Measure Twice: DIY Calculator

Three trips to the hardware store for one bathroom. Half a box of tile left over, one tile short.

Measure Twice does the maths before you spend a penny.

HOW IT WORKS Measure each room once — length, width, height, doors and windows. Pick a job: paint, tile, wallpaper, laminate, plaster, concrete or grout. The room's size is already filled in. See exactly what to buy — cans, boxes, bags and rolls, rounded the way shops actually sell them. Add it to your supply list and tick things off in the aisle.

BUY ONCE, NOT THREE TIMES Spare material is sized to your hands: a first-timer gets a little more room for practice cuts, a pro gets tight margins. When two rooms need the same grout or the same tile, the list merges them and rounds once — often a whole pack cheaper.

PULL THE TAPE Sizes aren't typed, they're measured. Drag the yellow tape out of its orange case and feel it click every ten centimetres, with a firmer knock on each metre.

SLIDE THE TILES See the whole floor or every wall laid out in tile. Push the grid with your finger until the thin slivers at the edges disappear, and it snaps to centre when both sides match. Offcuts from one edge are reused on the other, so the count reflects real cuts.

PRESS TO CHECK IT'S DRY Tick off screed, plaster or grout and a drying timer starts. Press and hold the swatch like you'd press a fresh wall: still tacky leaves a fingerprint, dry unlocks the next stage. The app won't let you lay laminate on a screed that still needs two weeks.

THE ORDER OF WORK A step-by-step playbook for bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms and hallways — from strip-out to skirting — with drying times for every material and a tip from the trade at each stage. A ten-day chart shows how the whole job overlaps.

FOR First-time renovators, weekend decorators, landlords refreshing a flat between tenants, and anyone who has ever bought wallpaper without counting the pattern repeat.

Measure twice. Buy once. Start with your first room.

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