PROJECT: Backyard tropical retreat TIME: Two weeks COST: $1,200 HOW THEY DID IT: Pam and Dave Conyers love the tropics—particularly Hawaii. “Pam wanted something a little closer and a lot cheaper where she could have a morning cup of coffee, read the paper and enjoy the sounds of running water and the smells of flowers,“ Dave Conyers said.

PROJECT: Utility room makeover TIME: One week COST: $150 HOW SHE DID IT: Betty Ann Spiers never imagined that a furnace chimney fire in her Henrico County home would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. “Although I had to clean up the soot from every surface in the utility room, I was jolted into the awareness that this room had not been cleaned in 40 years,“ Spiers said.

Rob O’Connor, 30, faced a tough call two years ago when he moved out of a house he shared with friends. The choice: Buy an upscale, maintenance-free condo or a 1940s bungalow in an older neighborhood near Willow Lawn.

Growing numbers of homeowners are tackling small-scale repairs and improvements to save money during the economic downturn. Consumers are turning to online guidance, how-to books and home-center experts to break down the mysteries of fear-inducing projects such as tiling, faucet repair or building a retaining wall. At the Home Depot near Brandermill, spokesperson Erin Hobson has noticed an increase in walk-in do-it-yourselfers.