I had this amazing revelation yesterday. I was reading and admiring the work of my favorite 2 blogs of the moment: housetweaking.com and younghouselove.com and marveling at all they've done to their houses and how they did it all themselves and I thought I want that... then I realized, I am that! Jeff and I have single
handedly (except for some electrical and major installs) recreated this house since moving in. We've painted the entire place, bought new windows, new furnace, flooring, drywall ceiling, and laundry room removation plus toilets and window coverings. We still have so much to do but we've come so far. It's amazing how easy it is to forget where you came from when you're still not at your destination. We have big ticket items left but we've quickly forgotten all the little and BIG jobs we've done so far.
So it was wonderful to realize that I was admiring the very thing I want to
become and in some ways already am... a DIY'er. I have ideas and often Jeff
executes them. I need to step up my execution but I would like to say on my
behalf that I usually do the rest of the house stuff while jeff is "executing".
Like laundry, meals, cleaning and babysitting (as Jeff's likes to call it).
Without one of us doing this, the house would just cease to operate. So I can't
be too hard on myself when I realize that Jeff is the lead executioner- he
really has got lots of the skills. He's not from a family of DIY'ers, in fact
his skills have only recently improved since we've been together. One summer he
worked with my brother-in-law who is a contractor and since then he's had more
knowledge of at least where to start. There is still the occassional episode of
shoddy work and poor fine motor skill and again he's very practical so there is
never any creating of decorative items ( just because!!). His patience and big
picture knowledge is really improving. I just need to keep pushing him!!
As I was trying to fall asleep last night I got to thinking about when my
"career" as a DIY started. I believe it was when I was my 9th summer. That
summer before going into grade 4, I wanted to build a tree house with my dad at
our summer cottage on Lake Temagami. I had requirements to make this place
"cool". First, a trap door upon entering, second a few windows for spying and
viewing wildlife and third, a very cool flag that marked the property as
mine.
My dad and I worked to build this beauty from the bottom up. It was awesome!
Larger than life awesome! A dream come true awesome! I swung a hammer placing
nails for the floor, salvaged screen for my windows, and secured the shingled
roof according to dad's directions. That year in school, I wrote a speech about
"My treehouse" and it was so good (thanks to some fine tuning by my Mom) that I
made it to "the gym" to give my speech to the entire school. It was truly my
leaping point into the world of DIY and I had no idea.
In reflecting on the birth of my DIY lifestyle, I realized that I was always
surrounded by my DIY parents. At our summer cottage they always had a project
on the go. I've watched them build their dream cottage one nail at a time. I
participated too, when I was able. I remember not being able to walk or stand
up straight for days after roofing the sun house. It was such a steep roof when
I was 14 and the shingles were heavy. I remember watching them build their
custom dream deck including corner seating dining area with Dad's Native
American buddy Glen ( an amazing builder). Nothing seemed too large for Dad, he
just got the job done like a true DIY'er.
( They are still going strong. Every summer the project seems more intricate
or challenging).
So it should be no suprise to me to find myself taking on projects that
overwhelm and intimidate me. I know that it can be done, my parents are fine
examples of perserverance, believing/dreaming and hard work. Jeff and I joke A
LOT about how a little sweat-equity never hurt anyone. The concept of DIY is of
course about saving money but when you look deeper it's also about doing
something bigger than you thought you could handle, accomplishing something new
and learning from each mis-step or if you're lucky each correct-step. In our
house, if you haven't sat on the floor with project stalled while you reading
about the next step on the ipad, you can't call yourself a DIY'er.
So what's up for Sunday? We have a million projects we've never done before,
where should we start?
handedly (except for some electrical and major installs) recreated this house since moving in. We've painted the entire place, bought new windows, new furnace, flooring, drywall ceiling, and laundry room removation plus toilets and window coverings. We still have so much to do but we've come so far. It's amazing how easy it is to forget where you came from when you're still not at your destination. We have big ticket items left but we've quickly forgotten all the little and BIG jobs we've done so far.
So it was wonderful to realize that I was admiring the very thing I want to
become and in some ways already am... a DIY'er. I have ideas and often Jeff
executes them. I need to step up my execution but I would like to say on my
behalf that I usually do the rest of the house stuff while jeff is "executing".
Like laundry, meals, cleaning and babysitting (as Jeff's likes to call it).
Without one of us doing this, the house would just cease to operate. So I can't
be too hard on myself when I realize that Jeff is the lead executioner- he
really has got lots of the skills. He's not from a family of DIY'ers, in fact
his skills have only recently improved since we've been together. One summer he
worked with my brother-in-law who is a contractor and since then he's had more
knowledge of at least where to start. There is still the occassional episode of
shoddy work and poor fine motor skill and again he's very practical so there is
never any creating of decorative items ( just because!!). His patience and big
picture knowledge is really improving. I just need to keep pushing him!!
As I was trying to fall asleep last night I got to thinking about when my
"career" as a DIY started. I believe it was when I was my 9th summer. That
summer before going into grade 4, I wanted to build a tree house with my dad at
our summer cottage on Lake Temagami. I had requirements to make this place
"cool". First, a trap door upon entering, second a few windows for spying and
viewing wildlife and third, a very cool flag that marked the property as
mine.
My dad and I worked to build this beauty from the bottom up. It was awesome!
Larger than life awesome! A dream come true awesome! I swung a hammer placing
nails for the floor, salvaged screen for my windows, and secured the shingled
roof according to dad's directions. That year in school, I wrote a speech about
"My treehouse" and it was so good (thanks to some fine tuning by my Mom) that I
made it to "the gym" to give my speech to the entire school. It was truly my
leaping point into the world of DIY and I had no idea.
In reflecting on the birth of my DIY lifestyle, I realized that I was always
surrounded by my DIY parents. At our summer cottage they always had a project
on the go. I've watched them build their dream cottage one nail at a time. I
participated too, when I was able. I remember not being able to walk or stand
up straight for days after roofing the sun house. It was such a steep roof when
I was 14 and the shingles were heavy. I remember watching them build their
custom dream deck including corner seating dining area with Dad's Native
American buddy Glen ( an amazing builder). Nothing seemed too large for Dad, he
just got the job done like a true DIY'er.
( They are still going strong. Every summer the project seems more intricate
or challenging).
So it should be no suprise to me to find myself taking on projects that
overwhelm and intimidate me. I know that it can be done, my parents are fine
examples of perserverance, believing/dreaming and hard work. Jeff and I joke A
LOT about how a little sweat-equity never hurt anyone. The concept of DIY is of
course about saving money but when you look deeper it's also about doing
something bigger than you thought you could handle, accomplishing something new
and learning from each mis-step or if you're lucky each correct-step. In our
house, if you haven't sat on the floor with project stalled while you reading
about the next step on the ipad, you can't call yourself a DIY'er.
So what's up for Sunday? We have a million projects we've never done before,
where should we start?