Owning a home is a proud moment for any new buyer.
After months of arduous paperwork and hauling possessions across cities, countries, continents, even - standing on your doorstep clutching a set of keys in your hot little hand is a moment to savour. Against the considerable odds, especially given the current state of the housing market, you’ve made it!
Years in the renting wilderness have been left behind and an exciting chapter of homeownership awaits. Except adventure comes hand in hand with a fair few responsibilities - and I’m not just talking about paying the mortgage every month. When I moved into my flat, my mind was crowded with ways to decorate the walls and arrange the furniture. But I also knew I was solely responsible for the smooth running of the roof over my head.
Finding the best energy providers, the best broadband deal and learning to deal with basic DIY fixes myself - because there’s no landlord to call up if a loose floorboard needs fixing and hiring someone for tiny jobs felt needlessly costly and embarrassing.
And so, I started building a small toolbox to help me maintain and enhance my precious home. I started with the basics everyone should own: Allen keys, screwdrivers and bits, a hammer, a basic spirit level, and measuring tape.
Over the years I’ve added specific tools from home improvement projects, like a mitre box for cutting precise angles, a skeleton gun for squeezing out professional-grade filler and caulk, rug tape to stop floor coverings from sliding around, Frog tape for painting, and endless pairs of Command Strips for hanging pictures and clocks without damaging the walls underneath.
As well as liberating my eyes from a screen, the sense of independence came tied in first place with pride when friends and family dropped by and admired my handiwork.
A basic or comprehensive tool kit would have made a practical and welcome housewarming gift, and it turns out there are plenty out there to choose from.
While I’m not planning to move anytime soon, I’ve listed the best options below if you, or someone you know, could use one of these bad boys.
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Sundpey Home Tool Kit 206PCs
Hand tools are all good and well, but sometimes you need extra firepower in your hands. This 206-piece tool kit comes with a cordless 12V drill that you can turn to when you're doing things like putting up shelves, constructing furniture or hanging cupboards. It comes with two speeds and there's an LED light for use in dim conditions.
Alongside this, you'll get a raft of other useful DIY tools, from a hammer and pliers to a tape measure and various bits. Not a bag little lot at this price.
Buy now £47.99, Amazon
Amazon Basics 173-Piece General Household Hand Tool Set
From hanging artwork, tightening screws, loosening bolts, prying things apart or nailing them together, Amazon's general household kit can help you do it all. The set includes 173 pieces useful not just to homeowners but to mechanics and general contractors too. The pieces are made from resilient alloy steel, all nestled in a blow moulded case so you can find exactly what you need quickly.
Buy now £40.13, Amazon
Draper 126pc Tool Kit in Steel Cantilever Toolbox
Best for: workshopping DIY warriors
Stepping into the upper echelons of the kind of DIYer who owns their own workshop now, the Draper 126-piece kit comes in the sort of efficient and organised steel cantilevered box that your parents or grandparents used to own. Make no mistake, with great tool kit comes great responsibility and merely owning this gives everyone around you the instant right to ask you to fix things for them.
So, starting with the box itself, here we have a sheet steel cantilevered box featuring five trays, each lined with high-density foam, providing the perfectly firm bed for every item of this expansive tool kit, including the 45-tooth reversible ratchet, 16oz claw hammer, combination pliers, side cutters, range of screwdrivers, tape measure and the wide selection of screwdriver bits, sockets and hex keys.
Does it weigh a bit? Well, yes, you’ve got 126 workshop-ready tools encased in a sheet steel box, so welcome to a hefty 7.28kg. But then, like the bow of Odysseus or the hammer of Thor, owning a tool kit that can only be used by only those who are ‘worthy’ is all part of the serious DIYer’s mystique, so embrace the weight and accept your Draper-give place amongst the pantheon of DIY legends.
Buy now £95.16, Amazon
VonHaus Ultimate 120 pcs Tool Box for Beginners
Best for: bigger and better
This just got serious. Yep, containing no fewer than some 120 individual tools and accessories, the VonHaus Ultimate Tool Box for Beginners has been curated by the DIY deities for the have-a-go-hero to whom no job is too big.
Housed inside a heavy-duty, blow-moulded carry case is everything you could possibly need for jobs both big and small around the house.
Logically laid-out, despite the 120 individual items located under the lid, everything falls easily to hand. Reassuringly weighty at the best part of 4kg, unless you’re planning on going pro with a kitted-out van, then this is all the tool box you’ll ever need and probably more.
Buy now £44.99, Amazon
VonHaus 94pc Hand Tool & Screwdriver Kit
Just under 100 tools means you're prepped for most basic DIY jobs around the house. VonHaus's kit omits any scary power tools - well, except for a cordless 3.6V Lithium-ion screwdriver which your wrists will be very thankful for - with wrenches, a hammer, a bubble spirit level, pliers, manual screwdrivers and hex keys to see to most domestic repair problems. There's even an LED light and torch included in the assortment.
Everything comes packed in a hardwearing polyester bag so your home isn't littered with various tools. For this price, it can't be beat.
Buy now £44.99, VonHaus
Draper Redline 41pc Tool Kit
Best for: occasional DIY use
Coming from Draper’s Redline entry level range, what we have in the shapely form of this 41-piecer is a tool kit conceived for casual use by the firmly non-professional fixer-upper. However, even with that being the case, Draper still delivers to your unskilled hands a kit that’s 41 bits full, with the usual suspects of screwdrivers, long nose pliers, adjustable wrench, hammer and measuring tape all present and correct, with a lifetime warranty on all.
Supplied in a blow moulded plastic storage case that’s compact enough to be stashed away anywhere and transported with ease, if you’re not a Tommy Wash in training and only essential DIY as and when required is more your schtick, then the Draper Redline 41pc Tool Kit represents excellent value for money and anything beyond its abilities should be regarded as time to invoke that other meaning of DIY – Don’t Involve Yourself – and call in a pro.
Buy now £27.54, The Range
Bosch Home and Garden Universal Hand Tool Set
Hand tools from a DIY titan, say hello to Bosch's slim and concise kit. The zipped fabric folder contains 25 pieces to help you start your DIY journey with Bosch-branded tools for your home and garden.
There are combination pliers, a spirit level, tape measure, a hammer, a screwdriver and 18 bits to help you undo or tighten practically any screw and a deep hole marker which will come in handy for fixing furniture to the walls. All tools are fitted with a soft grip handle that is comfortable to hold for extended periods.
Buy now £58.30, Amazon
Stanley material tool set
Neatly packed in a can't-miss-it yellow bag, Stanley's kit is ready and waiting to help you do all kinds of simple home improvement tasks. You'll find the most common tools here, from combination pliers and a hammer to four screwdrivers, a spirit level and a measuring tape. It's a great starting point to build your DIY collection.
Buy now £33.10, Amazon
