Pick anything that catches your eye — up to three. You don’t need to know how hard it is. We’ll figure that out.
43 projects across three levels. Seven are built and specified today; the other thirty-six are the roadmap.
Click on a project to see how it’s made and the skills it will need.
As you get better you progress to more challenging projects and learn new skills along the way.
Flat, square, one person. Nothing someone can’t easily undo.
Curves, angles, and power tools with a bit more bite.
Fitted work, real joinery, and the jobs people usually pay someone else to do.
Every skill you learn stays learned. The fourteen basics carry into all three levels, which is why the second project you build is mostly free, and the third almost entirely.
Point your phone at the wall. Matey measures the space, puts the project into it at real size, and works out exactly what to buy — so you get a plan for your wall rather than a plan for a wall.
Clear wall · 3.20 m
Window · 1.90 m
Sofa · 2.10 m
Shelf run · 100.0 cm
42 cm clear
26 cm gap
Scanning the room
Nothing here is guessed. The cut list comes from what the phone measured — which is how you stop buying three metres of timber for a job that needs two.
No caps, no limits on how many designs you can see.
Choose a project and make it, start to finish.
All projects, all skills, all tutorials.
All projects, all skills, all tutorials.
About us
Sounds just like an episode of Grand Designs, but this was life for us in 2020. Ahead was four years of renovating a derelict stone cottage in County Meath, Ireland. Mostly by ourselves.
The cottage
Our budget meant we had to take on most of the work.
Years of YouTube rabbit-holes and Pinterest boards full of rooms that looked nothing like ours. We bought the wrong quantities of everything, and our garage looked like a scrapyard of leftovers.
What we learned
The videos we watched weren’t always applicable to us, or our context.
Sometimes, when the going got too tough, we’d lose motivation and hire a tradesperson to finish the work we’d started.
The pattern
Dozens of projects, every one had the same five steps.
Find the thing you want in your home.
Drown in contradictory YouTube.
Ask for help, get talked down to.
Second-guess every decision.
Give up, or press on with fingers crossed.
The light bulb moment
What we were missing was guidance to give us some confidence, and a place to ask questions without being made to feel stupid.
That is what sparked Matey: renters, first-time buyers, anyone who can’t pay someone else to make what they want, and anyone who wants to get better at it.
Michael Browne
Brand Lead
Grew up around the family plumbing business. Renovated the cottage and made most of the mistakes in it.
Siun Browne
UX / UI · New York
Twenty-five years designing digital products, and many similar bad DIY experiences in her Manhattan apartment.
Suzanne Salam
Interior design
The other half of the four years in Meath, and the one who asked the question that turned it into a company.
Every skill is a short reel. Learn one and move on. They turn up again and again in the next thing you make, and the whole beginner library is 78 minutes.
Flat, square, one person. Nothing someone can’t easily undo.
Curves, angles, and power tools with a bit more bite.
Fitted work, real joinery, and the jobs people usually pay someone else to do.
Every skill you learn stays learned. The fourteen basics carry into all three levels, which is why the second project you build is mostly free, and the third almost entirely.
These come back in every single build. Learn them once at the start, then keep adding as you go.
Setting Up
2 min
In every build
Most tape measures have marks nobody explained to you, and the hook on the end moves on purpose.
Every buildOpened from a build
Setting Up
1 min
In every build
A pencil line is thicker than you think, and cutting on the wrong side of it loses you two millimetres every time.
Every buildOpened from a build
Setting Up
2 min
In every build
Square means a true right angle, and almost nothing in a house has one.
Every buildOpened from a build
Setting Up
2 min
In every build
A cut list is the shopping list and the plan in one, written as lengths and quantities.
Every buildOpened from a build
Setting Up
2 min
In every build
Clear floor, good light, somewhere solid to cut, and everything within reach before you start.
Every buildOpened from a build
Setting Up
1 min
In every build
Glasses for anything that flies, plugs for anything that screams, a mask for anything that hangs in the air.
Every buildOpened from a build
Tools
3 min
In every build
Three things to know: the chuck holds the bit, the collar sets how hard it drives, and the trigger controls speed.
Every buildOpened from a build
Tools
1 min
In every build
Charge it before the job rather than during it, and do not leave a flat battery sitting for months.
Every buildOpened from a build
Cutting
2 min
In every build
Thumb as a guide, short backward strokes to start the cut, then let the length of the blade do the work.
Every buildOpened from a build
Cutting
3 min
In every build
Mark all the way round the timber, stand so your arm swings in line with the cut, and watch the line rather than the blade.
Every buildOpened from a build
Joining
2 min
In every build
A pilot hole is a small hole drilled before the screw goes in.
Every buildOpened from a build
Joining
2 min
In every build
Near the end of a board, timber splits.
Every buildOpened from a build
Finishing
3 min
In every build
Start coarse to take material off, finish fine to make it smooth, and never skip more than one grade.
Every buildOpened from a build
Tools
2 min
In every build
Let the weight of the sander do the work and keep it moving.
Every buildOpened from a buildNothing here has to be learned in sequence. Open a project, see what it adds, learn those, make the thing, move on.
Setting Up
1 min
Level is flat side to side, and your eye is a terrible judge of it.
Used in 5 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Setting Up
1 min
Plumb is straight up and down.
Used in 3 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Walls
3 min
Brick and block need the hammer setting and a masonry bit.
Used in 3 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Walls
3 min
The screw is not the strong bit.
Used in 3 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Walls
2 min
Plasterboard is soft, so the board holds nothing on its own and the fixing does all the work.
Used in 3 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Walls
2 min
Behind plasterboard there is a timber frame, and the studs are the strong bits.
Used in 3 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Walls
2 min
Fix one side, level it, mark the second, then fix.
Used in 2 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Walls
2 min
Plasterboard sounds hollow, block and brick sound solid, and everything you do next depends on which one you have.
Used in 3 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Walls
1 min
There are things behind that wall that you very much do not want to drill into.
Used in 3 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Cutting
3 min
Plywood and MDF tear on the face as the blade exits.
Used in 3 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Cutting
2 min
A mitre box holds the saw at a fixed angle so you get a clean 45 or 90 every time.
Used in 2 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Joining
3 min
Set the jig and the drill collar to the thickness of your timber, clamp it tight, drill, then drive the screw.
Used in 4 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Joining
2 min
A countersink lets the screw head sit flush instead of standing proud.
Used in 6 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Joining
2 min
Joining
2 min
Wood glue is stronger than the timber around it, but only if the joint is held tight while it dries.
Used in 4 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Joining
2 min
A jig that drills a screw hole at an angle, so two pieces of timber join strongly with no visible fixings and no joinery.
Used in 4 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Joining
1 min
Pocket holes go on the face nobody sees: underneath, inside, or against the wall.
Used in 4 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Finishing
3 min
Oil soaks in and shows the grain, paint sits on top and hides it.
Used in 6 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Finishing
3 min
Thin coats, along the grain, and let each one dry properly.
Used in 1 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Finishing
2 min
Gaps between your work and the wall get flexible filler rather than hard filler, because the house moves.
Used in 1 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Finishing
2 min
Filler shrinks as it dries, so slightly overfill, let it set, then sand it back flush.
Used in 4 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Finishing
2 min
Primer is what paint holds on to.
Used in 1 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Tools
2 min
A drill makes holes, an impact driver drives screws and does it better.
Used in 4 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
Tools
2 min
The one that cuts where nothing else fits: skirting, tight corners, awkward trims.
Used in 1 of 7 buildsOpened from a build
