing a black shirt and jean shorts with my long blonde hair in a pony tail in my work room using a miter saw to cut a 1 by 3 piece of wood. — *This was for the DIY Mirror Frame Project. I am using the DeWalt 12″ Double Bevel Miter Saw to cut my pieces to size.*

4. KREG JIG

I had never used one of these until I made this planter. But wowza it’s pretty great. Taylor and I just freehanded pocket screws for my kitchen island (hopefully I can get the DIY for you posted soon!), but the Kreg Jig takes all the guesswork out of the process! Using pocket screw-style assembly allows you to more easily hide the screw holes for your various woodworking projects.

I think this is one of the best ways to create DIY furniture because it improves the look of the piece and makes it seem like your creation could have been store-bought, which is always my goal! This is a handy tool for a beginner DIYer to make really great pieces.

The advantage of the Kreg Jig is that it gives you consistent, repeatable pocket screw holes. Now that I found this contraption, I’ll never do pocket screws any other way. You can find it here, on Amazon.

5. NAILGUN(S)

If you are doing a home renovation, a nailgun is a must! Technically you could nail each nail in with a hammer but it will get so tedious and time is valuable. Having a nail gun for doing shiplap, board and batten, and all kinds of trim is SO MUCH EASIER and saves us, beginner DIYers, time (so we can do even more projects!). It’s definitely possible to do it with a hammer and nail but I want you to DIY smarter, not harder, if you can justify the cost. Taylor got a 2 pack from Home Depot (brad nailer and finish nailer) at the start of our home reno journey and we’ve used them a ton!

Finish nail guns are best for baseboards and door trim because they require a heavier gauge. The Brad nail gun is better for smaller pieces of trim because the nail is a thinner gauge.

Our finish nailer is one that connects to an air compressor. I’d love to own one that is battery powered so I won’t be so chained to the compressor but right now I am grateful that I even have one!

To be clear, this is a beginner set of tools for DIY. When making this list, I assumed that you already had some hand tools, like a hammer, screwdrivers, and a tape measure.

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