After 10 years of home ownership you should be able to pick up a few trades. Start by tiling a front entrance. It's pretty tough to screw that up. Get a friend over that knows how to do something. Watch a bunch of youtube videos.
And the most useful, help a friend out with his renovation. It's always a good idea to practice on someone else's house first.
That's how I learned to install hardwood floors. Helped with three floors before I tried my own.
Some people are loaded. This is CP after all. The rest of us probably want to pick a few things up over the years so that we don't have to pay through the nose for a simple renovation. Gutting an ensuite is pretty easy as far as major renovations go. I gutted my kitchen this summer, and that was a lot more work. I wouldn't recommend that to a beginner.
Oh, and with how often my wife decides we should move, pretty much all of my renovations are done so we can sell the place. Haven't had an issue with it yet.
