When we bought our little house on Fig Street six years ago, we had a lot of work ahead of us. We had no idea what we were doing, but lucky enough the easy part comes first: you start ripping shit out.
Over the years we've made frequent trips to the lumberyard, hardware store, electric and plumbing supplies. The men who work (or are shopping) in these places are important sources of information. Here in the valley, you ask them a question, and you get a question in return.
Well that depends... Are ya's handy?
We've always nodded our heads, because we want to know the right method, not the duct-tape'll-do-it method.
And so, this past month while I was loading shingles into the dumpster post-DIY-roofing-job, I thought to myself: Well I'll be damned, I think we've earned it. We can nod our heads yes now, and really mean it - we're handy. We might not know the tradesman-approved way to do a thing, but after gutting this house and putting it back together better than it was before, what we've learned is how to solve a puzzle with our brains, our backs, the brains and backs of our family and friends, a small budget, and a whole lot of crappy old used building materials.
I think this stands us in in good stead for our next construction project, which we hope will be building a house from scratch.
4 comments:
Well done, Zoe. No-one knows what they're stepping into here till they've stepped in it.
Cute house by the way.
Right there with ya, Zoe! Ooh, you should build an Earthship...
I think you've definitely earned the right to call yourselves handy! It's difficult to own a house, especially one of any age, and not either spend a fortune hiring someone else, or learn how to do it yourself! Like you, we fall in the handy camp. It took time, three houses, but now we're so picky about how things are done, we fired our contractor last year, and are now facing the prospect of an entire kitchen remodeling project, solo! However, after reading your exciting aspiration to build an entire house, just a kitchen for us should be a breeze, right? Can't wait to see your new house plan!
Darn right, you earned the right to call yourselves "handy". Mighty fine job, too.
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