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Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Beyond the Book: DIY Anyone

 “Were you ever a DIYer? If so is there any project you refuse ever to do again without professional help? If you’re still doing it yourself, what was your latest project?”

I think people who DYI are awesome. In my family my father certainly could do things, but he didn’t like to. He always painted or put up wallpaper, and once he made a dresser, a small pine piece that I still use today. But Daddy didn’t really enjoy such tasks. He’s much rather have had an expert come in and take care of things for him. I grew up thinking that just calling someone in to take care of your problem was the way to go.

I’ll never forget what happened shortly after my husband and I got married. Our iron fell off the ironing board and somehow ripped the plugin loose. I said, “We have to buy a new iron.” My husband said, “Why? I’ll fix it.” He did fix it. I was absolutely amazed as I raptly watched him patch it up again. I decided on the spot that I’d married a genius who could do anything, and you know what? I still think he can. 

He’s done some great projects for us over the years. We added a huge dining room to our house, and while a contractor was responsible for the construction, my husband wired the house himself and saved a lot of money. He also built a beautiful deck for the new room. I wanted new molding in my living room, and he brought out a saw and some kind of thing that you measure angles on and cut the new trim beautifully. He crafted a cornice board for the same room. He made the frame out of wood and then padded the frame and covered it with fabric of our choice. (I don’t really like it anymore, but he looked hurt when I suggested we should take it down so I guess it’ll be in my house forever.)

He patched walls, replaced a ceiling, redid my kitchen cabinets twice, and he used to paint for me, but he got tired of that and now has a painter he calls to do the job. He laid a new floor covering in my bathroom, made me a rock garden, and designed a beautiful bookcase for our study. He can hang pictures straight, measure for new drapes and help me put them up, and can even fix kitchen appliances. 

Well, I could go on, but you get the idea. The man is amazing. He’s saved us a lot of money over the years. 

Now what can I do? I’m great at supervising and being his helper, but I’m no good at DIY. I’m clumsy with my fingers and have no hand eye coordination. It’s really bad y’all. I see these people doing wonderful things, and I feel bad that I can’t do them, but I can’t and I had to learn to live with it. I guess it could be worse. At least I’m able to write my stories that thankfully some people enjoy reading. 

So what about you? Are you like me or my husband?

“Were you ever a DIYer? If so is there any project you refuse ever to do again without professional help? If you’re still doing it yourself, what was your latest project?”

I think people who DYI are awesome. In my family my father certainly could do things, but he didn’t like to. He always painted or put up wallpaper, and once he made a dresser, a small pine piece that I still use today. But Daddy didn’t really enjoy such tasks. He’s much rather have had an expert come in and take care of things for him. I grew up thinking that just calling someone in to take care of your problem was the way to go.

I’ll never forget what happened shortly after my husband and I got married. Our iron fell off the ironing board and somehow ripped the plugin loose. I said, “We have to buy a new iron.” My husband said, “Why? I’ll fix it.” He did fix it. I was absolutely amazed as I raptly watched him patch it up again. I decided on the spot that I’d married a genius who could do anything, and you know what? I still think he can. 

He’s done some great projects for us over the years. We added a huge dining room to our house, and while a contractor was responsible for the construction, my husband wired the house himself and saved a lot of money. He also built a beautiful deck for the new room. I wanted new molding in my living room, and he brought out a saw and some kind of thing that you measure angles on and cut the new trim beautifully. He crafted a cornice board for the same room. He made the frame out of wood and then padded the frame and covered it with fabric of our choice. (I don’t really like it anymore, but he looked hurt when I suggested we should take it down so I guess it’ll be in my house forever.)

He patched walls, replaced a ceiling, redid my kitchen cabinets twice, and he used to paint for me, but he got tired of that and now has a painter he calls to do the job. He laid a new floor covering in my bathroom, made me a rock garden, and designed a beautiful bookcase for our study. He can hang pictures straight, measure for new drapes and help me put them up, and can even fix kitchen appliances. 

Well, I could go on, but you get the idea. The man is amazing. He’s saved us a lot of money over the years. 

Now what can I do? I’m great at supervising and being his helper, but I’m no good at DIY. I’m clumsy with my fingers and have no hand eye coordination. It’s really bad y’all. I see these people doing wonderful things, and I feel bad that I can’t do them, but I can’t and I had to learn to live with it. I guess it could be worse. At least I’m able to write my stories that thankfully some people enjoy reading. 

So what about you? Are you like me or my husband?


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